Popovich should be fired

[dhsilv2]

that was in 99, though

I was thinking it came after that. I do recall some grumblings about him around 2002 but I guess my 20 year memory sucks.

https://www.thescore.com/nba/news/513888

The feature is fantastic, as it spans nearly two decades of Spurs excellence, but it also revealed one nugget: Doc Rivers nearly replaced Gregg Popovich as head coach of the Spurs in 1999.

At the time, Popovich held considerably less job security and clout. The Spurs, bearing the weight of championship contention, sputtered to start the season, racking up a record of just 6-8 heading into March 2.

Rivers served as a commentator on the Spurs' TV broadcast team. He was well liked, as his affable nature endeared him to viewers. It heavily contrasted with Popovich's signature loud and brash coaching style.

It was widely rumored that Spurs ownership were interested in replacing Popovich had their early season struggles continued.

Former Spurs forward Malik Rose, who was a member of the 1999 team, said of the situation:

If we lost that game, they were going to fire Pop and bring in Doc ... that was the rumor. I would have to say it was real because of the gravity in the locker room. I'll never forget it

The rumors were also parroted by Spurs guard Avery Johnson:

Things had been communicated to us. It was really real There was a lot of noise about Pop being potentially replaced by Doc, so David [Robinson] and I went to Pop's house before we got on the flight to go to Houston. Pop talked to us and ... what I will say is we came out of there feeling so strongly about Pop that we knew we had to go win that game

Sorry, I was intending to imply, yes I confirmed you're right. I thought it was later. That said I DO still recall some grumblings after the title in 99. And yeah, Tony Parker felt like he was on the trade list forever. 2002 would have been around the Kidd trade rumor stuff.

[damanick10]

nvm

[KodiakBear]

We have enough idiots posting here currently. We don’t need to have to read what idiots said 20 years ago too. Stupid thread.

Is that any different than the coaches who get fired today? Championship coaches get fired all the time. After 2002 when the Lakers once again dominated the Spurs, it wasn't that crazy to wonder about Pop's future. Budenholzer's first five years were better than Pop's first five years in San Antonio and he is gone. The Spurs/Lakers series in 01 for example was terrible coaching by Pop. The Spurs were favored with homecourt and the Lakers ran them off the floor.

That year Kobe and Shaq ran everyone off the floor.

Miami and Denver have absolutely dominated these playoffs. Hasn't stopped Milwaukee and Phoenix from firing their coaches even though their coaches were in the finals two years ago. Popovich also followed that up with a second round loss in 2002. The current NBA standard is if you have a team that is capable of winning a championship and you fail, especially early you are likely gone.

[KodiakBear]

Is that any different than the coaches who get fired today? Championship coaches get fired all the time. After 2002 when the Lakers once again dominated the Spurs, it wasn't that crazy to wonder about Pop's future. Budenholzer's first five years were better than Pop's first five years in San Antonio and he is gone. The Spurs/Lakers series in 01 for example was terrible coaching by Pop. The Spurs were favored with homecourt and the Lakers ran them off the floor.

That year Kobe and Shaq ran everyone off the floor.

That series in particular the role players were hitting EVERYTHING from three.
But the humiliation in game 3 and game 4 was incredible, I don't think any coach could survive that, today.

Yeah back then for the most part if your team won 50+ games and regularly won playoff series it seemed your job was safe. A few exceptions of course. Rick Carlisle got fired by the Pistons, but they had Larry Brown waiting in the wings who is one of the greatest coaches ever.

[Mister Ze]

Raptors firing Nurse is also a good example. If he’s a bad coach why are the Bucks Suns Sixers, etc considering him?

Maybe it’s because GM bobby webster is the one who should be fired for putting together the worst bench in the league.

Management fire coaches to save their ass and scapegoat them all the time

[KodiakBear]

Raptors firing Nurse is also a good example. If he’s a bad coach why are the Bucks Suns Sixers, etc considering him?

Maybe it’s because GM bobby webster is the one who should be fired for putting together the worst bench in the league.

Management fire coaches to save their ass and scapegoat them all the time

Yep. The idea that Popovich or Spo would be untouchable by other GMs isn't accurate. They have found good situations with management that likes and trusts them. There are a lot of good coaches that wouldn't have survived some of the same situations they survived. Spo doesn't survive 2015-2019 elsewhere.

And yeah Nurse is the most in demand coach on the market despite 3 straight mediocre years. He's a good coach and it often isn't the coaches fault, but the management's fault for constructing a poor team. Or sometimes players just don't make plays. I'm not saying Doc is a good coach, but your superstar MVP should show up and play well in a game 7 no matter who the coach is.

[Flash4thewin]

I guess you could also read something like this about Spo in 2011.

This was absolutely a narrative. "He's a nice guy but he's outmatched, good guy to have develop a young team but now with LeBron here they need a champion level coach. Pat Riley needs to come back!"

To be fair he is a big reason we lost in year one for the big three. Had Pat been the coach im confident we win because being a coach is not just about X and O, it's about knowing how to reach out and get the best out of your players.

Case in point the playoffs today. Look at the job Spo is doing, granted this is with now a decade of experience as a head coach vs the Celtics coach. Look at how we are getting production from player not drafted, how he gives them confidence and puts them in positions to impact the game. It's impresive how much Spo has improved with a decade worth of experience.

[xdrta+]

Every sport is the same, it's just so much easier to change coaches than players.

[YogurtProducer]

Raptors firing Nurse is also a good example. If he’s a bad coach why are the Bucks Suns Sixers, etc considering him?

Maybe it’s because GM bobby webster is the one who should be fired for putting together the worst bench in the league.

Management fire coaches to save their ass and scapegoat them all the time

Personally, I think there is more to the Nurse situation. Nurse seems like he burned some bridges in TO or something.

[Mister Ze]

Raptors firing Nurse is also a good example. If he’s a bad coach why are the Bucks Suns Sixers, etc considering him?

Maybe it’s because GM bobby webster is the one who should be fired for putting together the worst bench in the league.

Management fire coaches to save their ass and scapegoat them all the time

Personally, I think there is more to the Nurse situation. Nurse seems like he burned some bridges in TO or something.

I think he may have lost the locker room but it still reflects on management for not equipping the locker room with a deeper bench.

Raptors basically lived and died with Fred all season because all his backups were G League talent. That’s gonna frustrate guys like OG and Barnes for sure.

[JonFromVA]

Raptors firing Nurse is also a good example. If he’s a bad coach why are the Bucks Suns Sixers, etc considering him?

Maybe it’s because GM bobby webster is the one who should be fired for putting together the worst bench in the league.

Management fire coaches to save their ass and scapegoat them all the time

Personally, I think there is more to the Nurse situation. Nurse seems like he burned some bridges in TO or something.

I think he may have lost the locker room but it still reflects on management for not equipping the locker room with a deeper bench.

Raptors basically lived and died with Fred all season because all his backups were G League talent. That’s gonna frustrate guys like OG and Barnes for sure.

You mean the plan wasn't just to get Barnes more minutes at point?

And what happened to that Masai Ujiri feller? Are you suggesting he's not calling the shots on roster construction?

Replacing Lowry is not an easy thing, but Poetl did seem to shore up your hole at C.

There does seem to be more to it...

[YogurtProducer]

Raptors firing Nurse is also a good example. If he’s a bad coach why are the Bucks Suns Sixers, etc considering him?

Maybe it’s because GM bobby webster is the one who should be fired for putting together the worst bench in the league.

Management fire coaches to save their ass and scapegoat them all the time

Personally, I think there is more to the Nurse situation. Nurse seems like he burned some bridges in TO or something.

I think he may have lost the locker room but it still reflects on management for not equipping the locker room with a deeper bench.

Raptors basically lived and died with Fred all season because all his backups were G League talent. That’s gonna frustrate guys like OG and Barnes for sure.

It really is not on management. Fans somehow think management is able to get a deeper bench overnight. Outside of hitting on late picks / finding gems in FA (which we have done in the past, but it is impossible to do every year), building up your bench units takes time. Even then, we had added talent over the last # of years.

The bubble Raptors had Lowry / FVV / GTJ / OG / Siakam / Boucher as NBA quality rotational players. Lowry became Precious / Koloko (young guys, takes time), we got Barnes, gonna get the 13th pick this year, grabbed Poeltl, signed OPJ, etc.

There just really is nothing you can do except be patient.