If 4 seasons without a ring means the coach is dumb, spurs will have to change the coach every 4 years and a lot of coach in the NBA have to go.
We don't have an all time great in his prime anymore since 2009.
Spurs will be very lucky to win it all again in the next 10 years
Uh, way to ignore the rest of the argument. Keep rocking those blinders. You think Tim is excited to be winding down his career with Matt Bonner and Richard Jefferson as his wingmen?If 4 seasons without a ring means the coach is dumb, spurs will have to change the coach every 4 years.
We don't have an all time great in his prime anymore since 2009.
Spurs will be very lucky to win it all again in the next 10 years
Or Michael Finley playing power forward next to him?
Why are Spurs fans so surprised Pop is pointing to the injuries as an excuse? He is never one to singularly call out players in the press. The Spurs players are basically crushed right now, after winning 61 games and finally staying healthy and having the #1 seed overall in the West, to lose and go down in history as losing to an 8th seed has got to sting about 5 times worse than the Suns sweep last season.
Pop isn't going to go out and say we lost because we have chokers on our team like RJ and Bonner. He basically knows that outside of the Big 3, he's dealing with players who soft mentally and cannot handle getting yelled at or called out in front of the press. He also knows that more than likely---he's going to be stuck with the same ty role players next season. Why call them out and blame them for this loss if it's just going to hurt them in the long run?
Oh and the injuries really did hurt the Spurs. More than any other year...this year's Spurs team was based on rythmn. When Duncan went down and the Spurs went on a 6 game losing streak, it was no coincidence. It was also no coincidence that Spurs fans and players were out of sorts in Game 1 without Ginobili.
That being said, injuries certainly weren't the sole reason why the Spurs lost to a team who's playing with a much better rythmn at the right time. Lack of bench production and lack of being able to put the ball in the hole for key stretches, turnovers, and lack of anyone to stop Zbo and Gasol certainly hurt the Spurs as much as the injuries did.
Pop is right: injuries played the key factor.
Bonner hardly got injured and Jefferson always played.
lmao @ the fire Pop crowd, who do get in replacement? Any coach that's available for hire is a step below Pop.
Good point. The wrong players got injured.
Expecting a successful playoff run based on the team showing great rhythm is unrealistic IMO. The playoffs often see teams struggling to execute, since the refs allow more physicality. Also a lot of the Spurs rhythm was based on moving the ball from one end to the other fairly quickly. Again, this doesn't happen much in the playoffs, because teams make it a point to get back on D.
Teams that usually succeed in the playoffs do so by overcoming the lack of rhythm. They do this with defense, rebounding and executing in the halfcourt. The Spurs did poorly on all three fronts. The Grizz OTOH had high-percentage halfcourt plays (thanks to Randolph and Gasol down low) and rebounded and defended much better.
Perfect offensive rhythm in the playoffs is a pipe dream. You need to tough it out and grind out wins. The Spurs weren't equipped to do that.
Oh, and watching that end-of-season presser makes me even more mad. Size was an issue against Memphis, and it was an issue during the season, while the team was racking up wins. Pop chose to act as though it was no big deal. Makes me furious.
So at the time who EXACTLY were we gonna sign besides Bonner. Eventhough we have won 4 les SAN ANTONIO IS STILL A SMALL MARKET. No one wants to come here because we get no tv time. Look the damn CLIPPERS got more tv games than we did. Everyone is whining so much about POPS mistakes so who were we gonna get at the time besides Bonner. Bonner will always be ineffective as long as we don't have adoubleteam threat down low to spread the floor. I don't like Bonner alot but I understand the premise. HORRY would not have been able to score the way he did in Bonner's position with these last few teams. Of course Horry had a better Basketball IQ (something you can't really teach) but his three's and scoring would have dropped with this line up. Not enough spacing.
Pop needs to stay. I mean who would we get to coach. And then when this coach goes 10-72 you will want to run him out of town because he didn't continue 50-60 wins like POP. Pop is the best out there for the Spurs right now. He makes mistakes but ALL coaches do this. But we can't upgrade the team any better if NO ONE wants to play in SAN ANTONIO that's why we get all the good citizens like Tim, David, Sean, Vinny D, Avery, and the like they are loyal, play hard and won't leave for more money. You must have longevity with the team in order to produce Championships....Just ask LEBRON
We didn't lose because of 'rhythm'. We lost because Pop ditched defense wins for D'Antoni / Nellie ball, and we ran into a team in Memphis whose coach preaches defense wins.
Shocker that defense actually won out over Nellieball.
Some people think Popovich will never get old.
He does, like everybody else.
So again the question I put to all of you "COACHES" is who in the were we going to get to come to Small Market San Antonio. This is not the first time this has come up. We are not La, Chicago, Boston, New York, not even NJ. Dwight Howard will NEVER come here. Why do you think Orlando tried to get Timmy. Everybody wondered how the did we get Timmy? So they tried to get him outta here. Timmy, David never left but for all Tim's years after David we were NEVER able to sign a Big Time Free Agent......And we never will....Why? Because we are a SMALL MARKET TEAM who wins championships but no one cares because we play boring and we get no tv exposure. Run from it, hate me for saying it, flame me for it.....But we all know IT'S THE TRUTH!!!!!!!Oh, and watching that end-of-season presser makes me even more mad. Size was an issue against Memphis, and it was an issue during the season, while the team was racking up wins. Pop chose to act as though it was no big deal. Makes me furious.
We let Anthony Tolliver and Ian Mahinmi walk away. We let Tiago rot on the bench all year. Should I keep going?
It's a funny thing, NBA players are known to connect these things called paychecks. Spurs are known to pay them from what I understand. So as crazy as the idea sounds, if the Spurs paid a guy, maybe he'd come play here...No one wants to come here because we get no tv time.
Bonner wasn't ineffective because of the rest of the players. He was ineffective because he's a choker in the playoffs. Period. Three years running now.Bonner will always be ineffective as long as we don't have adoubleteam threat down low to spread the floor. I don't like Bonner alot but I understand the premise. HORRY would not have been able to score the way he did in Bonner's position with these last few teams.
Aggie are you really gonna come at me with Anthony Tolliver, and Ian. Ian couldn't stay healthy for three years. He goes to Dallas and isn't even the third option there. And where is Tolliver at now. Playing for who's starting line up, or second line up. is he even playing. Understand what I have been saying....We have not signed a viable allstar back up since Oberto. See the Grizzlies have Gasol and ZBO, Lakers have Gasol and Odom and Bynum, the Bulls have Boozer and Noah, Boston has Garnett and combo of the O'neals and Big Baby.....You see where I am going with this....Why is Orlando out of round one .....Cause they got rid of Gortat now no extra size next to Howard. Without another Allstar or Damn good big next to Tim we have nothing. I am not just a Bandwagon fan here. Been a Spurs fan since 1975. If we get a defensive SF, and a rebounding scoring center we are right back in it.
Splitter went without a training camp and got hurt twice. He played great but offensivly he needs work. I agree he should have been on the court, but we don't know how he was in practice throughout the year. We can say what we want but WE ARE NOT THE COACH
Splitter has played tons of physical games in Euroleague, which i WAY more phisycal than the NBA, so much so that he got in fouls trouble early in the first games of the RS.
PO comes, a physical team shows up and he sits the first 3 games?
This is outright ridiculous.
SA traded Luis Scola for Vasilis Spanoulis.
That breaks my heart every time I think about that we could have Scola, Splitter, on our team. Which makes it even worse is that we traded him to Houston and just thinking if we had stayed with Scola no way in would we haver ever needed RJ!
Pop needs to play the young guys early next year and find out who can play...... Splitter better be starting and I even want to see Ryan Richards get some playing time!
Bingo!
Bingo!
And Bingo...again!
It's funny how these Pop-apologists seem to think that that raggedly frontline, that the Spurs rolled out there this season, was either good enough to contend or that the team was strictly handicapped and couldn't have acquired anyone else. If Pop pissed on their shoes and told them it was raining, they would reach for an umbrella.
The most frustrating part to all this is that the Spurs have needed more size ever since the balance of power shifted to the Fakers in the much-balleyhooed Pau Gasol trade. That was 2008. That gave the Spurs 3 years to try and figure out a way to increase their frontline size and length, as Duncan marched toward the end of his career. However, that was never Pop's priority nor his intention.
Yes, there were options. There are reserve big men on the various NBA benches that they could've targeted via trade or through the draft. Yet, they did nothing.
They had Drew Gooden two seasons ago. Sure he was a black hole, but he was physical, servicable and could rebound and score the basketball from the low-post. He wasn't favored and was allowed to walk.
In the 2008 NBA draft, after losing out their preferred choice, Nicolas Batum, the Spurs had a chance to draft the young, athletic forward Darrell Arthur, but elected to go small with George Hill.
Ian Mahinmi was an underdeveloped player, who suffered some unfortunate injuries during his first year or two, that hindered his development and opportunities. However he worked hard and wanted to stay with the Spurs. He had size, athleticism, could rebound, and defend the rim. Those types of skills that are not currently on this roster. The type of skills that this frontline could've sorely used against a very physical team like the Grizzlies. Much like Splitter, he was never given any consistent court time, when healthy. I don't give a about the perception of him when he was here, the fact is no one saw him play on a consistent basis, so therefore no one can say he didn't deserve a roster spot. The guy showed flashes of abilities that the Spurs could've used to their advantage. People can talk all they want about how he didn't fit here, however I believe he wasn't wanted because he didn't fit Pop's philosophy of small-ball. The Spurs front office arrogantly allowed the guy to leave in free agency, as though he were some undrafted free agent. In fact, after allowing Ian to walk, Pop proudly proclaimed the Spurs have enough bigs. Huh? Frankly, I would've rather preferred going into battle with the young combo of Mahinmi and Splitter versus Blair and Bonner. He had his chance, but he thought that re-upping Bonner was the way to go. By elected to retain Bonner over Mahinmi, he decided smaller. perimeter-oriented offense was better.
No one forced Pop into small-ball, he elected to do so in an effort to try and keep up with changing league trends. I'm sorry, it doesn't work. The tenets of basketball success have remained the same for over 50 years. Successful teams are built from the inside-out - not the other way around. Pop should be the first to know this, after all he won 4 championships with that formula. In fact, what team has won with a small-ball, perimeter-oriented, attack? None.
Ian?
Really?
There are many legitimate gripes against Pop, but Ian just isn't that good.
Maybe not, but we all know Bonner is . I'd take Ian any day over him.
Bold.
Ian is a bench player "under development" by definition.
At 43, he will still be developping.
unfortunately, in basketball, sometimes you have to actually PLAY.
Pop isn't going to change much because that's just not in his nature. I kind of agree with his strategy in the regular season of playing more fastbreak basketball to focus on Manu and Tony, but by mid season he was already slowing the game down, yet in the process he wasn't developing Tiago, so I had no real idea what Pop's goal was after the All Star break. It seems like he took a mixture of both approaches, and chose the worst aspect of each.
Anyway, big picture - Pop doesn't want to be around to rebuild so we aren't going to rebuild until Tim and Manu are out of the league. It's that simple. When we get to that point I only hope that Coach Bud isn't given the keys to the team.
Splitter could have been playing all season but Pop said "it wouldn't be fair to the team" because the guy missed training camp. Total joke.Aggie are you really gonna come at me with Anthony Tolliver, and Ian. Ian couldn't stay healthy for three years. He goes to Dallas and isn't even the third option there. And where is Tolliver at now. Playing for who's starting line up, or second line up. is he even playing. Understand what I have been saying....We have not signed a viable allstar back up since Oberto. See the Grizzlies have Gasol and ZBO, Lakers have Gasol and Odom and Bynum, the Bulls have Boozer and Noah, Boston has Garnett and combo of the O'neals and Big Baby.....You see where I am going with this....Why is Orlando out of round one .....Cause they got rid of Gortat now no extra size next to Howard. Without another Allstar or Damn good big next to Tim we have nothing. I am not just a Bandwagon fan here. Been a Spurs fan since 1975. If we get a defensive SF, and a rebounding scoring center we are right back in it.
Splitter went without a training camp and got hurt twice. He played great but offensivly he needs work. I agree he should have been on the court, but we don't know how he was in practice throughout the year. We can say what we want but WE ARE NOT THE COACH
You asked who we could have signed, I gave you alternatives, and that was just off the top of my head.
Your response shows how ignorant you are. Try watching something other than a Spurs game once in a while. Tolliver is a starter for Minnesota, and I'd trade him in a heartbeat for the loser that is Matt Bonner. Keep in mind that Pop has tried Bonner as a starter before he's so in love with the red re .
Tolliver's making half of what Bonner is, and produces more, plays longer, actually blocks shots, and isn't a complete black hole defensively to his squad.
Call me the next time Bonner throws down a 22 and 10 game like Tolliver's shown he can do.
Yes Ian is raw. Isn't it the coach's job to coach guys up?
But those were just guys off the top of my head. There are several threads in the Think Tank that detailed options for stretch 4s last year, especially in the wake of Bonner being a choke artist for the second consecutive postseason.
Do you think Rasho or Nazr were 'damn good' bigs? They had size, which is what we needed. They won rings. LMAO at your idea of Oberto being an All-Star center. What crack you smoking?Without another Allstar or Damn good big next to Tim we have nothing. I am not just a Bandwagon fan here. Been a Spurs fan since 1975.
This is what pisses me off. This is a discussion board. We're discussing the Spurs, and the obvious problems with our squad. Yeah, we're not the coach but Popdamnit this is a free country and anyone is free to say whatever they want.We can say what we want but WE ARE NOT THE COACH
And if you don't like it, take your since 1975 Spur watching ass and scroll to the next topic.
This team has systemic problems that have been ongoing for multiple years now, and the only constant is Pop's refusal to deal with them or even acknowledge them.
Just more scapegoating, blaming it on injuries, and trotting out the same old unathletic retreads hoping for a different result. And anyone who questions Pop is blackballed.
Kevin O'Keefe, fired from the Express News for questioning Pop. Bruce Bowen calls out the fact that Finley absolutely blows and has no business playing PF, Bowen gets banished to the end of the bench while Finley gets abused on the low post. The list goes on and on.
, if we hadn't traded Finley he probably would have been playing power forward against Randolph this week (getting his ass kicked while doing it), and sycophants like yourself would have been here saying there's not a damn thing wrong with that.
This team, this city, and its fans deserve better. Tim Duncan deserves better than to go into a postseason in the twilight of his career with a retiring Dice, pansy choker Bonner, and 6'5" freaking Blair as its front court rotation.
And that's on Pop. He makes all the decisions for the Spurs, all the way up to offseason roster changes. If you don't want to hold him accountable for it, that's fine, but you have no right to tell us all we're not coach so we shouldn't have an opinion.
And if that's your only response to valid criticism (i.e. "well, we're not the coach, so there!"), then you just need to excuse yourself from the topic and quit wasting everyone's time.
The downright criminal thing with respect to Pop is we had Splitter rotting on the bench all season when everyone knew we needed size to compete. Arguing about Ian or Tolliver is just a diversion to the real problem with Pop's decisions with respect to our big men over the last several years.
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