Gotta agree with Pop, Memphis did "manhandle" the Spurs in many ways throughout the series. Their defense and overall effort was more than excellent as well.
Last edited by Cane; 04-30-2011 at 05:09 PM.
To those calling 4 pop's head, be careful what u wish 4.......when the spurs start 2 become regulars on the lottery & cannot make the playoffs or endure yrs of losing recorfds, many will be clamoring 4 pop or wished spurs had a coach like pop...........
I'm with Bruno on this one... you think you would hear at least a bit of owning up to the mistakes, but nothing... unfortunately, this is what happens when you surround yourself with yes men...
Yup, I didn't get that "lost and confused" impression at all.
Not sure what else he could've said that would've meant anything either. The series was enough and he saw the same "manhandling" we all did.
Pop is not going anywhere. He IS the Spurs, he is the best coach in the damn NBA. If he was to go, then what? Will the Spurs get the chance to get a coach of Pop's calibre again anytime soon? I dont think so.
But, you people know everything much better than Pop and you all would have done a better job than him of course, you obviously exactly know what he should have done.
"Pop is senile, Pop sucks, he is delusional, he is a clown, he made mistakes, he should have done this, he should have done that"
Pop knows what he is doing and Spurs fans should be blessed to have such a coach.
Ec- ing-xactly.
I wouldn't waste too many characters addressing the knee jerk meltdowns.
Everything you guys about omits the other team. Pop does not. Nor did Manu, Tim, Tony, and everyone else with an ounce of a brain. Pop is the best coach we have ever had and it's time you Spurs fans suck it up. If Pop says we lost lost some things that hurt us when Tim and Manu suffered injuries, then I am more apt to believe Pop than you Monday morning quarterback who because we are out of it. The main reason we are out of it are the Memphis Grizzlies. And I am excited about watching them the rest of the way.
I have thoroughly enjoyed the Spurs for all the years we have had Pop as their coach. I would never ask that any other coach take over. Pop is the best.
Have a great weekend, whiners.
Pop is the best...enjoy the next few years of Bonner ball!!!!
Yay!
Maybe Pop can bring Finley back-since Finley singlehandedly brought us a le and showed true allegiance in the end.
No, he is not.
One day he will have to go, then what ? The franchise will survive after Pop and the franchise will have to figure out sooner or later to do so.
I'm grateful to Pop for all these success years but thats the past. The franchise needs to move on and IMO the sooner the better. His past successes don't mean he is imune to criticism. I'm sorry but he lost it.
Well it is already starting.
Pop making excuses for his terrible choke job. And it appears the Spurs management are going to let him stay and continue ruining the Spurs.
Injuries??? Really Pop? Was the Grizz not injured? GTFOH
Who played Manu in a meaningless game? POP!
Who matched Bonner on Z-bo for 20 mins until he had 5 fouls and put them in the penalty early? Pop!
Who didn't matched TD on Z-bo until the last few mins of the game? Pop!
Who refuse to take away their first option, Z-Bo with double teams or what ever? Pop!
If there was ever a coach begging to be fired or retired, I don't care how you say it. It's Gregg "wino" Popovich.
This dude ruins the Spurs with his RJ and Bonner BS experiment, then tells us that it was injuries to blame, why he was the highest rated 1 seed to lose to 8 seed. He blames it on injuries.
Wow. At least be a man about it. What a choking weasel.
Injuries??? PAHLEASE
to all of you who say pop is the best coach, yes he WAS the best coach im not a kid i know how bad it was losing half of my life as a spurs fan, however pop is no longer motivated/or able to motivate his players and that to me is DONE!
instead you have manu gionobili stepping up and telling pop we need to have a better season, and all sorts of signs that point to the players being frustrated with pop. i know for a fact pop is no longer what he was nor does he care about basketball the same way, he just got out coached by the grizz. head coach and i still dont remember that mans name that tells you something!
im sorry his name may be pop but it might as well be d antoni/van gundy/larry brown/ cause what it comes down to is winning or losing and were losing just like all the other coaches who arent AMAZING !hes no different in fact he has no excuse with this team and his prior knowledge either hes on drugs or a very bad alcoholic and needs help cause hes not the pop i remember!! screw this arrogant drunk that isnt a good coach to me!
Of course he is not immune to criticism. Of course you can critize him, that's not the point. I'm sure pop has made mistakes, that's normal, but to question him as a coach and to call him all kinds of crap things like a re , face, senile, he needs to go etcetera..... that's just ridiculous.
So is it another year of counting on Bonner? Hopefully Spurs can get a high lottery pick next year.
I agree a lot of guys around here showed huge lack of respect beginning with me but I maintain he needs to go, he is a great coach but there is a time when you need fresh air and fresh ideas especially in a rebuilding process
Matt bonner.
Pop may still be in the throes of shock, stemming from the stunning defeat at the hands of the Grizzlies. However, if he really believes the Spurs lost due to bad luck, injuries, and such, he is totally delusional. He has no one blame for this but himself.
The questions I pondered, in my mind, all throughout the year, while the Spurs were racking up wins, is one that I will again repeat here, "what was Pop thinking by bringing an undersized, over-aged frontline into this season, thinking that he could challenge for western conference supremacy?" "Why is Duncan still the tallest, best, frontline player on the roster, at age 35?" I ask what was he thinking because it was so obvious just how much Duncan had fallen off the cliff in last year's playoff series versus the Suns, when they ceremoniously swept out the Spurs and ran circles around Duncan.
By choosing to ignore what we all witnessed, and by electing to surround a declining Duncan with the likes of Blair, Bonner and Dice, and by not forcibly integrating Splitter into the rotation, he severely compromised his team's chances for a deep playoff run. Same thing for him investing another 4 years in Bonner. Same thing for him investing another 4 years in RJ. By having 4 inconsistent, non-producing players in its rotation (Bonner, Blair, RJ, Hill), any hopes of a deep playoff run were simply fool's gold. The Spurs had a raggedy foundation, which meant they never really had a legitimate chance to get to the mountain.
Seriously, what happened to this pop guy ? He used to be quite smart and knowledgeable
Much of the "loss of rhythm" seems to have been self-inflicted. The Spurs lost their edge, not by happenstance or misfortune, but according to plan. They attempted a controlled withdrawal into the playoffs. That usually doesn't work on the battlefield, or in the NBA -- the Spurs were best when charging toward the finish to secure their playoff lives.
But Pop decided that having team playing at the top of their game wasn't as important as the team resting and staying healthy. Ironically, the plan produced just the opposite result. Keeping players out of games completely toward the end of the season (rather than just limiting minutes) may have backfired.
Both Tim's ankle injury and Manu's arm injury came the first game back after sitting out, and not even dressing for, a game. Maybe that's just coincidence, but it also may be that keeping older players loose and in rhythm (even for only 10-12 minutes/game) is better than sitting them out completely and then bringing them back cold and "out of rhythm."
Not only did both of Tim's and Manu's injuries came in the first game back, they also occured in the first couple of minutes of the return game after sitting the game before (as I recall). Perhaps because the players weren't in "rhythm" (there's that word again) after sitting out games? Injuries usually don't happen to players who are loose and warmed up, but rather to those who are cold and rusty. And when do those injuries usually happen? Right when the overly-rested player first returns to action after the layoff.
The ultra-conservative approach even extended into the playoffs and may have further robbed the team of its rhythm. The decision not to suit up Manu for Game 1 may have cost the series (it looks especially suspect when we saw how well Manu played the rest of the series). Does anyone think that merely dressing Manu for Game 1, or playing him with an injury to a non-weightbearing joint, was overly risky? Instead, the decision not to have him dressed for action, even if simply to sit on the bench and wait for his moment, appears overly conservative, again sending a message and sapping the team's aggressiveness in the first game of the playoffs.
Pop is a great coach, the best the Spurs ever had by a long shot, but this year it looks like he violated many of his own protocols regarding staying hungry and aggressive. Instead, he tried to finesse it going into the war that is the playoffs.
The result? The injuries didn't case a lack of rhythm as Pop implies. Rather, the willingness to abandon that rhythm likely caused the injuries in the first place. And an all too early end to the season. Such irony.
THIS.
Only Pop and his YES flock can continue to hide their head in the sand.
You're right. We should shut down the forum. Coming off our fourth consecutive season without a ring, and an offseason where Pop clearly showed he knows what he's doing by giving Bonner and Jefferson a combined $50 million dollars, Pop is clearly above reproach.
Thanks for setting us straight.
Quite a solid take. Sticking your fingers in your ears and head in a hole in the ground doesn't make you right.
This team is 0 for 4 the past four seasons because Pop thinks a combination of 86 year old Antonio McDyess, 6'5" Dajuan Blair, and pussy ass Matt Bonner is a winning frontcourt rotation when standing next to Tim Duncan.
This in a western conference full of huge front lines in LA, Memphis, and Oklahoma City. It's no coincidence that LA suddenly became champs after making the moves to trot out a Gasol/Odom/Bynum frontline.
Meanwhile, we trot out a 6'5" center and a redheaded whiteboy who can't shoot his way out of a paper bag in the playoffs and got punked repeatedly by Memphis at the defensive end, and you Pop loving nitwits sit here and try and mock anyone who criticizes Pop.
As Pop often likes to say about his rookies, you guys need to get over youselves.
Quite a solid take. Sticking your fingers in your ears and head in a hole in the ground doesn't make you right.
This team is 0 for 4 the past four seasons because Pop thinks a combination of 86 year old Antonio McDyess, 6'5" Dajuan Blair, and pussy ass Matt Bonner is a winning frontcourt rotation when standing next to Tim Duncan.
This in a western conference full of huge front lines in LA, Memphis, and Oklahoma City. It's no coincidence that LA suddenly became champs after making the moves to trot out a Gasol/Odom/Bynum frontline.
Meanwhile, we trot out a 6'5" center and a redheaded whiteboy who can't shoot his way out of a paper bag in the playoffs and has spent his entire career here in SA in the playoffs getting abused at the defensive end, and you Pop loving nitwits sit here and try and mock anyone who criticizes Pop.
As Pop often likes to say about his rookies, you guys need to get over yourselves.
I really hope that Pop does away with this "Emperor's new clothes" type approach. There's a reason the team lost their rhythm ... their offensive strategy can be easily disrupted by a playoff-style defense. If it wasn't Memphis, it would have been OKC or LA or even the Mavs. This does not work in the playoffs.
He does acknowledge the size advantage and defensive intensity of the Grizz. Good for you Pop - now can you try and add these aspects to the Spurs?
No, what's ridiculous is Pop's continued reliance the last several years on washed up losers like Finley, Bonner, and Jefferson. And his inability to acknowledge those mistakes for what they are and move on.
Everyone with a brain could see that RJ and Bonner were scrubs. Pop had an opportunity to let Bonner go and not extend Jefferson last summer, but instead of admitting those failures in talent assessment / fit in the system, he went out and added three more years of Spurs basketball for those two.
So he deserves every bit of criticism for that, because he compounded his original mistake in going out and getting two mental midgets thinking they would contribute in the playoffs.
Matt Bonner was the last guy off the bench in scrub ass Toronto for crying out loud, and he's our sixth man? LOL.
Oh, and I'm sorry, but there's at least 6-7 coaches in this league right now who I'd take in a heartbeat over Pop. He used to be the best coach in the NBA, but the last four years have seen him abandoned the focus on defense that got this franchise four rings in favor of some Don Nelson/Larry Brown hybrid model of overreliance on aging veterans and crack induced rotations.
Not surprisingly, we have zero rings to show for it.
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