Buck Harvey: Hill's back as he left — clueless

[Solid D]

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/c...l.34112e0.html

Web Posted: 01/15/2006 12:00 AM CST

San Antonio Express-News

Give Bob Hill everything.

Yes, he shouldn't have been fired on the day David Robinson returned from injury. Yes, Gregg Popovich wanted to coach the Spurs. Yes, Hill did a decent job when he was here.

Give him everything.

So why did it take nine years before another NBA franchise let him be a head coach again?

Why?

Give him time to talk, and he will make everything clear.

Hill has been talking this month. He took over for Bob Weiss in Seattle after 30 games (that firing wasn't unfair, was it?), and he went straight to the podium to rehash the terrible injustice done to him long ago.

"It's like Coach (Bob) Knight told me," Hill said to a Seattle newspaper when asked about Popovich. "If you stay in this game long enough, you are going to run into people like that."

Give Hill that, too. Popovich isn't easy to work for.

But Popovich also is the one who gave Hill a break in 1994 when no one else did. Larry Brown, among others, told Popovich not to hire Hill, and Popovich delayed making his decision through most of that summer.

Hill had no choice but to wait. The only other team that showed interest in Hill, then an Orlando assistant, was 20-win Minnesota. A coach named Bill Blair got the Timberwolves' job; Blair lost it a year later and never got another chance.

Hill appealed to Popovich, perhaps, because Popovich wanted someone he could oversee. Popovich selected the assistant coaches and put the model in place because, as he has shown, he likes to run the business.

There was success, with seasons of 62 and 59 wins. But was Hill a great coach? He inherited a 55-win team. Hill also is 121-43 in his NBA career with Robinson and 138-173 without.

Popovich almost fired Hill immediately after Utah overwhelmed the Spurs in the 1996 playoffs. Popovich cared more about defense and playoff toughness than regular-season show.

Hill was baffled. Wasn't it time for a contract extension?

Popovich pulled back, hoping for change. But Hill remained a detail-oriented technician who liked to do the work himself. The cooperative workplace that Popovich has created — where he wants his people to argue and disagree — never suited Hill.

Then Robinson's back went out, skewing everything. Hill's philosophy ate at Popovich more than the losses did, until Popovich made the worst decision of his career. He fired Hill on the day Robinson returned from injury.

Had Popovich waited a month — letting Hill go after a four-game losing streak — no one would have said a thing. But this way Hill became a martyr. The guy mostly known in San Antonio for wearing expensive suits suddenly was beloved.

Hill played to the sentiment. In his mind he was simply too good to be fired, when Hill has taken over three times in midseason the same way. In fact, every franchise but two has replaced its coach at least once since 1996.

The two? Utah and San Antonio.

So nearly every team could have had the magnificent Hill in these nine years. He instead stayed out of the league, and Hill has an explanation.

He told Seattle reporters this month that he was so "taken aback" by being fired that he "wanted a break" from basketball.

That's rich. When the Spurs fired Hill, he thought an assistant's position was beneath him. He would wait for the better jobs. Why coach a loser?

When it was clear no one was calling, Hill stopped being picky. He would have taken anything, anywhere and at any price. Hill's agent called one franchise so often in the late '90s that he was asked to stop. "Pestering" is the word the franchise used.

Then there's this from Shaquille O'Neal. Before the Lakers hired Phil Jackson to replace Kurt Rambis in 1999, Shaq thought Hill would be a good fit. The two were together in Orlando.

"But Jerry (West) didn't like Bob Hill," Shaq wrote in a book. "For some reason, nobody likes Bob Hill."

For some reason? Fordham knows one. The school stretched to give Hill a 10-year deal in 1999, and Hill later led the school to its worst record in 100 years.

He was fired. Only when Hill went back to New York recently with the Sonics, speaking again with the authority of a big-time NBA coach, could he properly frame this.

He blamed himself for taking the job. "I don't want to embarrass the school," Hill said about Fordham. "But it's never going to work there. The pace of the school is slow and you can't run a Division I program like that."

Exactly who should be embarrassed? Fordham has beaten Virginia and Penn this season, among others, and is competing like a Division I program.

But that's Hill. His opinion of himself has alienated peers and employers, and another opinion will have the same effect. He thinks if he had stayed in San Antonio and gotten Tim Duncan, "I would still be there."

He would have connected with Duncan and prompted him to re-sign with the Spurs? He would have brought the best out in a kid from France and plugged into an Argentine power? He would have won three les?

If other teams thought that, they would have hired him long ago.
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[freemeat]

3 quick matters of opinion...

1 -- I agree with Buck Harvey on one thing: Pop is a great coach.

2 -- Just because you like Pop doesn't mean you have to start talking about a guy who felt disrespected by him. Hill may not be one of the best in the business (which will be shown as the Sonics never gain the momentum they had last season), but this article completely rips him.

3 -- Buck Harvey is a bag. He is a deicated Spurs fan, yes, I give him that. But consider this: Bill O'Reilly is a dedicated Republican. Both are terrible journalists because they only speak to promote their opinions, not fact.

[Brutalis]

[Bloodline666]

This article shows the REAL Bob Hill...A lousy excuse for a basketball coach

[polandprzem]

Is that cool enough?

[Brutalis]

Bob Hill is a re . That's all I got to say. I give him 6 months with Seattle.

[pjjrfan]

Ohhhhhh, this is a cold article. What's up with the topic, are we playing Seattle any time soon, or maybe Buck just woke up from a bad Bob Hill nightmare? I always thought Hill was an ok coach, to this day, I still think if Sean makes his ft's against the Rockets this team makes it to the finals. But it didn't happen Sean went to the line, to tight, and he missed both. The team played the rest of the series too tight, looking to lose more than to win. And I think this came from Hill who to me looked like he always had something stuck up his you know what when he talked. He always came across as someone who was bothered by any question or remark made about the team. And as tough as he tried to act, he couldn't handle Rodman, which to me was his biggest sin. I don't know if anyone remembers but after Rodman got hurt in a motorcycle accident in his return game he got a standing O, and as he hammed it up for the fans and the media, there was a story that Pop was so pissed he went into the tv truck and pulled the plug on him so that it wouldn't be carried on tv. When I read that, I became a Pop fan and knew Hill's days were numbered.

[SequSpur]

Clueless?

No, Buck Harvey is clueless, Bob Hill just got hired as an NBA Head Coach making millions of dollars. If he gets a 3 year deal for the NBA Coach minimum which is probably 2 mill/year, he is set for life....

Sounds like he is smart to me.

[Leetonidas]

Bob Hill got

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

3 -- Buck Harvey is a bag. He is a deicated Spurs fan, yes, I give him that. But consider this: Bill O'Reilly is a dedicated Republican. Both are terrible journalists because they only speak to promote their opinions, not fact.

They're paid to be columnists, to express their opinions and to rile people up.

They write (or speak) with their set of facts available to them and craft their opinions out of them.

Did Buck lie when he wrote about what Shaq wrote? Did Buck lie about the strides the Fordham team is making without Hill? Did Buck lie about what Hill said about him still being with the team if he'd have had TD?

Obviously, Buck doesn't think that Bob Hill could have (with his thoughts on coaching/scouting, etc.) found Parker and Manu and convinced FAs to take less money to play for a championship.

Buck Harvey gets paid to observe sports under his eye with his thoughts and craft them into column inches. Buck Harvey gets paid to watch the Spurs, talk with people around the team and form his opinions based on that.

Who would you believe had more insight with regards to things that go on around the team?

Buck Harvey or SequSpur? Buck, becuase he watches the games, talks with people in the organization and quite simply has the time to research what he uses in his columns. Sequ, well, he knows about the Spurs because of what he reads as a member of SpursTalk.

Kori Ellis or me? Kori, because she watches the games, talks with people in the organization and quite simply has the time to research what she uses in her stories and commentary. Me, well, I know about the Spurs because I'm a member of SpursTalk.

I'm not saying I agree with him every single time and I'm not saying you should either, I'm simply saying that Buck Harvey (just as Kirk Bohls, Stephen A. Smith, Marc Stein, etc.) are paid to express their opinions.

And they get paid because more people would like to know their opinions, obviously prompting discussions such as the one here.

[SequSpur]

Is Buck Harvey your Dad or something?

I long for the day when the Express News or any local media station here hires a real sports columnist or sportscaster with balls.

They only express their views and opinions after it goes through the editor.... Greg Popovich.

Oh... btw... I throw down beers with the son of the Spurs Statistician... so I know more than ya think..........

[Brutalis]

Buckback Mountain!

[ShoogarBear]

A question, mostly for Blaze, but also anyone else who cares to answer:

How much responsibility should Harvey have for attritbuting what he says? Stuff like the following seem like cheap shots if he can't back it up with sources:

Larry Brown, among others, told Popovich not to hire Hill,
.
.
.
When the Spurs fired Hill, he thought an assistant's position was beneath him. He would wait for the better jobs. Why coach a loser?
.
.
.
Hill's agent called one franchise so often in the late '90s that he was asked to stop. "Pestering" is the word the franchise used.

Especially since he seems pretty careful about using quotes to make his other points.

Seems to me that Harvey (who I like and respect) just did to Hill what Kevin O'Keefe used to do to Popovich.

[Solid D]

There are many aspects of this article that were also discussed and recalled in the Bob Hill thread a week or so ago. It was a Sonic Blast by Buck, however.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Talk about a pathetic hatchet job. I like Harvey most of the time but this looks like nothing but a page full of slander and cheap shots. And for what?

I guess this does fit the M.O. for the Spurs - get the local hack to divert attention attention away from your rebounding problems, offensive problems, and the puzzling decision to run with Rasho instead of Nazr as your starter.

Unless Harvey can back all this up it seems Hill would have good grounds for a defamation suit.

[SequSpur]

Players win championships. Pop gets a little credit, mostly for Manu and Parker, but without Duncan this team is still in the lottery year after year....

Back then Pop was barely even thought about, in fact he got the job because the Spurs had blown their money on Lucas and Tarkanian, so Pop was the smart economical choice and he has done well.

When Hill was fired it was pretty weak but he still got paid, he could've been back in the NBA as an assistant and worked his way up again but he didn't.

Fordham sucks anyway, so wgaf.

So now the haters are out in full because Hill has another multimillion dollar job while Harvey is still blowing his editor for minimum wage.

Big ing deal, Harvey is a tool.

[ChumpDumper]

Unless Harvey can back all this up it seems Hill would have good grounds for a defamation suit.

I doubt he'd publish it otherwise.

Look, Fordham went 4-24 Bob's last season there, and two of those wins came by forfeiture because a school used an ineligible player. The guy loses his players -- it's not like it hasn't happened before.

[SequSpur]

I doubt he'd publish it otherwise.

Look, Fordham went 4-24 Bob's last season there, and two of those wins came by forfeiture because a school used an ineligible player. The guy loses his players -- it's not like it hasn't happened before.

Fordham = San Antonio College.

WGAF...

[ChumpDumper]

WGAF...

The guys who are paying Hill to not coach there.

[SequSpur]

So Hill is still getting paid by Fordham?????

Dude is a genius!

[ChumpDumper]

Dude is a genius!

Sure, just not a good head coach.

[exstatic]

Bob Hill:

GET THE OVER IT.
(the green is for your obvious envy)

If some of you consider this an attack, WTF was Hill's little diatribe immediately after being hired?

Bob Hill will be fired from the Sonics, and it will be sooner than later.

[Rummpd]

I also dislike this article, not only is it inflammotory, the timing in strange. Why not wait until after Hill gets run out by the Sonics or does terribly for an extended stretch.

What happens if they have a miracle turn around?

[exstatic]

1. Why is the timing strange? Hill already launched his attack. This is a rebuttal piece.
2. They won't turn it around. This is Bob Hill we are talking about.

[Das Texan]

Ya I mean its not like Bob Hill didnt have that little dog and pony show when he got hired as the head man in Seattle.


Hill is a funny guy, he is like that slimy used car salesman that will do whatever it takes for him to come out ahead in some way.