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  1. #1
    Starter off the bench Uriel's Avatar
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    Coming into the season, the Spurs were expected to take a step forward from last year when they went 48-34 and came within a game of making the 2nd round. With the return of Dejounte Murray, the addition of Lonnie Walker, and an extra year of experience playing together under their belts, many people in this forum predicted the Spurs would be even better this year than last (timvp even had the team winning 50 games and making the 2nd round).

    Now, there are a number of reasons why that hasn’t happened. But one leading reason I think everyone here can agree on is Popovich’s coaching. For some inexplicable reason, Pop seems to have lost the ability to coach in the summer between last season and this season.

    Now, Pop can still occasionally show flashes of brilliance when the situation calls for it. His ability to game plan for an opposing team (when he actually bothers to do so) is still among the best in the league. His out-of-timeout play calls remain elite. But his rotations are just so outrageously terrible, they’re probably the single biggest reason why the Spurs have underachieved so dramatically this season.

    Three reasons stand out to me as to why Popovich has regressed so terribly. The first is the departure of key assistants in Ettore Messina and Ime Udoka. The second is age. But the third is actually one that’s less obvious: his coaching stint with Team USA last summer.

    My theory is that Team USA’s disastrous run in the 2019 FIBA World Cup has completely gotten to Popovich’s head, so much so that it has impeded his ability to coach the Spurs this season. Maybe he’s still reeling from the loss. Maybe he only has the Olympics (and not the Spurs) on his mind. Maybe he took the deluge of criticism to heart and lost confidence in his coaching prowess.

    Whatever it is, it seems to me that Popovich’s disastrous run as coach of Team USA has messed with his mind and impeded his ability to become an effective coach for the Spurs this season.

  2. #2
    Erryday I'm Hustlin' Robz4000's Avatar
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    He's been awful for years already, his poor coaching of team USA was just an extension of his coaching failures as of late.

  3. #3
    Starter off the bench Uriel's Avatar
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    He's been awful for years already, his poor coaching of team USA was just an extension of his coaching failures as of late.
    But he's been extra bad this year, even compared to previous years. At least last year he was able to will the team to almost 50 wins and very nearly the 2nd round of the playoffs.

  4. #4
    Spurs Sage Russ's Avatar
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    Interesting theory. But it's still unclear why the bad experience with Team USA would have caused Pop to regress as a coach.

    You could just as easily argue that last summer's failure would have humbled him or caused him to renew his commitment.

    It is hard to fathom why this year's team (so far) has performed so far below last year's team.

    But there's got be a reason (or reasons) there somewhere. And, as bad as it's been, it might be interesting to find out what it is.

  5. #5
    Erryday I'm Hustlin' Robz4000's Avatar
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    But he's been extra bad this year, even compared to previous years. At least last year he was able to will the team to almost 50 wins and very nearly the 2nd round of the playoffs.
    Derrick White willed the team to almost 50 wins and Pop is the reason they didn't make it to the second round last year with his god awful rotations that have been even worse this year.

  6. #6
    Every game is game 1 Seventyniner's Avatar
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    My theory is that the loss of his wife was the huge blow, with the Number Two debacle just adding insult to injury. He was able to get through last season but something happened early last summer. I think both the Team USA disaster and this season are symptoms of the same cause, not the former being the cause of the latter. This is just guessing on my part, though.

  7. #7
    You Are Not Worthy ZeusWillJudge's Avatar
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    No. Pop is a one trick pony. He did things his way, and it worked great under the right conditions. The conditions changed. It took a few years for the changes to the game, and the changes in Spurs' personnel to hit critical mass. But when it did, he didn't evolve, and he went the way of the other dinosaurs.

    Rob said it above. The Team USA coaching stint was more of the same. It was a symptom, not the cause.

  8. #8
    R.C. Drunkford TimDunkem's Avatar
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    His mind was already ed if he chose Derrick and Mason ing Plumlee over Fox and Bam because they "weren't ready".

  9. #9
    Veteran GAustex's Avatar
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    Poop signed broke down tin man can’t jump and can barely run and has no shot Carroll to a THREE YEAR CONTRACT. Poop is done.
    Flush him

  10. #10
    Erryday I'm Hustlin' Robz4000's Avatar
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    His mind was already ed if he chose Derrick and Mason ing Plumlee over Fox and Bam because they "weren't ready".
    Choosing Derrick White made sense. He was coming off a season better than anything Fox had done before. Mason Plumlee over Bam Adebayo was the head scratcher.

  11. #11
    Veteran Arcadian's Avatar
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    many people in this forum predicted the Spurs would be even better this year than last
    They absolutely should be. Maybe with the loss of Bertans, at worst they should be about as good as last year. But it is bizarre for basically the same team + Murray to be significantly worse than last year. ing bizarre.

  12. #12
    Chopper Ed Helicopter Jones's Avatar
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    He might think he's still in China. Maybe no one's told him these are regular season games.

  13. #13
    Spurs Sage Russ's Avatar
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    If Pop is the problem, maybe last summer isn't the source of the problem.

    Maybe it's next summer.

    Pop has to be sweating it big time. This Olympics will be Pop's legacy -- there probably won't be much more for Pop (either way) after this.

    Maybe that's freaked him out in the way OP proposed last summer's USA Team has affected him. Or maybe, on the other hand, since he knows that next summer is all that matters, he's doesn't care about what happens until then.

    Team USA is a huge responsibility. Nobody cares about Pop's arrogance with the press now. But if Team USA loses the Gold and then Pop smirks and says it's only a game, there will be to pay. Maybe Pop knows that.

  14. #14
    Believe. Kobe'sAchilles's Avatar
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    I found it hilarious that both Bagley and Fox refused to take part of Team USA bc they were more focused on the NBA season... Only for both of them to regress badly and the Kings to suck worse than we do

  15. #15
    R.C. Drunkford TimDunkem's Avatar
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    Choosing Derrick White made sense. He was coming off a season better than anything Fox had done before. Mason Plumlee over Bam Adebayo was the head scratcher.
    No it didn't. Fox's leap was obvious. Literally everyone but Spurs fans have called it for what it was, and that it was obviously Poop playing favorites as usual.

  16. #16
    R.C. Drunkford TimDunkem's Avatar
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    I found it hilarious that both Bagley and Fox refused to take part of Team USA bc they were more focused on the NBA season... Only for both of them to regress badly and the Kings to suck worse than we do
    I have a source on this. Fox wanted that spot, but knew Derrick was getting on the team no matter what. When it came down to him and White, he knew what the deal was, so he dropped out.

  17. #17
    Erryday I'm Hustlin' Robz4000's Avatar
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    No it didn't. Fox's leap was obvious. Literally everyone but Spurs fans have called it for what it was, and that it was obviously Poop playing favorites as usual.
    Yes it did, and it also helped that White was outplaying him during Team USA activities (which was widely reported). 2018-2019 Derrick White > De'Aaron Fox from any season.

  18. #18
    Veteran JeffDuncan's Avatar
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    ... His out-of-timeout play calls remain elite. ...

    Lol. Thanks for the chuckle.

    It isn't that team USA screwed Pop up, it's that he screwed them up. He's been messing up for years now.

    The reason for the Spurs' troubles this season are as plain as the big red nose on Pop's face. One could begin with his insane insistence on giving big minutes to some of the worst defenders in the league, and go from there.

  19. #19
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    But he's been extra bad this year, even compared to previous years. At least last year he was able to will the team to almost 50 wins and very nearly the 2nd round of the playoffs.
    It's played out narratives like this that contribute significantly to players of consequence not wanting to play here.


    Derrick White willed the team to almost 50 wins and Pop is the reason they didn't make it to the second round last year with his god awful rotations that have been even worse this year.


    Nice story. In reality, Aldridge, who was a workhorse (81 gp, 33.2 mpg, 2687 minutes, in his 13th and age 33 season), willed it. Elite 3-point shooting off the bench, plus Gay and White serving as the only semblance of 3 and D, also played significant roles.

    White was also never better than Fox and not even a better fit for that team. Worse than that though, was Plumlee over Adebayo, who didn't miraculously become the player he has in the short time between that camp and preseason.

  20. #20
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    I can be objective with Pop, but to be fair, it's not hard to coach at the Olympics when you have the top 12 American NBA players on your roster. What he had to work with last summer, none of the coaches could beat the top NBA talent playing for the other teams with that roster, especially after they got hit with injuries.

  21. #21
    Starter off the bench Uriel's Avatar
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    My theory is that the loss of his wife was the huge blow, with the Number Two debacle just adding insult to injury. He was able to get through last season but something happened early last summer. I think both the Team USA disaster and this season are symptoms of the same cause, not the former being the cause of the latter. This is just guessing on my part, though.
    I agree. The loss of his wife and the Leonard situation were major contributory factors to his collapse. His increased interest in politics over basketball may have played a role too.

  22. #22
    Starter off the bench Uriel's Avatar
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    No. Pop is a one trick pony. He did things his way, and it worked great under the right conditions. The conditions changed. It took a few years for the changes to the game, and the changes in Spurs' personnel to hit critical mass. But when it did, he didn't evolve, and he went the way of the other dinosaurs.

    Rob said it above. The Team USA coaching stint was more of the same. It was a symptom, not the cause.
    Lol. Thanks for the chuckle.

    It isn't that team USA screwed Pop up, it's that he screwed them up. He's been messing up for years now.

    The reason for the Spurs' troubles this season are as plain as the big red nose on Pop's face. One could begin with his insane insistence on giving big minutes to some of the worst defenders in the league, and go from there.
    That doesn’t explain though why the Spurs have regressed so badly compared to last season. If Pop was as bad in previous years as he has been this year, the Spurs should’ve missed the playoffs too last year. But they didn’t. They won almost 50 games and nearly made the second round.

  23. #23
    NostraSpurMus phxspurfan's Avatar
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    Derrick White willed the team to almost 50 wins and Pop is the reason they didn't make it to the second round last year with his god awful rotations that have been even worse this year.
    Agree with this. White was clearly the team's most important player and Pop said that a number of times. Murray coming back and putting White's role into question killed his confidence, and possibly his development. Sadly, the team as constructed makes it difficult to play Murray and White together, especially since White is playing so Timidly and is shooting so poorly. His shots are so bad, hitting back iron basically every time like he's just learning to play basketball.

  24. #24
    Veteran RC_Drunkford's Avatar
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    I hope Pop has a stacked USA team and doesn't win a medal, so the whole world sees what kind of idiot he is. I wouldn't be surprised if he starts Plumlee while leaving Anthony Davis at home.

  25. #25
    Veteran RC_Drunkford's Avatar
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    Agree with this. White was clearly the team's most important player and Pop said that a number of times. Murray coming back and putting White's role into question killed his confidence, and possibly his development. Sadly, the team as constructed makes it difficult to play Murray and White together, especially since White is playing so Timidly and is shooting so poorly. His shots are so bad, hitting back iron basically every time like he's just learning to play basketball.
    I don't know who taught you basketball, but shots that hit back iron are good shots, it just means they are a little too long. That's the best miss one can ask for

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