no change at all
Way way better imo.
I mean with 5 Championships with Duncan it's gonna be a huge legacy no matter how many more car wrecks he causes beyond 2015-20.
But imagine if he retired after 2014.
Probably worse than it is now. The last three years haven't been good, but the 2016 team was really, really good, at least on par with those 2004 and 2006 Spurs teams that were much closer to a ring than their second-round exits would indicate.
The 2017 team was also highly likely to be up 1-0 on the Warriors if Number Two didn't get Zaza'd, with at least a puncher's chance to take the series.
I think really this was his first year where you could challenge his legacy. Pop owned Pringles and had us up 1-0 in the WCF if Kiwi didn't get hurt. Last year I saw the writing on the wall with Pop and his coaching, but we still made the playoffs, went to 7 against the 2 seed and put up a valiant effort. This year was a show but if he retires with #1 in coaching wins. #2 in playoff coaching wins. Along with his 5 championships and 22 years of making the playoffs. That is a better legacy than retiring in 14.
2017 "highly likely" to be up 1-0? Golden State can shove it up their gay cheating asses. No way in the Spurs with Kwa Leonard 2016 version were gonna blow that lead. The Warriors were completely defeated. Not only in points, but their gay spirit was killed. Reason i didn't put in OP and while i give Pop mega credit for 16, it was super obvious the Warriors and most likely Zaza (or Donkey Green) were gonna try to hurt Kwa. Called it during game. Pop has zero street ball experience so didn't see it coming. I would have warned Kwa don't go up for a jumper if that is within 15 feet of you. And if cir stances call for it, making the shot and just prepare to land in a way that protects you.
A most disgusting turn of events in NBA history. Pop could have very well had #6 and the legacy would have been epic. Kwa stays, Spurs life is beautiful. Overated POS Warriors are put in their place. Uber got Kevin Durant gets even more then he got.
His legacy is secure. 3 to 5 years after his retirement any of the "bad" seasons will be forgotten and folks with just remember the playoff streak and the five championships.
I guess the question is what do you care about more: what the ol' sport has done throughout his whole career or what he'd done lately?
Pop's legacy is secured at this point. What the Spurs are going through now was something people predicted for the longest of time.
he's already regarded as the GOAT coach by many and top 3 all-time at worst with Red/Riley. Phil's legacy took a hit with his trash management of NYK imho. so either way it wouldnt change anything
....unless he pulls a Feel Jackson
So Kornyslob you're saying PJ did take a hit with after coaching GM bomb at New York.
Yet Pop takes no hit with Bryn Forms, Patty n Pau?
One of the GOAT coaches, clearly behind Phil, Red, Pat Riley -- since Riley won with 3 different franchises (yo 94 game 7, he won that ish). But on the level/better than guys like Chuck Daly, Don Nelson, Jerry Sloan, his mentor Next Town Brown, etc. A level above current HOF coaches D'Antoni (you lol but he is a HOFer due to his innovations he brought to the game), Rivers, Carlisle. Also above guys like Rudy T, Hubie Brown, Adelman, Bud, Kerr, Byron Scott, Flip Saunders.
Idk about all that, granted I'm not some student of the game but Phil won with stacked teams. I don't think any coach has done more with less than Pop has tbh.
That's always going to be the SpurFan argument and it isn't a bad one. But he beat the living out of Pop H2H.
https://www.poundingtherock.com/2014...jackson-part-1
Also see this guy (not a Spur Fan) argument. It's a pretty good one.
https://www.quora.com/Whos-a-better-...Gregg-Popovich
Poppovich is an amazing coach as well, but Pop never had to manage the same kind of egos that Phil did. He had Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli. Those are probably four of the most coach-able and team minded star players in the league at their respective times. He was pretty lucky in his own right, to have landed cornerstone pieces like that. Sure they were not on the level of MJ, Kobe, Pippen, or Shaq, but Pop's team's weren't bereft of star power by any means. Duncan is a top 8 player of all-time, and Robinson is at least top 30. All of them were great talents who were unselfish and coachable.
Pop was great at X's and O's too, and always knew how to take guys with one distinguishable skill, and maximize the out of their production. In this aspect, I think he is better than Phil, who fell back on the triangle a lot and really never strayed away from it. Pop was never afraid to change his strategy to adapt to the team's strengths. He moved Duncan to "center" when Robinson left, he let Manu play PG when Parker hadn't figured it out yet, and he made Parker the leader of the team as Manu and Timmy started to age and fade.
The biggest knock against Pop's teams is that they never won back-to-back championships. Granted, it is hard to do that, but still, Phill has three 3-peats and a back to back. The 1st time you win the le with a team, you are hungry, so it is much easier. The 2nd and 3rd times though? It's really hard to stay motivated for that kind of run. Phil was able to do that with every one of his teams. That speaks volumes about the kind of motivator and leader Phil is.
His legacy will take care of itself. All I care about is what he's gonna do next season.
I have said for a while in here that Pop is overrated but I don't respect any of Phil's Laker les. He had great help from the refs in '00 and '02 against the Blazers and Kings. That was the deciding factor in those series. Easy to win back to back when you are able to steal les that you don't deserve to win. He lucked out in '10 when Perkins got his knee blown out by Kobe. If that injury doesn't happen Celtics beat the Lakers. During his Laker run he was very lucky. Spurs never got the bail outs from refs and opponent injuries to win back to back.
I agree. Spurs also went 2-1 against the Dubs in the regular season and blew them out on opening night. They would've destroyed the biggest super team ever assembled and Pop would've had undeniable GOAT status
I think Pop will ultimately rank fairly evenly with Phil, Red and Pat Riley. I kind of see them as the Big 4 in NBA coaching history. You could argue that each one excelled in different ways; Riley has the les with 3 clubs as you mentioned; Phil was the ego manager and stacked up tons of les; Red had the Celtics long championship run. Pop has the long playoff streak, les in 3 decades, the only one of that group to have small market success.
In 10 years no one will give a about the post 2018 spurs, considering Kawhi is gone they aint expected to do anyway. No one is going to remember Brent Forms but in 10 years people will still on Jackson for doing a job as a GM in NY and setting the franchise back a decade (again)
his first move as GM was signing a drugged up Lamar Odom and then signing Derek Fisher as his HC
Agreed. Jackson stole money from the Knicks. He wasn't all in to actually do the job. I have heard he was just doing it for the money so he could help his adult children.
Legacy would have been the Goat coach then. Legacy is the Goat coach now.
Riley and Phil didn't do anything but manage ego's... Phil embarrassed himself so much in New York with his basketball decisions that I legit think that if it wasn't for Tex Winters Phil would have been one of the tallest bust drivers or mall security guards in history
What's his legacy now? He is easily top 5 all time..
If Riley had won in NY he might have gone down as the GOAT Coach.. Knicks were close in 94, and that was the exact opposite of showtime in LA..
The same as it is now unless you ask the trolls around here who will try to find any excuse to bury Pop.
By far the most important job for a coach is managing personalities.
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