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True. He would.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/bas...6/18/fcp_elie/
Posted: Friday June 18, 1999
Elie became a free-agent this off-season, Johnson suggested to the Spurs that they go after his friend.
They did -- and the Spurs got off to a 6-8 start.
That's when Elie stepped in.
"I challenged our big guys. I told them 'As they go, we go,'" Elie said. "I said 'You guys are not playing up to your capabilities.' I said what I said. And it was the truth."
At one point, center David Robinson asked Johnson why Elie was so mad. He even wondered whether Elie was really happy in San Antonio.
Johnson told Robinson that Elie was hacked off because Robinson wasn't playing well.
"Avery told him, just like that," Elie said. "But we turned it around because of them [Robinson and Tim Duncan]. Tim took it to another level, and Dave stepped back and became the second man behind Tim."
Since the slow start, the Spurs have won 43 of their last 49 -- including 11 straight in the playoffs. MORE THAN ANYONE ELSE ON THE TEAM, ELIE IS CREDITED WITH TURNING THE PREVIOUSLY "SOFT" SPURS INTO THE POWER THAT THEY ARE.
There are those that actually followed the team back then...and then are those that believe Don Harris and NBA ass kissing er...fluff pieces.
True Spur fan remembers it happening...True Spur remember just about everybody in SA and on the Spurs coming down on Elie when he called the team soft at 6-8...It was in the Express News and Elie took all the Heat...Then he went out and started playing tough azz D and nailing daggers any time the team started to lose confidence.
The transformation of the Spurs from perennial nice guys to mentally tough happened the year Elie came here...and more importantly, the demarcation point coincides exactly with Elie blasting the team at the 6-8 point of the season.
And Pop still uses Elies speech once per season to this day.
Mario Elie will never get the credit he deserves for his role in the Spurs transformation...but make no mistake about it, he was the guy that taught the Spurs what it took to win a championship...and how to back it up. Exactly where was AJ supposed to have gotten that experience from? Getting his head stomped in by Sam Cassell?
True. He would.
Elie merely reinforced what AJ had been saying. BFD.
We get it.
Coyote > Mario Elie > DRob > Sean Michaels > > Elliott > AJ
And that, ladies and gentleman, should tell you how much haterade whottt consumes on a daily basis.
I haven't seen anyone ever try to take props away from Mario Elie.
Of course, you ignore the fact that Elie was pissed because Robinson was playing too soft.
Um false...that would probably have been the only thing that could get me to stop being a Spur fan...
But I wonder how many of you were thinking it would be a good idea to replace the Admiral with CWebb....GhostWriter...are you here?
AJ needed someone to back him up since the team's two most talented players shunned the team leadership role. This is why AJ was so important. On most le teams the franchise player is also the team leader. Lakers w/Magic, Bulls w/MJ, Celtics w/Bird. Not so with the Spurs.
In all honesty, I recognized that before I posted it. But it was much more fun to go for the one-liner.
EDIT: However, what I said is probably accurate for quite a few other posters here.
Last edited by ShoogarBear; 05-09-2006 at 02:48 PM.
Well I can show you it being done about 30 times in this thread...every time someone claims it was Avery Johnson that lead us to that le.
Of course, you ignore the fact that Elie was pissed because Robinson was playing too soft.
Oh I don't ignore it...Difference between Mario Elie and Avery Johnson is that Mario Ele went out and backed it up and hit his ing open shots, again and again and again, the bigger the shot, the truer it flew. He may not have made another shot for an entire game...but he hit those daggers.
And furthermore...Mario Elie defends David Robinson more than any Spur player, including Elliott and Avery, ever has.
No you ing , people claim that AJ had a siginficant role in winning that le and assmunches like you who couldn't play, coach or scout their way out of a wet paper bag are unable to grasp that.
Oh I don't ignore it...Difference between Mario Elie and Avery Johnson is that Mario Ele went out and backed it up and hit his ing open shots, again and again and again, the bigger the shot, the truer it flew. He may not have made another shot for an entire game...but he hit those daggers.
And furthermore...Mario Elie defends David Robinson more than any Spur player, including Elliott and Avery, ever has.
Funny, especially considering that ME had a hand in the two most serious playoff punkings that David Robinson's soft ass play led to.
Geez Atrain...don't take it so seriously man. What are you? Insane.
Go have nice cup of AJ's and put on your Mav's shirt...you'll feel better.
Whew, the nutcases are getting a little rowdy around here...
Ok Shoogar where were we...
Notice...I don't hate Mario Elie...even though he didn't finish his career here, left us for another team as an assistant coach and has a rather abrasive personality...and was on the wrong end of a Spurs ass kicking.
Point disproved.
Funny, I take it seriously in one thread. You take it seriously for years. You are the King of Grudges. I bet you're still pissed off at Santa Ana, Mr. Puro San Antonio.
That's because Elie came and DRob got off the schnod. so you associate him only with the championship.
If Elie had suffered here for 6-7 years of futility prior to Duncan's arriving, he'd be in the same hatebin for you along with AJ.
IF my aunt was my uncle she wouldn't bump her ass when she jumps...or some like that.
If Hedo had hadn't been a choker I wouldn't hate his worthless azz either.
Touch it...I dare you.
And furthermore...
If Manu was a choker I wouldn't like him near as much as I do.
Congrats, you found me out...I don't like players that suck and I like ones that don't. Scuse me while I hide my head in shame.
When did AJ "choke" in that playoff run? What a stupid ing argument. Sniff freon much?
Strangely, you just described yourself. If you think Mario Elie wasn't all a bigger factor, if nothing else, in the leadership and toughness categories to the '99 le than AJ, you are way beyond help. I never said any of the things you ascribe above. I like AJ. I'm not going to publicly suck his on the message boards as any shred of my credibility dissolves. You are welcome to do what you like.
You miss my point, which was that if Elie had been here before TD the Spurs still wouldn't have had any championships. Does that make him a choker?
Elie put AJ's way over the top on that team. That team had way too few hardasses like AJ and Elie and too many great talent/soft types.
Depends on if he(Elie) had hit the shots AJ didn't while Drob was being double teamed.
On second thought scratch that...Mario could defend. He gets a free pass because he could actually do sometrhing on the court to contribute to the win, other than nutride and run his mouth.
Ironically...Elie wasn't a very good 3 shooter until Rudy T told him to work on it...Amzing what a little effort can do towards producing a championship.
Who do you think was setting up DRob and his weak post game with scoring opportunities every night? Maybe if DRob had worked a little harder on a low post move...
...or a #1 pick with a post game and other players willing to be vocal leaders.
Mario backed it up, AJ didn't. AJ...didn't.
AJ talked tough, but was softer and got busted on his defensive asignment more than any guy on the team, and he was always the one being dared to shoot...
I mean you aren't gojng to now try and argue that AJ's shot feared are you?
Watch the playoffs sometime...watch how teams defend in the playoffs...
Anyone can get out there and run their mouth without actually nutting up when they are left wide open for their entire career...That doesn't make them hard, that doesn't make them a leader...that makes them a mouth.
But hey, you and Pop already said it better than I ever could...
AJ was a coach on the court. Describes his play to a T.
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