I don't ever remember him being this candid and opinionated.

Pop bashes Rondo (sorta):

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2011/05/13/pop-unmoved-by-tales-of-rondos-heroism/

Why Blair has been in the dog house:

quote:

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Heading into the summer, Popovich has challenged Blair again.

Blair's future with the Spurs, the coach said, is not aligned with “working on his jumper or developing a jump hook. It's not defense.”

“It's personal discipline, responsibility and maturity,” Popovich said. “That will get him to the next level. Short of that, he'll have a hard time.”

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Pop's postseason Q&A:

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2011/05/13/qa-what-does-pop-do-now/


Thoughts?

Wow, Pop has gotten petty in his old age. (re: Rondo vs Manu)

Unfortunate that Timmy got hurt late and then of course Manu.

Good point made about salary and margin for error. Spurs have $20mm less than Lakers or Mavs.

But, at the same time, they are too top-heavy and are over-paying for some guys. Tim is not worth $18mm anymore. If he wants to contend for another couple of years, he needs to take a nice big pay-cut that will allow the Spurs to go out and get a guy. Obviously, Jefferson is a $4mm player, not $8mm.

Bonner is a $1mm player, not worth $3mm. Would you rather have Bonner or Noah for $3mm?

I didn't know the spurs picked up Da'Sean Butler

Agree 100% with Pop. Every team has players playing injured. If Rondo's arm hadn't been hanging on his side like a salami, nobody would have said anything.

You could tell Ginobili was not Ginobili, but nobody gave him any credit for playing injured because Ginobili wasn't favoring it the whole time.

This is my honest opinion:

But do you know what I think has gotten into POP?

I think he's sick and tired of how the NBA and medioa goes out of its way to hype certain teams from the East Coast or major media markets.

While the Spurs have been dominant....if they played in Boston we would never hear the end of them.

As great as the Boston Red Sox have been......the Spurs have won twice as many world titles....and we get blasted with everything regarding the red soxs in baseball.

I get tired of it myself.

quote:

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You could tell Ginobili was not Ginobili, but nobody gave him any credit for playing injured because Ginobili's injury wasn't nearly as serious as Rondo's. No one would dare accuse Rondo of faking.

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fify

You have zero clue what you are talking about, as usual.

amazing to me that pop even talks about bonner in the same sentence as the rest of those guys. some times, i really have no idea wtf he is thinking. we've said it for years--they lost their edge/identity on defense and it killed us again.

i think it was all over when bowen retired honestly

I think it's pretty interesting that Pop thinks they would have beaten the Lakers in 2008 if Manu had been 100%. That's a pretty bold assumption.

[This message has been edited by ItalAggie (edited 5/16/2011 4:31p).]

Hopefully the Phoenix Suns GM hasn't gotten into Pop.

quote:

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amazing to me that pop even talks about bonner in the same sentence as the rest of those guys. some times, i really have no idea wtf he is thinking. we've said it for years--they lost their edge/identity on defense and it killed us again.

i think it was all over when bowen retired honestly

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Spot on. People don't realize that, for all those years, it was really the "big 4". For all of his faults on offense, Bowen made everyone else look good on defense. And he was always good for a clutch shot when it was really needed (evidence the game-swinging 3ptr in the 4th quarter of game 7 versus Detroit).

Against any opponent, you could pick who you wanted NOT to score, and unless it was Kobe or Dirk, Bruce would get the job done. He made Shawn Marion look like a grade schooler in the '05 playoffs when Marion was scoring 20 ppg.

For about a 7 year period ('99 - '06) the Spurs had all the pieces in place for a dominant defensive team. As soon as Bowen, Horry, Duncan and Ginobili started to get older, that edge started to slip. The Spurs are now a shadow of their former self defensively.

[This message has been edited by MassAggie97 (edited 5/17/2011 10:10a).]

quote:

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Good point made about salary and margin for error. Spurs have $20mm less than Lakers or Mavs.

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It is a good point, and it is going to be tough to figure out in the next CBA. If they have a hard cap, Duncan, Manu, and TP probably aren't together the last few years anyways, but now there is a few outrageous teams.


However, they lost to the Grizzlies who have a similar payroll.

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However, they lost to the Grizzlies who have a similar payroll.

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And whose franchise player was sitting on the bench with his arm in a sling.

Pop's dogged reliance on veterans only has gotten worse over the years, and I think it is one of the factors in the team's demise. Under 2011 Pop, guys like Stephen Jackson probably never even see the court.

Prime example: I think the development of Splitter over the course of the season would have really paid off for this team in the playoffs. He showed flashes of great play in the few instances he saw the court against Memphis, and he was the only one with enough size (other than Duncan) to chest up to Zbo and Gasol. Lets face it: the Memphis series boiled down to the fact that the Spurs didn't have the size to do anything against Memphis' big men. They were scoring at will.

I actually thought Dyess was doing a GREAT job of staying in front of Zbo and getting a hand in his face. It just wasn't enough because of the size difference. Then you stroll Matt Bonner out there who brings NOTHING to the table in the playoffs....it would have been nice if Splitter had been given a chance earlier in the season.

[This message has been edited by MassAggie97 (edited 5/17/2011 1:53p).]

Turns out that Manu's sprain was actually a fracture.