Spurs: How good is Popovich really?

[140]

[ambchang]

He was assistant coach for two years and head coach of the Bulls for nine years. Many would argue it was Jerry Krause who burned the franchise. And many would argue it is Jim Buss that has been the Lakers problem not PJ or how he left them.

Phil Jackson capitalized on the Krause vs. players environment, and Kukoc was basically the sacrifice in all of this. Shaq and Kobe feud was another tension that Jackson capitalized on for the short terms gains. MVPau being thrown under the bus repeatedly also led to the image of the Lakers willing to bend over backwards to accommodate Kobe, leading to $48.5 and the inability to recruit any FA of note. Is it all Phil, no, but he certainly had a hand in it.

Not to mention his power struggle with Jerry West, which forced the man out.

Pop has the longest current tenure with one team and that deserves some credit I guess but there are only a handful of coaches that stayed with a single team more than a decade. Off the top of my head I can only think of Sloan to be in the same ballpark with Pop with regards to single team tenure so that is pretty much a ridiculous argument.

So to say Jackson would have won more than 5 in place of Pop is ridiculous as well, because he couldn't have that tenure on the Spurs, or any other team for that matter.

Regardless, PJ has better winning percentages over what is basically the same amount of time spread between two teams. And head to head there is no debate. I'll take wins over all else including longest single team tenure, development, or front office skills.

While the Spurs had the best winning percentage of all of sports since 1997. And what does h2h have to do with anything about individual abilities? Jackson had Shaq and Kobe at their primes when the Spurs only had Duncan and a declining Robinson, MVPau years were when the Spurs were at their worst (relying on Ime Udoka as the cornerstone). The Spurs were always in contention, while the lakers just can't even make the playoffs in the years the Spurs went all the way (05, 14, sucked in 07). Besides, D'antoni is 2-0 vs. Jackson, so?