Pop creating rotation players out of nothing

[Mr. Body]

Spurs have the only shot trainers? No other team has players that improve on their jumper?

Maybe a couple.

[baseline bum]

He was by far my favorite player... Spurs did him wrong, no doubt... Our FO has been doing a lot is silly stuff lately that even us called out.. So has pop... And to add insult to injury they coddled a guy who complained about touches even tho he choked in the playoffs... Then mishandle Kawhi's injury,imoly because they want to give Parker and ginobili one last hoorah at Kawhi's expense... And on top of that, imply to the media that he is faking... After he carried their sorry asses all year long... I'd be ing pissed too

Are you ing re ed? They gave Leonard and his camp complete control of his "rehab". If anyone mishandled the "injury" it was Leonard and his group since they're the ones who were in complete control since summer 2017.

[Hoops Czar]

Maybe a couple.

Kawhi would becone Chris Singleton, a career 4.1 ppg, 3.2 reb, .6 assists a game guy without the Spurs trainers? That's insulting.

[r0drig0lac]

Gotta give him credit. How many times has he done it? Forbes, Neal, Simmons, Splitter, etc. There are a bunch of rookies who, if they had been drafted by the Spurs, would've had an NBA carreer. Player development program is 2nd to none. Mute nephew would've never become the player that he is if he was drafted by another franchise.

wut?

[r0drig0lac]

Kawhi, in Charlotte, would have been MKG. MKG in SA would have been Kawhi. Physical gifts will only take you so far.

some of you really believe in this bull

[baseline bum]

R u serious? No other team has guys grow into great shooters?? U picked out two names in the past twenty years... And Parker was never a great shooter... He was just serviceable at best... U never had to go over the screens for Parker like u have to do for actual great shooters.. So if Kawhi was the ONLY person to exceed expectations with his skill level... Doesn't that tell u that it is Kawhi that made himself, and the Spurs only helped? Help that he would have gotten from any nba team? Spurs are very restrictive... They have much more busts than players they made great... And many times players have moved on to other teams and expanded their games... As I famously say... Curry would NEVER have been as good as he is now if drafted by the Spurs because Pop would neuter him and bench him the first time he pulled up from 40

Wow Spurs have drafted more busts than Hall of Famers. Profound insight. Because there are so many top 50 alltime players in each draft that they keep passing on.

[Mr. Body]

He'd be closer than to what he is now. Kenneth Faried is really the comparison. Or Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. A player that's really hard to put on the court in many situations. I don't think you, among others, realize how the Spurs made Kawhi into the player he is now, making his perfidy just insulting.

[baseline bum]

some of you really believe in this bull

There is no doubt Kawhi would have been a monster player elsewhere, but he was on track to be more Ben Wallace than LeBron James. That jumper of his was horrendous and why he was regarded a 3/4 tweener coming out of San Diego State.

[daslicer]

When people are angry they say dumb .

You must be very angry person since you tend to say stupid on the regular.

[exstatic]

some of you really believe in this bull

Absolutely. As bb stated, his shot was of he highest order. It was a flat catapult, launched from behind his head. They didn’t need much from him offensively. They could tear his shot down and rebuild it. Most teams wouldn’t have that luxury. The Spurs MAKE the time. That time that rookies spend in Austin? Part of that process.

[RC_Drunkford]

Do you re s not remember Kawhitter's shooting form and offense in general coming out of college?

The autistic re already had a great body, work ethic, and desire to be great but to suggest the Spurs didn't play a huge role in his development is laughable. Honestly, how many teams have the balls to do something as simple as going up to their 1st round draft pick and telling them "your form sucks, we are going fix it". Look at Gonzo with the Lakers. Or any other player with a terrible shooting form.

His postgame/fadeaway. Pop gave him tapes of guys like Kirby IIRC and had Forcier(?) tailor his workouts to that. Once the double teams came, he gave him tapes of Barkley to learn how to pass out of/read them. He and his agent wannabe unc are ungrateful s. Plain and simple. He'd be a ing nobody if he ended up in Sacramento or Orlando or any of the other perennial bottom dwellers.

this

[YGWHI]

Some players' shots just can't be fixed, tbh.

Because they aren't talented enough to change and fix their shots.

It's funny how people here talk about Kawhi's work ethic but ignore his talent.

I remember Chad Forcier saying that Kawhi was learning like a sponge, the staff showed Kawhi a move and he mastered it at the end of the practice.

[exstatic]

Players that weren’t mentioned: Malik Rose, picked up off of Charlottes scrap pile; Stephen Jackson, off of NJs scrap pile; Danny Green, off of Cleveland’s scrap pile.

[RC_Drunkford]

He talked to Pop because he had no choice... No one wanted him

the level of your re ness is really really high

[RC_Drunkford]

Because they aren't talented enough to change and fix their shots.

It's funny how people here talk about Kawhi's work ethic but ignore his talent.

I remember Chad Forcier saying that Kawhi was learning like a sponge, the staff showed Kawhi a move and he mastered it at the end of the practice.

He certainly is. But put Kawhi on the Orlando Magic or Phoenix Suns, put him on the Houston Rockets from his rookie year on, he wouldn't be as good as he is today. Pop even turned him into a clutch player. I remember when he called a 4 down iso-play for Kawhi to go against Aaron Gordon and Kawhi nailed the game winner. In the postgame interview he said "I just took a practice shot." Bet Pop told him to think of it like that. Kid used to be nervous clanking free throws. Spurs brought him along slowly. From Defensive stopper to 3-and-D to ball handler. The Spurs played a huge part in his development, that's a fact

[DAF86]

Because they aren't talented enough to change and fix their shots.

It's funny how people here talk about Kawhi's work ethic but ignore his talent.

I remember Chad Forcier saying that Kawhi was learning like a sponge, the staff showed Kawhi a move and he mastered it at the end of the practice.

For sure. Never said Kawhi wasn't talented or hardworking, tbh. I'm just saying that he needed a coaching stuff that guided all that talent and hardwork into the right path. Kawhi could have easily landed on a team that didn't care or didn't know how to fix his shot and his ceiling would have been greatly lowered. Kawhi owes the Spurs a whole lot.

[daslicer]

Some players' shots just can't be fixed, tbh.

I don't know why some Kawhi fans are getting so mad, what I'm saying about him isn't much of a secret, tbh.

Kawhi got drafted, Engelland told him to stop shooting it from behind his head, and that was it. Who knows if other teams would have dared to change his form. Who knows if other teams would have even played Kawhi since his rookie season. Remember that, for example, in Indiana Kawhi would have been behind George and Granger on the pecking order. Kawhi getting drafted by San Antonio is the best thing that could happen to him.

A lot of people don't factor in either that a lot of these coaches don't have the patience to develop a player. On the majority of bad teams it's feast or famine and these coaches want immediate results or they will bench you. A lot of coaches also tend to type caste players and don't allow them to go beyond their skill sets. I remember hearing Matt Barnes once say in an interview that when he was on the Sixers he would shoot a bunch of jump shots after practice. One day Coach Cheeks comes up to Matt after practice and says "I don't know why the you bother to work on your jumpshot since I ain't going to allow you to take them during the game. You can't make ."

Kawhi could very easily been in a Matt Barnes type of situation, and on a team that never could envision him as anything more beyond a defensive player. The Spurs had the vision for developing him into a 20 point scorer. Not even Kawhi believed he could be this good offensively. The Spurs coaching staff worked with him diligently and pushed him out of his comfort zone. Kawhi to his credit had the work ethic and talent to develop those skills but if he was on a bad team he probably never gets the guidance on how to acquire those offensive skills that he learned from the Spurs.

[YGWHI]

He'd be a ing nobody if he ended up in Sacramento or Orlando or any of the other perennial bottom dwellers.

The people who though he woud be a nobody without Pop's system...I feel bad for them. It's so hard them to realize and deal with the fact that Kawhi can play great anywhere.

For the record, Kawhi had a low 3P% but his shot wasn't that ugly. Like Chip said "We all talked (as a staff). I felt his shot didn’t need a full makeover. With just a tune-up, he could become a very good shooter, if not great shooter.”

[RD2191]

Kawhi was the main reason the Spurs went to back to back Finals. He doesn't owe the Spurs tbh. And before some asshat brings up offensive stats, Kawhi was the one going toe to toe with the likes of KD and LBJ. Two of the greatest players in NBA history. The salt in here is getting ridiculous. Kawhi would've been great wherever he landed, you guys are acting like these players don't have access to other coaches in the off-season.

[The Closer]

Bumass Kawhi was getting his pushed by rick carlisle and a couple of guards.

[KDKSpurs24]

The people who though he woud be a nobody without Pop's system...I feel bad for them. It's so hard them to realize and deal with the fact that Kawhi can play great anywhere.

For the record, Kawhi had a low 3P% but his shot wasn't that ugly. Like Chip said "We all talked (as a staff). I felt his shot didn’t need a full makeover. With just a tune-up, he could become a very good shooter, if not great shooter.”

I was a huge Kawhi fan. But there’s something y’all have to remember. And I remember the article. When they were about to put Kawhi on a workout plan in his rookie year Chip first asked Kawhi “do you want to be good or do you want to be great?”. Guess what? Kawhi had to GO HOME and think about it before giving an answer. That says there’s a possibility Kawhi really never thought about being great. And then once he told Chip he wanted to try being great the process began. So who knows what would have happened on another team.

[RD2191]

If PATFO is so great why did Green suck the past couple of seasons? Dude went from stud to scrub. What about Mills? Maybe PATFO should fix that piece of s shot.

[RD2191]

I was a huge Kawhi fan. But there’s something y’all have to remember. And I remember the article. When they were about to put Kawhi on a workout plan in his rookie year Chip first asked Kawhi “do you want to be good or do you want to be great?”. Guess what? Kawhi had to GO HOME and think about it before giving an answer. That says there’s a possibility Kawhi really never thought about being great. And then once he told Chip he wanted to try being great the process began. So who knows what would have happened on another team.

That's re ed. Kawhi has always stated he wants to be remembered as one of the greatest of all time.

[Hoops Czar]

If PATFO is so great why did Green suck the past couple of seasons? Dude went from stud to scrub. What about Mills? Maybe PATFO should fix that piece of s shot.

What about Murray?

[RC_Drunkford]

If PATFO is so great why did Green suck the past couple of seasons? Dude went from stud to scrub. What about Mills? Maybe PATFO should fix that piece of s shot.

Greens NBA career would've ended 7 years ago if it wasn't for Pop