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POP ousted him in a bloodless coup.
Reading from many of the articles in the northwest U.S. (I'll post links to them later), one topic that is coming up is Hill's firing from the Spurs in 1997.
What I would like to know is the reason or reasons on why Bob Hill was fired from the Spurs? It's been nine years and I've lost track.
POP ousted him in a bloodless coup.
Pop foresaw Basketball god coming to town
If I remember correctly the quote was:
"You've lost the team".
DRob and the Ninja no longer wanted to play for a coach that had no idea what defense was. The rest of the team saw Dave's and Sean's wisdom and Hill lost the players. Pop took all of the blame (and the fans mindless wrath at least those that dont understand D wins championships) and got that lame ass Hill out of town. And for the those of us fans that actually love defense, we have never been happier.
Hill sucks, but that doesnt matter to the blind
I wonder if Kevin O'Keeffe is coming out of his obscure hole of bitterness today, ready to pounce should Hill ever beat Popovich.
After all, O'Keeffe was SO right in predicting that Pop would rue the day that he chose Mario Elie over Vinny Del Negro.
Okay, but I want to know how many people who agreed with Hill's firing really thought AT THAT TIME that Gregg Popovich was the solution.
Me.Okay, but I want to know how many people who agreed with Hill's firing really thought AT THAT TIME that Gregg Popovich was the solution
Even though we didn't have message boards, the day Pop was brought in as GM and all that, I called into Jay Howard's show from california to say he should hire himself as coach.
, I wanted Pop to be the coach after Larry Brown got fired.
I don't recall TPark's call exactly. But I do recall this much: in the summer of 1994, when the movement was going down -- after the Spurs completely cleaned house -- Jay Howard was a sage in saying that he thought the Spurs should take care of coach and GM at the same time by hiring Popovich for both positions. Whether Jay got that idea from TPark is something I don't know -- I suspect, though, that the idea germinated on that show and gained the respect of callers who felt Jay was right.
Initially, the Spurs hired Pop as the GM only and allowed him to conduct a search for a coach. I suppose Pop could have decided that he was the best choice for that spot, but decided instead that Bob Hill was a good choice. I recall that there were a couple of other, "sexier" options at the time, though I'm now at a loss to recall who they were. Nevertheless, Pop hired Hill.
I guess, from that, you could say that Jay Howard and TPark (according to his self-pimping) were ahead of the curve in thinking Pop was the man for the job all along.
I'm not saying I don't believe you, but this would have to be the Kluby of all time. After LB was fired? Where did you get such insight into Pop's genius?
I was in the minority, but will gladly admit to it. I also had half season tickets that year and didnt miss any games I had. The only two bright items that season were:
1) Pops defense scemes looked like an improvement even if we didnt have Dave and Sean out there for most of the season.
2) Dominique was a lot of fun to watch.
Hill's failure to figure out how to stop Utah in the playoffs is what I was most disappointed with.
I thought it was a terrible idea and was pissed as . . . until Duncan started playing.
To be fair though, I didn't know much about basketball and mostly checked in on the scores after the games. I wasn't into it then or nearly as knowledgable as I am now.
By the first championship season, I was firmly behind Pop.
As I was a Senior in High School at the time, I admittedly took the year off of basketball when it was clear the Spurs were going to have an off year. I wasn't so much disappointed that Hill was fired as I was that Pop hired himself.... and more upset that he did not search for a replacement that summer. Of course, I didn't know anything about Pop so this seemed like a pretty lousy move when there were guys I had heard of to be had (like John Lucas!
Even after the Championship, I didn't really jump on the Pop bandwagon until about 2001 or 2002... by then I had watched enough basketball to understand what he was doing.
I didn't have too much of a problem with the actual firing of Bob Hill. I didn't like the way it was done, because I felt that was beneath the Spurs organization. AT THAT TIME, no, I did not feel that Pop was the solution; in fact, I felt pretty much about that particular situation the same way I do about the Pat Riley/SVG/Heat chain of events.
When LB left, Pop was the logical choice because, he was an assistant who all the players lobbied for and the local media. Red McCombs wasn't sold on Pop and honestly, I don't think he ever has been.
When Pop canned Hill, Red stated that he didn't agree with the organization giving him both jobs as GM and Coach.
I don't think Red thought Pop was qualified to be a head coach at the time of the LB fiasco.
Pop is smart enough to say that when Duncan retires, he will be a few seconds behind him.
Without Duncan, Pop is selling cotton candy.
Pop still can't coach a screen, pick or alley oop. Watch a game and you can see that....
That's why he surrounds himself with people who know the things he doesn't.
He only focuses on defense. When the offense stagnates, he is useless.
Watch the next game and observe without the black and silver glasses on.
Watch teams like Utah, Dallas, Phoenix.....
Of course they don't have Tim Duncan, but they write the book on Basketball Offense for Dummies.
If Pop could just coach half of this , the Spurs would have no problem scoring at will.
They have the players and talent to do it...
How many times does it take a Spur to come off a screen wide open only to dribble into Duncan's opposing defender????
Ridiculous.
I disagreed with the Hill firing but was sold on Popovich when the players wanted Popovich as head coach after the season. After the 1999 Championship, I was sold completely.
From my understanding, I was told that Hill lost the team in 1996 playoffs was going to be fired after the playoffs but Popovich opted to put it off.
Forget the shovel, we're gonna need a Holt Cat. What a load of BS.Me.
Even though we didn't have message boards, the day Pop was brought in as GM and all that, I called into Jay Howard's show from california to say he should hire himself as coach.
, I wanted Pop to be the coach after Larry Brown got fired.
Yeah, that's exactly how I felt.
I even have to say I was sorta in the Kevin O'Keefe camp.
Not that I was a Hill supporter. I think a less egotistical coach could have figured Rodman out and won the 95 WCFs.
I remember that I liked the hiring of Pop as Gm because his last name ended in ovich like the guy who turned the Rockets around...it was about time the Spur got their own ovich.
I wasn't upset when the Spurs fired Bob Hill because I pretty much blamed him for the 94-95 choke...but I was a little perplexed about it because I didn't think we had replaced him with any more of a proven winner or anything.
I always liked Pop the GM though...
I remember. It wasn't too many years after TPark had written Al Gore congratulating him on that whole "internet" idea.
You guys totally took what I said the wrong way.
I said,
in 91 92 when LB was canned, at the time, Jay Howard had the STSA show, and asked who should coach, well, IMO, at the time, after hearing Pop on the radio, and in personal appearances talking basketball, I thought he was a great basketball mind.
That was back when he combed the hair to the right and HAD hair.
when he was hired as GM in 94, I called into Jay Howard and said I thought Pop should just take over the duties of coach as well, cause he was ready after his grooming in GS.
This is obviously hard to LINK, or ressurrect from the forum archives, because of it being 1994.
But I remember in August of 94 being quite dissapointed that he had hired Bob Hill.
Call in shows, personal appearances, meet and greets to do chalk talk and such.After LB was fired? Where did you get such insight into Pop's genius?
Pop wasnt very CIA back in the day so he used to give alot of insight into his basketball mentality.
I dont want to self pimp.don't recall TPark's call exactly. But I do recall this much: in the summer of 1994, when the movement was going down -- after the Spurs completely cleaned house -- Jay Howard was a sage in saying that he thought the Spurs should take care of coach and GM at the same time by hiring Popovich for both positions. Whether Jay got that idea from TPark is something I don't know -- I suspect, though, that the idea germinated on that show and gained the respect of callers who felt Jay was right.
Initially, the Spurs hired Pop as the GM only and allowed him to conduct a search for a coach. I suppose Pop could have decided that he was the best choice for that spot, but decided instead that Bob Hill was a good choice. I recall that there were a couple of other, "sexier" options at the time, though I'm now at a loss to recall who they were. Nevertheless, Pop hired Hill.
I guess, from that, you could say that Jay Howard and TPark (according to his self-pimping) were ahead of the curve in thinking Pop was the man for the job all along.
But I am honest in saying I wanted Pop to be head coach since well, 91 92, and was quite pissed the organization let him leave that summer to GS.
sigh.....It wasn't too many years after TPark had written Al Gore congratulating him on that whole "internet" idea
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