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OT: Gregg Popovich announces he's stepping down from head coach

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gamecockcat

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I'm sure there will be numerous articles about how he's maybe the GOAT. For me, he's a very good coach but not the GOAT.

He had a great team that stayed together for more than a decade with Duncan/Parker/Ginobilli and he won a lot with them. Also had David Robinson before and during Duncan's career.

But the last 6 years of his tenure, the most wins they had was 34. Spoelstra, as one example, continued to win at Miami when LeBron left. How come Pop couldn't continue to win with new players? In those last few seasons, several years they didn't win 30 games. That just doesn't make a strong case that Pop was the GOAT to me.

Give him great players and he won a lot. Many coaches have done that. When he had less talent, he did what almost every other coach does - lose a lot. How does that make him one of the all-time greats?
 
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4Frusciante#

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gamecockcat said:
I'm sure there will be numerous articles about how he's maybe the GOAT. For me, he's a very good coach but not the GOAT.

He had a great team that stayed together for more than a decade with Duncan/Parker/Ginobilli and he won a lot with them. Also had David Robinson before and during Duncan's career.

But the last 6 years of his tenure, the most wins they had was 34. Spoelstra, as one example, continued to win at Miami when LeBron left. How come Pop couldn't continue to win with new players? In those last few seasons, several years they didn't win 30 games. That just doesn't make a strong case that Pop was the GOAT to me.

Give him great players and he won a lot. Many coaches have done that. When he had less talent, he did what almost every other coach does - lose a lot. How does that make him one of the all-time greats?
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I don't consider him the GOAT but I do consider one of the all time greats. The last few years he did do a total rebuild on the Spurs which is why they have such a talented young roster right now and and have a chance to dominate the NBA for a few years.
 
T

The_Catfather

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He won 5 titles primarily through the draft. That'll never happen again with superstars teaming up to chase titles. And he discovered and developed Parker and Ginobili. Those guys likely would've faded into oblivion if the Spurs hadn't drafted them. San Antonio's not really a hot free agent destination so once that core retired they're going to take a huge step back. But they're going to contend for a title again next year. They have two lottery picks they could flip for another stud to pair alongside Wemby/Fox/Castle. Wouldn't be surprised to see Pop win another title or two as the Spurs president.

Phil Jackson had Jordan/Pippen and Kobe/Shaq
Auerbach had countless Hall of Famers
Pat Riley had Showtime and D. Wade/Shaq

People love to discredit coaches who had great players. But you have to have them to win.
 
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*Fox2Monk*

*Fox2Monk*

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Cole World said:
Won 5 championships in an era defined by Kobe Bryant and LeBron James

Yes he's an all time great what on earth is this thread
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To methat just shows how undervalued Tim Duncan was. LeBron is vastly overrated. He got absolutely shredded by an old Mavericks team when he was in his prime with Dewayne Wade and Bosh in their primes too. BtW LeBron is now 2-12 the last 3 years In the playoffs and he can only thank a bubble and AD for his lone title since 2016.
 
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anon1751545683

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bbncal02 said:
He's in the Top 5. But the GOAT is Phil Jackson and it's not even close.
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I would say Auerbach is far better than Jackson.

Jackson never built anything.

But, doesn’t matter how good a coach is, they have to have players.

Riley is in the discussion too.

Pops is one of the greats too. He adapted to the changes in rules over 3 decades.
 
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anon1751545683

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Fox2monk said:
To methat just shows how undervalued Tim Duncan was. LeBron is vastly overrated. He got absolutely shredded by an old Mavericks team when he was in his prime with Dewayne Wade and Bosh in their primes too. BtW LeBron is now 2-12 the last 3 years In the playoffs and he can only thank a bubble and AD for his lone title since 2016.
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Duncan is certainly underrated.

He’s probably top 10 all time?

Besides the talent, his work ethic was unquestioned.

Never out of position on offense or defense. Always running. Probably never been a big that ran the floor like Duncan.
 
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UKWildcats1987

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I'd say he's top 3 with Jackson and RA.

RA won n an era when there were hardly any NBA teams and he had a ton of hall of famers on his teams.

People want to talk about Jackson having 2 or 3 hall of famers on all his teams (as did Pop)...well the deck was stacked way more n RAs favor.
 
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gamecockcat

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OK, he's in the top 5. Not sure I agree that the Spurs are now ready to win big, though. That's TBD. Wemby is still developing and could be Duncan 2.0 or some uber-talented guy who never quite puts it all together.

I don't recall if Pop was the main voice in drafting Parker and Ginobilli, nor Kwahi. Pop didn't fix Kwahi's jumper coming into the league, Kwahi did.

Pop did win 5 rings so, I guess, he gets kudos for that. It just seemed to me that he mailed it in the last several years and his teams/players didn't seem to improve under his tutelage. JMHO
 
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Cole World

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Fox2monk said:
To methat just shows how undervalued Tim Duncan was. LeBron is vastly overrated. He got absolutely shredded by an old Mavericks team when he was in his prime with Dewayne Wade and Bosh in their primes too. BtW LeBron is now 2-12 the last 3 years In the playoffs and he can only thank a bubble and AD for his lone title since 2016.
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My post has nothing to do with what you think about LeBron, or his age 38, 39, and 40 seasons
 
*Fox2Monk*

*Fox2Monk*

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Cole World said:
My post has nothing to do with what you think about LeBron, or his age 38, 39, and 40 seasons
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Really it didn’t? You said the era was defined by him so I think it was relevant to the discussion. My main comment was about his choking all those years as the supposed best player ever and his Heat run is exactly the era you referred to thank you very much.
 
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Cole World

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Fox2monk said:
Really it didn’t? You said the era was defined by him so I think it was relevant to the discussion. My main comment was about his choking all those years as the supposed best player ever and his Heat run is exactly the era you referred to thank you very much.
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He won 3* championships in the era, the same team doesn't win every single year, as you know.

Yeah you quoting me airing out your complaints on him because I said the era was defined by him and Kobe, has nothing to do with what I stated. What I stated is still valid and the thread pertains to Greg Popavich, not your weird obsession with LeBron.


Go on and quote someone else with your strawman fallacies
 
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anon1751545683

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UKWildcats1987 said:
I'd say he's top 3 with Jackson and RA.

RA won n an era when there were hardly any NBA teams and he had a ton of hall of famers on his teams.

People want to talk about Jackson having 2 or 3 hall of famers on all his teams (as did Pop)...well the deck was stacked way more n RAs favor.
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Red did win when there were less teams. That’s harder to do.

There were only 100 or so NBA players. Every team was stacked.

Take the top 100 players today and make an 8 team league now and see how tough it is.

What is there now, 500 NBA players?

4/5ths of the players couldn’t make a team.
 
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*Fox2Monk*

*Fox2Monk*

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Cole World said:
He won 3* championships in the era, the same team doesn't win every single year, as you know.

Yeah you quoting me airing out your complaints on him because I said the era was defined by him and Kobe, has nothing to do with what I stated. What I stated is still valid and the thread pertains to Greg Popavich, not your weird obsession with LeBron.


Go on and quote someone else with your strawman fallacies
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You want some cheese with all that whine?
 
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*Fox2Monk*

*Fox2Monk*

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UKBB4Ever said:
I would say Auerbach is far better than Jackson.

Jackson never built anything.

But, doesn’t matter how good a coach is, they have to have players.

Riley is in the discussion too.

Pops is one of the greats too. He adapted to the changes in rules over 3 decades.
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The Bulls were built over time. Especially the early teams
 
*Fox2Monk*

*Fox2Monk*

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Ella Delby said:
If his political ideology impacts how people view his basketball coaching legacy, that says more about those people's inability to separate politics from the rest of their thought process.
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They do the same thing, all of them whine if you like Trump or this or that then we don’t want your business. The left is the worse at that so can’t be mad when people don’t like them or don’t watch em.
 
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Cole World

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Fox2monk said:
Sure… a discussion on a board which is exactly what you are doing… hypocrite much?
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My post was about Popavich winning just as much as LeBron and Kobe and you took my post as a reason to quote me with your opinion on one of them, which ultimately has nothing to do with the discussion at hand. You are quoting me, whining and calling me a hypocrite, which in itself is hypocritical.

As I said previously, do something productive with your time instead of pushing negativity out, and yes it's a discussion board, there was no reason for you to take the discussion at hand and make it into something else. Have a good day and I would like some aged cheddar to go with my whine 🫡
 
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Someguywhodoesntlikeyou

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Popovich is better than Jackson from a pure x’s and o’s standpoint imho.

I still don’t like the Triangle and argue that Kobe and Jordan where the only reason it actually worked in the NBA.
 
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Jonathan40330

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Love him or hate him, statistics and achievements state that he was an extraordinary coach.
 
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Cat_Man_Blue

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I am not a fan. In the 96-97 season David Robinson missed the first 18 games due to a back issue. Pop fires Bob Hill with a 3 & 15 record and names himself coach. Robinson comes back, but only plays 6 games and misses the rest of the season due to a broken foot. The Spurs would only win 17 more games that season, thus securing the number 1 draft pick, Tim Dunkin. I thought it was a dickhead move to fire Hill under those circumstances. I am pretty sure that Bob Hill would have been very successful with a healthy Robison and Dunkin.
 
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Game Se7en

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Total jerk to in-game reporters and stuck his nose into politics without being asked. Interesting that his physical health went South literally within 24 hours of his insane TDS postgame rant.

Oh well.

Good riddance.
 
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stereonut

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Pop’s record with great players is fantastic.
Not so much with “average” talent.

The same thing happened to Bill Belichick.
When Brady, Gronk, and Edelman left, look what happened to his record.

He did pick a hot girlfriend, though. 🤣
 
Game Se7en

Game Se7en

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stereonut said:
Pop’s record with great players is fantastic.
Not so much with “average” talent.

The same thing happened to Bill Belichick.
When Brady, Gronk, and Edelman left, look what happened to his record.

He did pick a hot mess of a girlfriend, though. 🤣
Click to expand...

FIFY. lol
 
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