Buck Harvey: Popovich the unique member of the 700 club

[Spurs Brazil]

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblog...-700-club.html

Popovich the unique member of the 700 club

By Buck Harvey on Dec 21, 09 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) Save & Share Yahoo! BuzzYahoo! Newsvine del.icio.us Facebook Google Reddit Fark
Tim Duncan's dunk to beat the Pacers was the fitting, final touch to Gregg Popovich's 700th career win.

Duncan has been a part of the Spurs organization for all of Popovich's wins except for the 17 that came the year before Duncan arrived in San Antonio. None of the other 15 NBA coaches who have reached this milestone relied on one player as Popovich has Duncan.

Still, each of the other 15 coaches had talent. What separates Popovich from them is what comes next.

Popovich has long joked he will retire when Duncan does. But he's also said more seriously, as he did in October of 2007, that he could see himself continuing on without Duncan.

What Popovich is less likely to do is coach in another city.

He would surely have opportunities. If he wanted a change, teams would offer a lot money and control. A smart franchise would ask just one thing of him: Duplicate the culture you had in San Antonio.

But that's the problem. Duplication wouldn't be easy. Popovich's culture is precise and it's built on relationships.

Popovich would not only need a director of player personnel who understood him, he would need a trainer and a P.R. manager and everything else. It took several years for him to get everything in place in San Antonio, and it would take as long elsewhere.

A guess: If ever confronted with this kind of overhaul, Popovich would prefer to run a winery.

And that's what will make him different. Every other NBA coach who has won 700 games has won them with different franchises.

[Drachen]

http://blogs.mysanantonio.com/weblog...-700-club.html

Popovich the unique member of the 700 club

By Buck Harvey on Dec 21, 09 01:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) Save & Share Yahoo! BuzzYahoo! Newsvine del.icio.us Facebook Google Reddit Fark
Tim Duncan's dunk to beat the Pacers was the fitting, final touch to Gregg Popovich's 700th career win.

Duncan has been a part of the Spurs organization for all of Popovich's wins except for the 17 that came the year before Duncan arrived in San Antonio. None of the other 15 NBA coaches who have reached this milestone relied on one player as Popovich has Duncan.

Still, each of the other 15 coaches had talent. What separates Popovich from them is what comes next.

Popovich has long joked he will retire when Duncan does. But he's also said more seriously, as he did in October of 2007, that he could see himself continuing on without Duncan.

What Popovich is less likely to do is coach in another city.

He would surely have opportunities. If he wanted a change, teams would offer a lot money and control. A smart franchise would ask just one thing of him: Duplicate the culture you had in San Antonio.

But that's the problem. Duplication wouldn't be easy. Popovich's culture is precise and it's built on relationships.

Popovich would not only need a director of player personnel who understood him, he would need a trainer and a P.R. manager and everything else. It took several years for him to get everything in place in San Antonio, and it would take as long elsewhere.

A guess: If ever confronted with this kind of overhaul, Popovich would prefer to run a winery.

And that's what will make him different. Every other NBA coach who has won 700 games has won them with different franchises.

Did Jerry Sloan coach somewhere else? I am sure he has 700 wins right?

[duncan228]

Did Jerry Sloan coach somewhere else? I am sure he has 700 wins right?

Pop is the third to do it with one team, Sloan and Auerbach are the other two.

[ulosturedge]

I thought the same thing, but after further investigation it seems Sloan coached 3 years for the Chicago Bulls before doing his 20 year stint with the Jazz. The internet is your friend.

[duncan228]

But Sloan got 700 wins with the Jazz. Maybe that's it, 700 with one team.

[duncan228]

Before the win.

Popovich set to join 700 club

Exclusive company

With 699 regular-season wins, Gregg Popovich is poised to become the 16th coach in NBA history with 700 or more (through Thursday’s games, active in bold):

1,332 Lenny Wilkens
1,316 Don Nelson
1,210 Pat Riley
1,152 Jerry Sloan
1,061 Phil Jackson
1,055 Larry Brown
952 George Karl
944 Bill Fitch
938 Red Auerbach
935 Motta
874 Rick Adelman
864 Jack Ramsay
832 Cotton Fitzsimmons
784 Gene Shue
707 John MacLeod

Note: Popovich would be just the third 700-game winner with one team, joining Sloan and Auerbach.

Source: Basketball- reference.com


http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142352

[SenorSpur]

Can't wait for Pop to get to 1000.

[ElNono]

Every other NBA coach who has won 700 games has won them with different franchises.

Note: Popovich would be just the third 700-game winner with one team, joining Sloan and Auerbach.

[Dro210]

Yea, Auerbach and Sloan have both coached more than 1 NBA franchise in their careers. They each have 700+ wins with their most notable teams (Boston/Utah), but Pop is the only one to have coached the same franchise for his entire career.

So Harvey is right.

[fyatuk]

Harvey probably meant that Pop is the only 700 win coach that got all his wins with one team. Sloan and Auerbach both earned wins with multiple teams, while Pop has only won games as head coach of the Spurs.

His phrasing is clunky but this is probably what he meant.

[ElNono]

In other words, replace 'has won them with' with 'has coached'...