Reply With Quote
Well deserved. Still think a sabbatical wouldn't be bad but he can ride a final wave with his stars before that. Great job coach.
Just my impression, but I got the sense Pop suffered through the pageantry in order to acknowledge his coaching staff and the job they've done publicly. I don't know how many previous winners took their press photo with the entire staff holding a piece of the trophy, but I felt it was a nice gesture by Pop and RC.
Well deserved. Still think a sabbatical wouldn't be bad but he can ride a final wave with his stars before that. Great job coach.
no chip in the photo...
Pop’s way continues to shine
Fran Blinebury
SAN ANTONIO – For nearly two decades, there have been many different ways to describe the enduring success of the Spurs.
In the Alamo City, it’s known simply as Pop’s way.
It’s contentious and cranky, irascible and irreverent, insightful and often inventive.
Year after year, more than anything, it’s just winning.
Gregg Popovich was named the 2011-12 NBA Coach of the Year, the second time he has won the honor, once more validating a style and an at ude that permeates the Spurs organization.
“That’s probably overblown I’m sure,” Popovich said. “When you win a lot of things get attributed to you that you shouldn’t get full credit for and when you lose you get a lot of things you shouldn’t be blamed for.
“We’ve just been blessed with people who understand their priorities and are very team and community oriented. Our organization has also been blessed, as I’ve said many times, with incredible good fortune. If you can drafted David Robinson and follow that up with Tim Duncan, that’s a couple of decades of very, very possible success unless you just screw it up.
“It’s hard to take credit when the cir stances have gone your way so consistently. There are a lot of people who have been in cir stances that have not been in their favor that would be just as successful in this situation, but just didn’t have the opportunity. So we don’t pay much attention to that.”
However, so many of the players that have passed through the Spurs locker room and organization have paid attention. Just the other day, Stephen Jackson said the Spurs were “the most family team” of any in the league. Whether they are franchise icons such as Robinson or Duncan or Sean Elliott or role players like Steve Kerr and Danny Green or a rookie such as Kawhi Leonard, they note that there is a special at ude that starts at the top.
Popovich is the longes- tenured coach with the same team in all four major professional American sports and holds the best winning percentage of the longest tenured coaches (.679). In addition, his 847 victories with the Spurs ranks second all-time in NBA history for wins with one team, behind only Jerry Sloan in Utah with 1,127.
In his 16th season as head coach of the Spurs, Popovich guided San Antonio to a league-tying-best 50-16 (.758) record. The Spurs ranked second in the league in scoring (103.7 ppg) and point-differential (+7.2). In the second half of the season, however, the Spurs were the league’s most dominant team, posting an NBA-best 26-6 (.813) record while averaging league highs in scoring (108.3 ppg) and point-differential (+10.8). In the process, Popovich guided the Spurs to their 15th consecutive postseason berth, which is the longest active streak in the NBA. San Antonio won at least 50 games for the 13th straight season – all under Popovich’s tenure – surpassing the Lakers (1979-80 to 1990-91) for the longest streak in NBA history. The Spurs also set a franchise mark with three double-digit winning streaks.
“Pop has provided this whole organization with a vision and a clarity of purpose, as players, coaches and staff, that has put us in position to be successful,” said Spurs general manager R.C. Buford. “Through his hard work he’s taught us the importance of pounding the rock.
“For everybody who has been a part of our team he’s been a mentor and a friend, always stressing that the real rewards of the job come from caring for each other and trusting each other.
“This is a difficult profession, but Pop loves doing it. The challenges are unique for all 30 coaches and their teams. Pop and his staff have done a terrific job molding both the inexperienced and the experienced into a team we’re all proud to be a part of, at the same time developing relationships that will last our players a lifetime.”
For a coach with a resume that already includes four les, this has been arguably Popovich’s best season ever. Dealing with the added burdens of the post-lockout schedule, he rejuvenated a team with a veteran core around Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker, he worked the journeyman Green and the rookie Leonard into the starting lineup and, in the process, transformed the once-plodding Spurs into a high-octane offense. Yet he kept his core principles.
“We haven’t really changed our philosophy in the sense of what we think wins and what we want to emphasize,” Popovich said. “The pace was a little bit different. We probably had to be a little more simple. ‘Less is more’ is a big motto for us this year, because you can’t get in everything you want to get in. We’ve become a little bit more of an offensively-oriented team as we evolved. But other than that, the principles that we live by and things that we think should pay attention to have all remained the same.”
In the 50-year history of the Coach of the Year Award, only five of the past 49 winners have gone on to win the championship – Red Auerbach (1965), Red Holzman (1970), Bill Sharman (1972), Phil Jackson (1996) and Popovich himself (2003).
“The players I’ve had the privilege to coach have been incredible,” Popovich said. “The fact they allow me to coach them the way I coach them surprises me, almost on a daily basis.
“It’s a great group of people who, as I always say, have gotten over themselves. They come to practice; they play the games; we win, we lose, we go home. They do it wonderfully and Timmy is the guy who is in charge of all that. He sets the tone for our players and our success.
“Although all of us have a part of it here, those are the guys who get it done. They are the most important part of what we do and they’ve done it wonderfully. Win or lose, they do it with class. They do it the right way.”
That is, Pop’s way.
http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/0...nues-to-shine/
just watched the video...guess family comes before the organization, really gotta question his prioritiesno chip in the photo...
no chip in the photo...I did notice that Pop lumped Chip in with Jacque Vaughn and not Bud/Brown/Newman.just watched the video...guess family comes before the organization, really gotta question his priorities
Chip was at the hospital. His wife was having their second child...
Chip is so overrated as a shooting coach.
to be fair Bud/Brown/Newman all sit on the bench and contribute heavily to the coaching within games. Chip has always been known as the shooting specialist, he is extremely valuable and while his role has grown over the years it remains limited. Bud, Brown, and Newman are your prototypical assistant coaches, whereas the rest of the bunch, while highly useful, serve more periphery roles. I honestly dont know what Jacque's role is though, I've always sorta thought of him as an assistant to the coaches rather than an assistant coach, but I readily admit thats purely an assumption out of ignorance on my part.
I know, did you see the second one?
lighten up mate
In CIA Pop, We trust!
In '03, Pop had an obscene amount of talent on the team and they didn't always exactly play to their full potential, so that might be why. This year's team is really a squad to be proud of and everything has fallen perfectly into place. I'm glad he's basking in it.
Pure. Class. Organization.
Well deserved.
They are grooming him for something. If he doesn't get hired by another team (he prob will eventually), I'm sure he'll move to the bench once Pop retires.
But I thought Pop was senile and had lost it since ~2007? How did he manage to win this ??
Why arent we playing today?
I want to see the award ceremony godammit !!!!!!!
Congrats Coach Pop! You deserved it. Drive For Five!
Congratulations Pop!
Thoroughly deserved. He should have more than 2 CoY awards IMHO.
Well deserved. Especially after demoting Blair!
Pop earned it. He should have 4 if they were in the spotlight more often.
Considering the cir stances this year, there is no other coach that deserves it more than Pop. He turned this bottom feeding playoff team into legit contenders in a matter of a few months. Amazing transformation with Pop as one of the main architect. Couldn't be happier to be able to watch this season unfold the way it did. Might challenge 2005 as my favorite season...
As soon as Pop tricked EVERYONE into believing that Splitter had no chance at starting alongside Duncan against the Lakers, then did it and in' crushed them twice in the middle of such a ridiculous schedule...I knew he was COY.
I liked the metaphor last year of Pop being the skipper on a tiny boat that everyone thought would sink, only to come out with the #1 seed in the west. This year, he's like a painter that's got all these pretty colours (like the colour Green and the colour Kawhi) and he's painting with an uncanny flow. Then the way he's integrated additional scenery like Diaw and Jackson...and suddenly you realize Pop is attempting to paint the most vicious, depraved, and violently sadistic masterpiece the NBA has ever seen - in blood.
And I like it. Congrats Pop!
Amazing how good you suddenly look when you play your young players and don't set guys up to fail.
And Well deserved.
Now give the Executive to R.C., put Tony in the Top 4 MVP and First or Second Team All-NBA, and put Leonard in the top 3 for Rookie of the Year.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
