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Considering this should be his final season and one of our worst teams in recent memory...NO
Will Pop finish a season .500 again? Ever
Considering this should be his final season and one of our worst teams in recent memory...NO
/thread
We need the Coach Pop of the DDR era in full swing this season.
Bring in Nique as a Special Consultant to bring back some of that corporate knowledge.
Pop would most likely retire after this season. And even if Spurs get lucky and get VW, it would take a couple kore seasons before he could get to NBA body and start winning games. We’re talking 3-4 years. Pop would be 106 yrs old by then. Maybe he’ll run for President against Trump. Hey, I’d vote for Pop.
No.
No
The only way they finish over .500 is if they
1. get a good pick in next years draft (not necessarily victor wembayama)
2. abandon this tanking agenda
3. spend some of their cap space on even half way decent players
4 no Russell Westbrook type trades where you may get a draft pick or two way down the line but lose you current cap space and can't do crap with your roster even if you wanted to. Basically you're giving Russ free money just for being a jerk who can't follow coaching and who's just about washed up. You waive him and then he goes to another team and makes even more $$$. Unreal that any team would do that.
Really the only way to finish over .500 is to have a a halfway decent roster, not make stupid financial mistakes, draft well, and have decent coaching. Really good teams do all this and then spend lots of money on salaries and if they're lucky they win a championship.
Probably not. I think he is going to help ride out the tank, develop some players, and hopefully leave the Spurs in a better spot than they are right now.
Once we get some draft picks and prospects, I think he hands the keys over to someone to take it from there...maybe sticks around as PoBO or a consultant or something for a while.
And be a pedestrian 1st round fodder at the most? When you overhaul an engine, you tear it to the minimum and build it up, not just patch leaks and hope they would hold. The roster was flawed, from Demar refusing to extend his range in today’s NBA where almost half of scoring comes from 3pt shots vs mid-range (not a big fan but it is what it is), LMA who couldn’t cover switches, Poeltl who has limited offensive moves and cannot hit the FT especially at the 4th quarter, Dejounte who’s another ball-hog but has no real go-to moves and rarely go to the FT. It’s not like San Antonio is a big market where a Durant and Butler would just demand to be traded here. The best way was to get rid of the bets (albeit Spurs should’ve traded all those vets 4 years ago for picks), playing young and developing players while getting a shot at a high draft pick(s). The PATFO is on the right track, finally. It would take growing pains to watch the young core, but PATFO seem to have drafted well. But it would take time.
I hear you and agree its going to take time, but as you mentioned we would likely be stuck in a 1st round exit rut. My fear is that by tanking, we'll be stuck in a bottom of the barrel rut for long while. Think Sacramento or Orlando. They have had dozens of high picks and are basically still at the bottom and have been for over a decade.
Bottom line is that success is a matter of good coaching, good drafting, good trades, and making good financial decisions that allow flexibility in the future. One generational draft choice will improve a team definitely, but its everything else that keeps the trajectory moving forward. Tanking puts emphasis on things you hope might happen (getting lucky in a draft) rather than on things you can change. That's the difference between teams that are constantly at the bottom and teams that try to improve their position every year and eventually reaching .500 and then beyond.
In all the years the spurs have played in San Antonio, they were eliminated at some point in their playoff series (with the exception of their 5 championships). Did they tank because they didn't win it all? No they didn't. Did they tank because they were mediocre and lost in the 1st or 2nd round. No, they kept on plugging along trying to get better. Eventually they lucked into Robinson and Duncan along with Parker and Ginobili and won their chips.
Deliberately tanking only guarantees a bad record but not necessarily a good draft pick - ask the celtics. Tanking hard for Wembayama may get us a better chance for him but even with the worst record the odds are still against us. If we get lucky and get Wembayama great, if we don't it will be a lost season setting us up for the next tank.
You are comparing the PATFO with 5 rings under their belt, in a small market, with Sacramento and Orlando? Really? Having Robinson and Duncan was lucky. But the same thing you can say for teams with Stockton/Malone, Nash/Stoudamire, Ewing/Oakley/Larry Johnson, teams who had franchise players but did not even have one ring despite the future HOFers in their team. I’d give Timmy the 1st 4 rings, but the Beautiful Game? That was pure coaching, putting those pieces perfectly complimenting and working as a well-oiled machine. And those other 4, Timmy needed to be surrounded with complimentary talents and great coaching to execute. So while those other teams continue to tank and getting high picks with nothing to show for. They are not close to Spurs Coaching pedigree and in developing players, Manu, TP and Kawhi as not high picks but future HOFer, or DJ, Derrick, CoJo, Kyle (I’d even include Danny as someone I credit Spurs developed as a great 3 and D) who will have long NBA careers. So yeah what Spurs would do with our picks will be totally different with how other teams develop theirs. And notice Spurs collect multiple FRP’s instead of putting all their hopes on one player VW. Spurs are collecting pieces that will fit the puzzle. It boils down to who can make the most of those high picks, and how they develop them to winning games. And Spurs have proven success throughout. Again I wish they did it 4 years ago. But finally they’ve embraced fully rebuilding. I wouldn’t bet against the Spurs. 22 years of not missing the playoffs and would’ve continued had it not for Kawhi jumping ship and sabotaging a great return. That’s excellence from top to bottom. Now PATFO is steering back its course, and I have full confidence they would do better than those other teams that you mentioned, which is the basis of your argument.
Like I said, success is a matter of good coaching, good drafting, good trades, and making good financial decisions that allow flexibility in the future. One generational draft choice will improve a team definitely, but its everything else that keeps the trajectory moving forward. The spurs did that for 20 plus years and got 5 rings.
So so many things need to fall into place for a team to get a ring. The Jazz, Suns, and Knicks all had really good teams but didn't ring even with their future hall of famers. Sometimes it just takes a bit more. There is no doubt that Pop is a better coach than 0rlando's or Sacramento's but coaching is just one part of the whole scheme. Its the rest that I worry about. We've had a lot of coaching turn over, talent leaving thru free agency or otherwise and injuries.
I can see a team going from the middle of the pack to the top but its a lot lot harder to go from the bottom just to the middle and right now we are closer to the bottom than the middle no matter how great a job pop does this year. I always rag on Sacramento for their inep ude and Orlando's front office is usually a mess but unfortunately I think we'll be looking up to those franchises in the standings next season.
Would be interesting to see which 2 (as of this posting) posters believe Pop coaches another winning team. BOLD prediction.
I made the poll public, you can see whom the 2 voters are.
You mean what are their main Alts on TrollTalk?
In the end we need talent and the quickest and easiest way to get that is to TANK so I have no problems sucking for the next two season to get that talent. But I agree we need to be also looking at making necessary trades to get future draft picks. So do I want us to be Oklahoma- No - But Memphis did is what I am hoping for.
this draft is our shot . YAMA or bust
In the end I think this draft will have 3 or 4 Franchise type of players not Timmy or David but guys you can legitimately build a team around
^ ya totally.
While tanking does not always work, it certainly does not always fail.
Pops entire success foundation based on a tank for Timmy Duncs.
Ya this past season was pathetic playing for the one game Play In vs a shot at Super Chet, Auburn dude or someone else.
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