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a lottery team, a paper tiger, and a defenseless overrated franchise that have all won jack ,Watch teams like Utah, Dallas, Phoenix
while Pop has won 3 rings.
Whats your point oompa/??
Pop was made EVP of Basketball Ops and GM by the ownership group, in 1994 (McCombs sold the team to the ownership group in 1993). Pop was held in very high regard by the group, at the time led vocally by Gen. McD (USAA).
After the heavily favored Spurs lost to Houston in the 1995 playoffs, Hill's refusal to double team Olajuwon and the Rodman tantrums were the most frequently used "reasons" for the Spurs' playoff demise. The next season, the way the Spurs were punked by Utah in the playoffs, "reasons" given for their loss was the Spurs inability to make stops and handle matchups. Utah's role players like Adam Keefe and Bryon Russell made the Spurs look hapless and soft. Changes were set in motion after those playoffs. The details that followed are questioned but Pop clearly felt like he needed to do something.
Fans who were still sore about the 2nd round dismissal earlier in '96 were not very upset when Hill was laid off. The timing of the move was questioned. Hill could have been dismissed prior to the '96-97 season, but following 2 consecutive 1st place finishes (62 and 59 wins respectively) Pop was reluctant. Pop had decided to model his team after Utah, but some of the Spurs players no longer "trusted", with "trust" being a key building block in Bob Hill's defensive scheme. The timing of Pop's replacement of Bob Hill will always be questioned, but the effectiveness of the move really should not be questioned. Why? Because, IMO, in 1996-97 - the Spurs went to "Pop's system" with Utah as the target to beat and model after...based on grit, hustle, determination, and most of all, a defense-first system.
The regular season wins may not look much different, but what really counts to Pop isn't regular season wins. It's playoff wins and in the playoffs, defense is key.
a lottery team, a paper tiger, and a defenseless overrated franchise that have all won jack ,Watch teams like Utah, Dallas, Phoenix
while Pop has won 3 rings.
Whats your point oompa/??
One more point, for emphasis. Since Pop took over, the Spurs ceased to exist as a "SOFT" team, a reputation that was hard to shake after so many years of charmin-like behavior.
I believe you, man. Just having fun.
Me too, Nos-T-Parkus.
That's as I remember it. I have always believed that the impetus for Hill's dismissal was much, much more about what happened against Utah in 1996 than what happened against Houston in 1995. The Utah series was the crucible for Bob Hill. As Solid D recounts, that series showed that the existing players and Bob Hill's philosophical approach were not compatible to assure great playoff success in a changing NBA. It was an embarassment for the 59-win Spurs; a worse flameout than 1995, I think. The Spurs won 2 games, but were fairly well annihilated by the Jazz in the 4 losses. (The Spurs lost the 4 games by 20, 30, 15, and 29). And it was all about the Jazz players -- all of them -- outworking a Spurs team that had claimed to have rid itself of demons like Rodman and that had made a mid-season deal (Charles Smith) to address the problems brought on by Rodman's departure.
If the failure in that series hadn't already made the point, I think that by mid-December of 1996, it was fairly apparent that what fueled Hill's success in San Antonio was the ability of David Robinson.
When you reach the realization that the pieces don't fit, teams don't often fire the players -- more often it's the coach that goes. In that case, it made absolute sense. That team needed to start over and needed a new philosophy for a game that was slowing down and becoming increasingly physical. That team was built to get up and down, but had no chance in slow-down, beat-em-up playoff games against teams like Utah that relished playing those sorts of games. Pop developed a new philosophy, realized that Hill couldn't coach to that philosophy, and slowly weeded out players -- by 1999 the only guys left from that 96 series were Robinson, Elliott, Johnson and Perdue -- to build the core that could execute that philosophy. That process was easily accelerated by drafting Tim Duncan, and that draft choice will prove to be Pop's finest moment. But he created the groundwork for what was to come by listening to his core (Robinson, Elliott, and Johnson) and going out to find complimentary pieces (in the early years, guys like Mario Elie, Jerome Kersey, and Malik Rose) who would play the way that Utah played. It worked, even though the net product never met those Jazz again after 1998. As much as I loved the Finals run in 1999, I still wish that Spurs team had played Utah in the West Finals -- it would have been sweet to see the Spurs reach the Finals by putting down Utah, and I have little doubt that the Spurs would have dispatched the Jazz in no more than 6 games.
I don't know about the rest of the old-timers, but I won't feel complete vengeance until we've beaten Houston and Utah in a series at least one time each on the way to a championship.
We've got the Laker and Blazer demons fairly well exorcised, but never beaten the Rockets or the Jazz in the playoffs.
I'll appoint myself an old-timer and say that I see that, but I guess it wouldn't mean as much to me anymore, given that Stockton and Malone and Olajuwon and Drexler are now former players.
Somehow, in my mind, beating an Andrei Kirilenko-led Jazz team or a Tracy McGrady-led Rockets team in a playoff series will never satisfy the demons of the mid-to-late 90's. It would be satisfying, but it would strike me as being similar to beating the Grizzlies or the Nuggets. For now, at least.
I think Malone's elbow to Robinson had something to do with it. After that season, Spurs got guys like Jerome Kersey and Mario Elie. I actually think that the elbos made management realize that the team need players who were not afraid to get physical and have a junkyard type mentality.
Screw the players. It's about making their fans suffer.
Actually, even going back to the ABA days, we still owe the Pacers (but have paid back the Nets).
For me, the win against Utah in the second to last regular season game to take over first place in 1999 exorcized most of my Utah demons. That game had every bit of the atmosphere of a Game 7 of a Conference Finals, and when the Spurs emerged victorious, it was evident (though maybe only in hindsight) that the historical momentum had shifted and that the Spurs would no longer be the Jazz' es.
Excellent comments FWD and I agree ShoogarBear, except it would have been more meaningful to us if had been during Hakeem's and Karl's heydays.
I truly believe that the last 4 games of the 1999 regular season marked a turning point for the franchise and was the first demonstration that the Spurs' under Popovich had acquired the sort of toughness they would need to win les.
The Spurs went into the last 4 games of that season with no margin for error. They had 2 at home first and then finished with 2 on the road. The 2 home games were played on a Saturday and Sunday, both at the Alamodome, against Portland and then Utah. The 2 road games were played the following week in Portland and at Golden State. The Jazz were 36-12 and primed to win the Midwest again. The Spurs were 33-13, and could only control their fate to win the division by beating Utah and not losing any of the other 3 games. Portland was 34-12 and was hanging around with a chance to get home court advantage, particularly because they had 2 with the Spurs and because the Spurs could knock off the Jazz.
The Spurs struggled that Saturday with the Blazers, but forced the game to OT and then found a way to win, mostly because Avery Johnson was gigantic in overtime. The Jazz had the luxury of sitting in San Antonio waiting for the Spurs, and many (including Bill Walton, who appeared on WOAI the morning of the Utah game) expressed a grave concern about the Spurs ability to beat a rested Jazz team. The Spurs, and mostly Tim Duncan, erased that concern with a huge early 4th Quarter run and beat the Jazz.
They went to Portland and in years past, would have suc bed to the pressure of having to win that game. In old Spurs form, they were down by almost 10 in the 3rd Quarter, but bounced back behind a huge David Robinson performance to get the game in the end (in looking at the box score from that game, the Spurs went 20-24 from the free throw line!!!) and to eliminate Portland. They still had to win at Oakland to tie Utah and take HCA by virtue of having won the season series. They trailed into the 4th Quarter of that game, but rallied and won going away to clinch the division and the #1 seed. David Robinson's 23 points and 20 rebounds were massive.
It was an incredibly exciting run and it typified everything that the Spurs had never, ever been before. It may have been the most important series of regular season games in Spurs' history and the success of that run played a huge role in the Spurs' winning the le in 1999, which forever changed the mentality of the franchise.
Psychic Pop?Pop foresaw Basketball god coming to town
Red McCombs ran Pop out of town after LB left. Why? Because he was connected to him and Red didn't want any of that.
Popovich is a lucky mofo for having Duncan and Robinson.
Then woe be unto us when he steps down.Psychic Pop?
Red's teams have won how many championships?
Counting the annual McCombs Ford vs. Benson Chevrolet tourney at Wonder Lanes?
When was I not sold on Coach Pop?
The season we had the STEEPEST single-season decline in NBA History (I could be wrong about that fact.)
When did I first show signs of being sold on Pop?
When the Spurs broke their own record for biggest single-season turnaround in NBA history (the steepest decline in history was actually followed up by the biggest single-season turn-around: That's something only the Spurs can claim). Those two seasons = repeat of Spurs history right there!
When was I finally convinced that firing Hill was the right decision?
The Spurs' first championship! That proved to me that Pop was just the head coach the Spurs were looking for: a playoff-minded coach. That's the difference between him and all the other Spurs coaches. Before the Championship season, the Spurs' playoff history wasn't really that great, though they did manage to make it to the Conference Finals a few times. But for the most part, they'd be second-round exits, at best. I know that between LB and Hill, there was somewhat revolving door of coaches (much the entire history of the franchise up to the day Pop took over), and I don't know if any of the between LB and Hill coaches were defensive-minded, or if any of the pre-LB coaches were defensive-minded, either. Pop learned from LB when he was on his coaching staff in Kansas AND with the Spurs. I guess those years with LB made Pop the defensive-minded coach he is today. And we all know LB is defensive-minded, and he probably had a couple of ABA championships, and had just won the NCAA championship when he signed with the Spurs, but failed to win ANY NBA Championship during a 26-year stretch until two seasons ago, becoming the first coach in History to win both an NCAA Championship and an NBA Championship.
That last paragraph translated to layman's terms = DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS! It's been proven, for the most part, throughout the history of the NBA. Just look at "His Airness." He is widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time, has six rings wrapped around his fingers won within an 8-year stretch. And it wasn't just because he hit lots of 3s or did his dunks with his body suspended higher in the air than any of the dominant big men who clogged the lane to try and stop him. It's also because he was an excellent defensive player in his prime.
Speaking of players on older rosters of teams, isn't one of the 94-95 Rockets, a known Spurs killer, at that, WITH THE SPURS NOW?!
And didn't ANOTHER one of them win a Championship with us?
David Robinson was out a long time when Hill was coach. The Spurs suffered in the Admirals absence.
The day Robinson came back...Pop took over.
Pop has been a great coach. Really great. But, I remembered that as being really a rotten thing to do, to anyone.
Of course...three championships have given me a little amnesia.
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