Pop continues to be the most overrated coach of all-time

You are correct, big reason they got #1 seed was because they were very blessed with little injuries throughout the season. So being #1 seed did not mean they were the best team -- far from it. Spurs were fool’s gold team in regular season and when playoffs came their weaknesses were exposed. I am not saying coach bears no blame, he could probably do certain things better in retrospect. But really, what answer did he have for such a big and physical Memphis front court? Old Man McDyess and Old Man Timmy? Rookie Tiago?

 

I think he's a good coach, but he clearly made many poor decisions in the Memphis series. You don't mess with what got you got you the #1 seed. Blair should've played more, same for Splitter.

 

Give Memphis credit..

 

He got a top 3 of his era player and he did well with him. I think duncan is done so it will be interesting to see how he does w/o him.

 

He is not overrated!

Obviously, they lost in the first round but to get the 1st seed, definition of overachieve.

Ginobili would not be the same player without Pops.

 

there is no loyalty in this business. get over it.

pop is a great coach, an all-timer. OP needs to lay off the haterade.

 

The fact that Spurs have the second best record in the league and the best record in the west shows you how great a coach Pop is.

In fact, if you look at the Spurs, besides Tim Duncan, all of their pieces are steals or undiscovered talent.

Ginobli, Parker, Neal etc. Without Pop, Spurs would be lucky to win even one championship.

 

spurs got a bad matchup.

/thread

 

Spurs made up for lack of athleticism with great fundamental ball....People forget that Ginobili and Parker were "high-wired players" before they were coached by Pop.. That in itself make him a great teacher and motivator...To say he's overrated is obviously a case of "kickin a man when he's down"...Now you talk about overrated...Why didnt the great Phil Jackson take that job with Memphis again back in 2005???...Oh yeah because its easier to build a championship team in a bigger market...Great coach but not the G.O.A.T....That would be Riley (in my opinion)

 

He's got four f-ing rings, right? Not overrated. Neither is Phil Jackson.

 

haha, calling Pop overrated, and not Phil Jackson??

when Phil Jackson has proven its not the players?

Pop, would have won the same championships, if he had those players.

 

Ugh, what a horrible post. First, Harris was LA's coach, Bob Hill was SA's coach. Second, you're assuming they tanked. Third, how would Pop have any say in what Hill did? Fourth, you're implying that Pop was the one who made the decision to replace Hill, which he didn't (he was an asst coach, not GM). Fifth, you probably have no awareness of the embarrassing playoff loss to HOU in 1995 that already had Hill on thin ice.

 

Dumb assertion, too. You know why Phil didn't take the Memphis job in 2005? Because he'd have to be in Memphis. Phil is not a small market, mid-market coach, he's a premier franchise coach. Memphis jobs go to retreads and newbies.

And the dumb omission of Phil coming back to Kobe and an empty cabinet in 2005. A Kobe that he couldn't stand up to that point, to boot. The Lakers DID go from the bottom to the top during Phil's 2nd term.

 

In 1994, he returned to San Antonio as the General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations after a new ownership group had purchased the team.

Controversy surrounded Popovich during the 1996–97 NBA season when he fired Bob Hill 18 games into his third season as Spurs head coach after posting a combined 121–43 record in his first two seasons with the team. Popovich took over as head coach on the same day David Robinson joined the lineup for the first time that season due to an injury. Robinson quickly suffered another injury that forced him to miss the remainder of the season. Popovich's record that year as an interim coach for the Spurs was 17–47.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregg_Popovich

Rocket River

 

The Spurs being pyrite was also not reported by the media out of respect. They were, in fact, portraying them as a Laker challenger until that game where LA went up by 33 pts in SA. After that point, the media just kinda let all those warm and fuzzy stories die away instead of calling them a team ripe for playoff disaster.

 

All good/great coaches are overrated and all bad/horrible coaches are underrated... because as Phil has figured out, its 95% talent, and 5% jedi master making that talent work. Phil's better at that 5% than anyone... BUT, also realizes its only 5%, so makes sure he has the talent first.

Still, pertinent to the thread at hand, if you told me the Spurs would have every player healthy for every game this season, I still wouldn't have picked them to be the #1 seed this year. In my mind, they definitely overachieved during the regular season.

 

Obvious homer right here. Please stop.

 

I hope our next coach is as overrated as Popovich.

 

I respect pop a lot but his shady way to deal with injuries of his team is annoying. Very cunning fellow

 

Fwiw, I played in a pro-am league that year. Lloyd Daniels and Dominique Wilkins, among others, played in it as well. Nique told me in no uncertain terms that David was not as injured as was being reported, and could play if needed. That was a 100% tank job by the Spurs to get a high pick. Pop replacing Hill at the time he did was simply an opportunistic move to possibly coach a great team...and it worked out. For years, I hated Pop for that. After 4 rings, though, I had to accept that the means justified the ends.