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Fabbs...
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/comme...ory?id=6202101Gregg Popovich's stealth campaign
By Johnette Howard
ESPN.com
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is not just a crank. He's a majestic crank even in good times like these. If stats were kept on press conferences, Popovich would lead the league in sarcasm. Then again, it takes dedication to maintain the deep cover that Popovich has expertly cultivated in small-market San Antonio. It's not easy to have your supposedly too-old Spurs team suddenly gunning for the fifth NBA le of your tenure -- a look-at-me! accomplishment, if ever there was one -- and still have people remarking on how you've somehow remained Mr. Invisible because that's folks' only impression of you even after 15 years on the Spurs' bench.
Popovich is the NBA's man of mystery, all right. He's the coach with no fingerprints. He's anti-self promotion, anti-celebrity, even anti-Twitter, once grousing, "If you tweet, you talk too much."
As a young man, Popovich majored in Soviet studies at the Air Force Academy before undergoing spy training and serving a five-year hitch in the Army. In some ways he's never stopped being a spook. He likes working in the shadows. And this season's surprise run by the Spurs may be Popovich's best black bag job yet.
The Spurs' 52-12 record was the NBA's best by six wins as of Thursday. And yet at the start of this week San Antonio slipped from first to third or fourth on many experts' NBA power rankings for the apparent "sin" of splitting two games against other top teams. The Spurs trounced the Miami Heat 125-95 last Friday, but then got clipped by the resurgent Los Angeles Lakers, 99-83, on Sunday.
The dip in respect in the midst of a 7-3 Spurs run was yet another reminder how the skeptics have been waiting for the Spurs to fall back to earth since their scorching 12-1 start this season.
It just hasn't happened yet.
The doubters insist the Lakers and Dallas Mavericks are more likely to come out of the Western Conference because both have the size to trouble the Spurs' smaller front line. They also argue San Antonio's Hall of Fame-bound power forward Tim Duncan ain't what he used to be.
But if Popovich is right -- not just about some shrewd strategic shifts he made at the start of this season to reduce 34-year-old Duncan's role, but also about his opinion that the Spurs' chance to win the 2011 le will come down to "how hungry this group is" -- then the Spurs have the right man to keep whipcracking the team along.
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Fabbs...
I didn't know about the ""If you tweet, you talk too much." quote.
I also never heard the name Johnette. I'm guessing it's pretty rare.
great read
lol, did he really say that to someone?
nobody talks about the spurs
I was just reading this article and wondered if it was posted.
There are so many great lines, it's tough to pick just one.
Oh Popovich. I luvvvvvvvvv you!
It cracks me up that, at the end of the article, the following line appeared:I didn't know about the ""If you tweet, you talk too much." quote.
Follow Johnette Howard on Twitter: @johnettehoward
Missed that one!
Still a head-scratcher. Yes to the trade, but to the f'n Bulls? Jordan & PJ say thanks.One of his first moves as a Spurs executive was to trade away Dennis Rodman.
Considering we played about 0 playoffs games against the Bulls, I don't see the problem.
Spurs thought Rodman was a lost cause and perhaps he was, but they sent him to the one team where he could thrive. His contributions to the Bulls threepeat were huge.
George Karl: "As you evaluate the series, Dennis Rodman won two basketball games. We controlled Dennis Rodman for four games. But Game 2 and tonight, he was the reason they were successful." His two games with 11 offensive rebounds each tied the NBA Finals record of Elvin Hayes."
Classy move on the Spurs part, but for all the anguish he caused us I would have been more ruthless and not sent him to play alongside Michael Jordan FFS!
-- but face it, all anyone is liable to get out of him is someone's name, rank and jersey number.
That's a great line...
Gotta love CIA Pop...
Rodman cost the Spurs a shot at a ring, so for them, he was a lost cause. Purdue contributed to the 99 le far more than Rodman would have.
" I never want to see him again " Damn
It just guarenteed Jackson a few more championships.
Yeah, that '96 Bulls team just squeaked by. Good thing Rodman was there.
Trading Rodman was addition by subtraction.
Phil Jackson can dress down Jordan or Shaq or Kobe and get away with it? Um..no.
The problem with MJ and Kobe, and to a lesser degree Shaq, is they just wouldn't listen. Yell all you want but they'll just do it their way most of the time. I remember in The Last Season Phil talked about the difference in coaching Kobe and Shaq was that Shaq would argue with him about stuff but would listen to some of it and follow some of it while Kobe would nod his head and say "ok, ok" but just go out and do whatever he wanted anyway.
Contrast that with Duncan though, everything I've heard indicates he's always been incredibly coachable.
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