The PopApologists Excuse Thread

[SA210]

you guys still living in the past 4 ring banners

when you also forgot last 3 seasons popa still hasnt done about small ball while being the victim on small ball bball costing us games in the playoffs....

[ernest787]

Who should Pop start next Duncan... Mcdyess? From what I have witnessed so far he looks completely lost on the floor right now, hasn't provided any help defensively or offensively, YET! I believe as the season goes on he will continue to acclimate to the system and guys around him and be a HUGE contributor, but right now he just isn't comfortable.

Blair is going to be a beast in this league, but as a rookie he just can't do it yet, and is not big enough. So that leaves us Theo or Ian to go next to Tim. Theo is OLD. He was a great pick up for short minutes and spots here and there, but he is not the answer and we all know Ian is really not the answer to anything.

Bonner is the sensible choice right now. Like it or not he KNOWS the system. He doesn't play good man defense, but in the team scheme he is usually where he needs to be and DOES stretch the floor.

Until Mcdyess comes around or we somehow find another big, Bonner is the right choice for that spot

The problem right now is that RJ is playing timid, and so are a lot of other guys on this team. It almost seems that because the team is so deep and everyone wants to be the good team guy, they do not want to take over when they need to. It will be worked out, but you have to give it time

OR

you can keep overreacting and forgetting what this coach has done in the past

[itzsoweezee]

Who should Pop start next Duncan... Mcdyess? From what I have witnessed so far he looks completely lost on the floor right now, hasn't provided any help defensively or offensively, YET! I believe as the season goes on he will continue to acclimate to the system and guys around him and be a HUGE contributor, but right now he just isn't comfortable.

Blair is going to be a beast in this league, but as a rookie he just can't do it yet, and is not big enough. So that leaves us Theo or Ian to go next to Tim. Theo is OLD. He was a great pick up for short minutes and spots here and there, but he is not the answer and we all know Ian is really not the answer to anything.

Bonner is the sensible choice right now. Like it or not he KNOWS the system. He doesn't play good man defense, but in the team scheme he is usually where he needs to be and DOES stretch the floor.

Until Mcdyess comes around or we somehow find another big, Bonner is the right choice for that spot

you just said boner was the sensible choice. anything else you'll ever say is officially worthless.

[EricB]

Wheres that list of 20 coaches at Fabbs?

Still waiting.

[SA210]

you just said boner was the sensible choice. anything else you'll ever say is officially worthless.

[sabar]

Who cares, the FO isn't firing him.

[Fabbs]

How many catagories did Pop hit in the 101-98 OKCity loss?

[BillMc]

That is proof that Pop is infinitely smarter than anyone here. Yes, even you LJ.

I fully admit he is smarter than me. And I trust in him in the big picture.

It's early we shouldn't get too up (for example the victories over New Orleans and Dallas) or down (this loss, our lousy road trip.)

[Capt Bringdown]

I think the biggest excuse has been that it "takes time to learn the system." You'd often hear that it takes a year for players to fit into our system.

If that's the case, then our championship era is officially over. With 2 of our big 3 on the way to winding down their careers, we no longer have the luxury of being so damned complicated.

The system needs to change, but I don't see how it can. Spurs ball is elite defensive basketball, and we don't have the pieces to compete this way anymore.

[Malik Hairston]

put me in coach, I can help

[Fabbs]

I think the biggest excuse has been that it "takes time to learn the system." You'd often hear that it takes a year for players to fit into our system.

If that's the case, then our championship era is officially over. With 2 of our big 3 on the way to winding down their careers, we no longer have the luxury of being so damned complicated.

The system needs to change, but I don't see how it can. Spurs ball is elite defensive basketball, and we don't have the pieces to compete this way anymore.

Mike Finley vs Jazz.
0-6 0-3 with zero defense played per ususal. 23 minutes. But we had to turn down a chance to sign Bruce Bowen for minimum after he was bought out by the Bucks.

Blair in the *doghouse* with 6 minutes and 9 minutes on the B2Bs.

[Fabbs]

4 days rest, home game.
Blair benched in the 1st half after only 4 minutes of great play.

Lets hear the Boston game excuses.

[mexicanjunior]

4 days rest, home game.
Blair benched in the 1st half after only 4 minutes of great play.

Lets hear the Boston game excuses.

"It's only (insert month here)..."

[Fabbs]

I think the biggest excuse has been that it "takes time to learn the system." You'd often hear that it takes a year for players to fit into our system.

If that's the case, then our championship era is officially over. With 2 of our big 3 on the way to winding down their careers, we no longer have the luxury of being so damned complicated.

The system needs to change, but I don't see how it can. Spurs ball is elite defensive basketball, and we don't have the pieces to compete this way anymore.

mexicanjunior "It's only (insert month here)..."

At home again vs Denver, 6 pt lead at haltime, when coaching ad-just-ments come into play. Spurs worked again in 3rd and 4th.

[rfbulletdude]

Didn't Pop say during an interview that if he can't win with this team he should be fired?

[21_Blessings]

No coach in the league can save San Antonio - it's a player's league. Pops isn't the problem. In the event Pop retired anybody you could replace him with would be a downgrade.

[kbrury]

No coach in the league can save San Antonio - it's a player's league. Pops isn't the problem. In the event Pop retired anybody you could replace him with would be a downgrade.

This

[TJastal]

At home again vs Denver, 6 pt lead at haltime, when coaching ad-just-ments come into play. Spurs worked again in 3rd and 4th.

This.

Spurs had a sizeable lead going into intermission, and then Anthony got hot. Nobody could stop his J's raining down (Bogans/Jefferson) and honestly I don't think any defender in the league could have stopped him last night.

The sensible adjustment would have been to bring in Roger Mason for Bogans and try to get some scoring to at least keep up some pace with Anthony.

Instead, Pop continues to go with Bogans and of course the spurs offense bogged down eventually trying to keep up. Pop is simply not good at making adjustments.

[EricB]

Still waiting on that list of 20 troll.

[oligarchy]

Still waiting on that list of 20 troll.

[poop]

funny how a completely rebuilt Boston team 2 years ago didnt need a ton of 'learning the system' time.

they were raping people from the get go.

[exstatic]

funny how a completely rebuilt Boston team 2 years ago didnt need a ton of 'learning the system' time.

they were raping people from the get go.

Funny how different teams run different systems with different degrees of complexity.

Almost everyone on Boston was new so their playbook was probably small.

[BillMc]

funny how a completely rebuilt Boston team 2 years ago didnt need a ton of 'learning the system' time.

they were raping people from the get go.

A valid point, but two of their new players were future HOF'ers. Dice, Bogans and RJ will be nowhere near the hall, and the fourth important new face, Blair, is just a rookie trying to learn the NBA game, not just the Spurs game. Pop's got a tougher task than Doc Rivers had.

[poop]

Funny how different teams run different systems with different degrees of complexity.

Almost everyone on Boston was new so their playbook was probably small.

this is irrelevant, they were a 20something win team, added a bunch of new faces who had never played together before, and IMMEDIATELY starting kicking ass and never let up.
this years spurs were a perennial 50+win team, KEPT their hall of famers and added a bunch of quality new faces, and are playing .500 so far.
im just saying, 'learning the system' is an increasingly lame excuse, especially considering they had basically the whole offseason/preseason to work out.

[The Truth #6]

Pop knew he needed to adjust the playbook to accomodate the new players and did make initial adjustments. Though we still need to rework the system, we're kind of in a pinch because half the team knows the plays really well, and the system does work once you get it down. If we dumb everything down or change it completely, then everyone is stuck re-learning.

We all wish RJ was playing better now, but what's Manu and Tony's excuse? The problem isn't just the new guys lost (though that's evident), it's also that 2 of our big 3 are playing beneath the level they need to play for us to be dominant.

I'm not sure there's a play for that.