Once Pop gets the big 400

[RobinsontoDuncan]

Once he wins 400 games how does he rank among all time coaches, and i mean accomplishments not just wins, with his team, how do you rank him with the greatest coaches ever?

[timvp]

He's moving into the top ten. If he gets a championship or two more and ends with 750 plus wins in his career, he's a lock for being remember as one of the best coaches ever.

That's a long ways from when everyone was calling for his head prior to '99.

[RobinsontoDuncan]

I think the nock on him will be sense he spent his entire career with the spurs and had Tim Duncan and David Robinson he wasnt as good as his achievements would suggest, for some reason that doesnt really stick to Phil Jackson

[FromWayDowntown]

That's a long ways from when everyone was calling for his head prior to '99.

. . . . or during 1999. Anyone remember a really bad home loss to Utah in late February? I remember that game as a pivotal day in Spurs history. Elie and Pop both got tossed, the SA crowd actually booed the Spurs efforts, and talk radio was inundated with pleas to replace Pop with Doc Rivers.

Glad that cooler minds prevailed.

[timvp]

Yes FWD, that was the franchise's turning point. The Express-News headline was "Spurs Hit Low Note". The next game, the Spurs played at Houston and Elie and AJ hit some big shots down the stretch to get the Spurs rolling.

[FromWayDowntown]

The next game, the Spurs played at Houston and Elie and AJ hit some big shots down the stretch to get the Spurs rolling.

I remember Elie and AJ going nuts early in that Houston game and putting it away early -- ultimately, it doesn't matter how it happened; what matters is that they won that one and 45 of the 52 that followed it. But I think we're on the same page in finding that Utah loss to be THE turning point and the birth of the Spurs inclusion among the truly elite, championship contenders.