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Someone should send this to a certain Mr. Vescey.
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San Antonio coach is at the top of this Pop chart
Popovich runaway winner as top coach
By Chris Tomasson, Rocky Mountain News
February 16, 2005
SECOND OF A FIVE-PART SERIES
He is a graduate of the Air Force Academy and he is flying high in the NBA.
Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs is the best coach in the league. At least that's what a Rocky Mountain News survey of 151 NBA players, more than one-third of the league, has determined.
Popovich received 45 votes (29.8 percent), nearly twice as many as Detroit's Larry Brown, who steered the Pistons to the NBA le last season. Brown received 23 votes (15.2 percent).
"I love his team," Portland Trail Blazers forward Zach Randolph said of Popovich. "He's a winner and not just one year. . . . He consistently wins."
Popovich led the Spurs to NBA les in 1999 and 2003. At 40-12, San Antonio has the league's second- best record behind the Phoenix Suns and Popovich will coach the Western Conference on Sunday in the All-Star Game at the Pepsi Center.
"I got a chance to work under (Popovich) last summer in the Olympics," Utah Jazz forward Carlos Boozer said. "I was really impressed by how he tried to get everybody motivated. Just hearing him talk about his philosophies on basketball, I was really intrigued by."
Popovich was an assistant to Brown on the Athens Olympics team.
Brown's Pistons had some struggles early this season, but they have stepped up their play of late and have compiled the Eastern Conference's second-best record at 31-19.
"Larry Brown taught me how to play the game," said Chicago Bulls forward Antonio Davis, who played for Brown at Indiana from 1993-94 to 1996-97. "He was always teaching, even though he's yelling. I think he gets a lot out of you, whoever you are, if you want to play the right way and do things the right way."
Of the league's 30 coaches, 18 received votes. Players were not allowed to vote for their own coach.
The only other coach to receive 10 or more votes was Phoenix's Mike D'Antoni, who received 14 (9.3 percent). D'Antoni is in his third season as an NBA coach - he went 14-36 with the Denver Nuggets in 1998-99 - but has led the Suns to the NBA's best record at 41-12.
Nate McMillan, who has guided the Seattle SuperSonics to a big lead in the Northwest Division, and the Jazz's Jerry Sloan tied for fourth with seven votes (4.6 percent). Though the Jazz is struggling, Sloan, in his 17th season, long has been highly respected.
Who is the best coach?
• The Rocky Mountain News polled 151 players, more than one-third of the NBA, on a variety of issues. How they responded when asked who is the best coach in the NBA:
Coach, team Votes Pct.
Gregg Popovich, San Antonio 45 29.8
Larry Brown, Detroit 23 15.2
Mike D'Antoni, Phoenix 14 9.3
Nate McMillan, Seattle 7 4.6
Jerry Sloan, Utah 7 4.6
Stan Van Gundy, Miami 6 4.0
Rick Carlisle, Indiana 5 3.3
Don Nelson, Dallas 4 2.6
Mike Dunleavy, L.A. Clippers 3 2.0
Jeff Van Gundy, Houston 3 2.0
Others 10 6.6
No answer, undecided or coach no longer with team 24 15.9
NBA players on the league's best
What some NBA players surveyed in the Rocky Mountain News NBA poll said about the best coach in the league:
• On Gregg Popovich:
"Year after year, those guys are consistently one of the elite teams in the league."
- Robert Traylor, Cleveland Cavaliers forward
• On Larry Brown:
"I think he's regarded leaguewide as one of the best coaches. Obviously, it's justified because he won the championship."
- Raef LaFrentz, Boston Celtics forward
• On Mike D'Antoni:
"You can see what he's doing in the league right now. He's a smart coach. . . . He's a great coach and a great person."
- Nikoloz Tskitishvili, Denver Nuggets forward
• On Nate McMillan:
"(There's a) bunch of good ones, but some you don't expect to be good, then they are. Like (McMillan)."
- Bruno Sundov, New York Knicks center
• On Jerry Sloan:
"He does it every year. I know they're struggling right now. But he's the type of coach that drives his players. It was a privilege to play for him for 1 1/2 months (in 1997-98).
- Troy Hudson, Minnesota Timberwolves guard
Someone should send this to a certain Mr. Vescey.
boy the pop haters gotta hate seeing this.
It's good to read how others veiw him. I think San Antonio fans (me included) tend to look at the tree instead of the forrest
What's Kevin O'Keefe's email?
i was thinking the same thing....
does anyone happen to know/ have his email......?
ill send it to him in bold print (that a$$ munch)
good call. I think its:
stillcantgetoverhowpopscrewedmymanbobhill@bitterex sportswriter.com
. . . but I might have that wrong.
I have always noticed how many opposing players (Mike Bibby, Peja Stojakovic, and Dwayne Wade come to mind immediately) make the effort to go down and give Pop a hug or to say o or whatever before or after games. You don't see much of that with any other coach.
Also email AHF and Sequ and a few others in here.
dont go there Jim.
hey vescey, I guess your inside information on what the NBA players think of Pop is worth about as much as the toliet paper your hack column is written on.
miami
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