Spurs could've won more titles in the Tim Duncan era.

[scrabbarista]

As a Jazz fan, I've been blessed to experience Sloan and now Snyder, and ELITE coach can have an impact to a franchise similar to a great player. The Jazz went 42-40 when Malone left and Stockton retired. The last season with Malone and Stockton they were 47 wins. Most of you probably don't remember, but people had us dead last in the West, and we almost made the playoffs with a lineup that consisted of Ostertag, Kirilenko, Harpring, Stevenson, and Arroyo. Snyder was able to get us on a 70 win pace this season as soon as Rubio learned the system and we started getting healthier. The Celtics certainly have talent this season, but what they have done this season and postseason is the work of Stevens. What the Pacers and Spurs were able to accomplish this season, once again, coaching. You give the Warriors a great coach instead of Kerr, and I don't think they would be struggling as they have this year. He would have more control of the sloppy play, and would have the team playing as a team again rather than depending a lot on ISO. I truly believe the Spurs won 5 titles because of Pops as much as they did because of Duncan.

Ugh. This comment was fine until "as much." Were you watching the recent Warriors game? If Steve Kerr (as a head coach) told Tim Duncan a story about Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson, do you think Duncan would have recoiled and clearly tuned him out? Get out of here.

Oh, and btw, how many titles did Jerry Sloan win for Utah?

What's your point? The Jazz faced the 1997 and 98 Bulls, must I remind you that the 1996 team was a 72 win team, the 1997 team was a 69 win team and in 1998 they won 62 (Pippen missed 38, they were THAT good). I'd like to see how many other teams could of done better than the Jazz did in 1997 and 98 against the Bulls. The Jazz were not a bad team, but believe me Sloan was not working with enough to win a title against the Bulls. You could make an argument that they should of made the Finals before, but don't forget that the Lakers were the dominant team until 1991 (not to mention Sloan's first full season with the Jazz was 1990). Sloan took the Jazz to the WCF 5 times, and beyond that twice. Those mid to late 90s Rockets and Sonics were very good teams too. Even the Lakers and Spurs began to be great teams when the Jazz were in their finals runs. I said a great coach can have a huge impact, but remember that those Bulls teams had Phil Jackson who was no chump, and the upper hand with the better team as well.

Oh, you're right, I forgot. The Bulls had Phil Jackson, and the Lakers had Pat Riley and Mike Dunleavy, Sr..

My bad.

My point was that 90% of the time, the team with the best players wins. If the Spurs had won 10 titles, I'd give one to Pop. But since they only won five, I'm gonna go with Duncan, thanks.

[Witzig-Okashi]

I don't know why folks are saying that the Spurs would have won vs. Detroit in 2004 if they defeated LAL in the WCSF just because they beat them the next year. That 04 Pistons team was a lot deeper than the 05 team. Guys like Corliss Williamson, Mehmet Okur, Mike James, and even Elden Campbell gave them that extra punch that they lacked in the 05 season. McDyess was great off the bench, and Hunter was still good at times (though not as good as he was in 04) but that Pistons bench overall just simply a lot better in 04, and I think it was partially the reason they lost to the Spurs in 05...

I actually think they would have fared off a bit better against the Heat in 2006; they defeated the Heat both times during that season in spite of Wade having a great boxscore in both instances (although Shaq wasn't there for their first meeting). If not for Ginobili's ridiculous foul, they would have been in the finals for sure that season. I don't see Phoenix beating them that year...That series vs. the Mavs in 06 should be talked about more; it's arguably the greatest playoff series of all time, and the Spurs almost won against them with Duncan playing with plantar fasciitis.

And of course, they were really close in 2013. Duncan did miss a shot in game 7 that would have tied the game up, though, which gets overlooked during due to that game 6. He would've definitely won finals MVP if not for that, though...

[markjay]

Duncan is an amazing player but I'm not sure I agree with this premise. He played 6 years with David Robinson, starting when Robinson was 32. He played 5 years with Kawhi Leonard, including two consecutive years that Leonard won DPOY. And he played 15 years with Tony Parker and 14 years with Manu. That's a total of 40 years playing with teammates who are likely to make the Hall of Fame. If we compare that to other Hall of Famers who played their entire careers on one team over the last few decades, that's a pretty impressive level of support. Plus one of the all-time greatest coaches in one of the all-time best NBA organizations.

[G35]

Ugh. This comment was fine until "as much." Were you watching the recent Warriors game? If Steve Kerr (as a head coach) told Tim Duncan a story about Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson, do you think Duncan would have recoiled and clearly tuned him out? Get out of here.

Oh, and btw, how many titles did Jerry Sloan win for Utah?

Look Pop is a great coach. He did a lot but people forget the early years and they forget he only became the Spurs coach after they drafted Duncan.

The Warriors have the best 4 year stretch and two titles with a chance at a 3rd and it is not easy managing great players. Its easier to take bottom tier teams and make them average than make average teams great. How many coaches have been COY taking a team with low expectations and then they get fired.....

I'm assuming you weren't addressing me, unless you misunderstood my comment, because I am 1000% in agreement with you.

Yeah, I agreed with you. I was reading the comment about the Jazz coaches and accidentally clicked on your post to reply.....

[dautjazz]

Ugh. This comment was fine until "as much." Were you watching the recent Warriors game? If Steve Kerr (as a head coach) told Tim Duncan a story about Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson, do you think Duncan would have recoiled and clearly tuned him out? Get out of here.

Oh, and btw, how many titles did Jerry Sloan win for Utah?

What's your point? The Jazz faced the 1997 and 98 Bulls, must I remind you that the 1996 team was a 72 win team, the 1997 team was a 69 win team and in 1998 they won 62 (Pippen missed 38, they were THAT good). I'd like to see how many other teams could of done better than the Jazz did in 1997 and 98 against the Bulls. The Jazz were not a bad team, but believe me Sloan was not working with enough to win a title against the Bulls. You could make an argument that they should of made the Finals before, but don't forget that the Lakers were the dominant team until 1991 (not to mention Sloan's first full season with the Jazz was 1990). Sloan took the Jazz to the WCF 5 times, and beyond that twice. Those mid to late 90s Rockets and Sonics were very good teams too. Even the Lakers and Spurs began to be great teams when the Jazz were in their finals runs. I said a great coach can have a huge impact, but remember that those Bulls teams had Phil Jackson who was no chump, and the upper hand with the better team as well.

Oh, you're right, I forgot. The Bulls had Phil Jackson, and the Lakers had Pat Riley and Mike Dunleavy, Sr..

My bad.

My point was that 90% of the time, the team with the best players wins. If the Spurs had won 10 titles, I'd give one to Pop. But since they only won five, I'm gonna go with Duncan, thanks.

Only 5? That's pretty impressive in an era that saw Shaq/Kobe Lakers, Webber's Kings, Nowitzki's Mavs, Nash's Suns, Kobe/Gasol Lakers, Wallace/Billups Pistons, KG/Pierce/Allen/Rondo Celtics, Lebron Heat, Curry Warriors, etc..

[maradro]

The thing people don't realize is that the respective primes of our Big 3 never really matched up:

2003: Tim was ridiculous and everyone else was a role player

2005: Manu broke out as a legit All Star. Tony was a very good player, but was not all star caliber

2007: Probably the closest, but people overrate Tony that year just because he destroyed Boobie Gibson. He was making All Star teams, but he didn't hit his stride until 2009 IMO

2014: Tim, not Kawhi, was the best player on that team. 2nd leading scorer, leading rebounder, best defender, leader of the team, etc. Kawhi had a great Finals, but Tim played 77 games that regular season and was the best player on a championship team at 38.

I'm also surprised to see that 2006 hasn't been mentioned more; that's really the one that got away. If Manu doesn't foul Dirk and they win that Game 7, they absolutely beat Phoenix and Miami. I don't think the Spurs beat the Pistons in 04.

Not to mention they had bad injury luck; Duncan battled plantar fasciitis in 05 and 06, manu was hurt in 08, Parker 2010, manu 2011. Duncan had a Renaissance in 2012-16 after a few down years

I think 08 was more of a miss than 04, they got drained by the hornets and manu played vs Lakers with a gimpy ankle, they played gm7/gm1 b2b , and there was an issue with their plane so they barely slept in between. Game 1 was close iirc.

Manu making all NBA / all star from the bench at all is a testament to how good he was. More versatile and more importantly a plus defender vs Parker who was a great scorer but not much else.

And pop absolutely deserves credit though he wasn't perfect either

[SelfishPlayer]

Yeah, Manu is definitely the superior player. More well-rounded offensively and much better defensively. The ball never stuck with him like it sometimes has when Tony was our primary creator. Manu is also the better player right now.

It's totally creepy reading this revisionist history.Tony Parker has more All NBA team selections, more All Star game selections, and something Manu doesn't have, a Finals MVP. If Manu had a Finals MVP and TP did not, then perhaps this attempt at revisionist history would have legs, but it never happened and will never happen, just like Manu a better player than TP. Never.

Who cares about the Finals MVP. Is Iggy a better player than Curry? And who cares about All NBA or All Star, the only reason Tony has more is because Manu came off the bench. Anyone who's watched Spurs games for the last 15 years knows that the team always goes as Manu goes.

Now it's even creepier reading you say that Manu was more important than Tim Duncan. It's so bizarre reading anyone state that Manu is not only better than Tony Parker, but he is also superior to Tim Duncan.

[SK21209]

It's totally creepy reading this revisionist history.Tony Parker has more All NBA team selections, more All Star game selections, and something Manu doesn't have, a Finals MVP. If Manu had a Finals MVP and TP did not, then perhaps this attempt at revisionist history would have legs, but it never happened and will never happen, just like Manu a better player than TP. Never.

Who cares about the Finals MVP. Is Iggy a better player than Curry? And who cares about All NBA or All Star, the only reason Tony has more is because Manu came off the bench. Anyone who's watched Spurs games for the last 15 years knows that the team always goes as Manu goes.

Now it's even creepier reading you say that Manu was more important than Tim Duncan. It's so bizarre reading anyone state that Manu is not only better than Tony Parker, but he is also superior to Tim Duncan.

man you are just clueless. Poll any sample size of Spurs fans, or just NBA fans in general, and I guarantee you the majority will say Manu is better.

Of course Manu isn't better than Tim. Tim was the model of consistency but Manu has always been the wildcard for the team that puts them over the edge. Just like Klay with the the Warriors.

[Vayuputra]

I really dont understand how people can say that Duncan is better then Shaq. We saw them go head to head and Shaq dominated him much more often then not. Shaq 3 peated on Duncan, and Timmy couldn't measure up at all. Theres not much more a player can do to prove who was better, then winning against them in the playoffs time after time.

Isn't that what makes Jordan great?

Kobe gets disrespected too but thats for another time.

What the hell? Shaq never dominated Duncan, they both put up numbers on each other, with Duncan carrying the much bigger load. Shaq had Kobe with him (who used to go off on Spurs because their best guard / wing was old Elliot during those years 99-03) and great role players in Fox, Horry, Fisher and Grant. Just look at the teams Duncan had from 99-03 and compare them to what Shaq had. How can you be so blind to the obvious? This is pathetic.

And btw look up the numbers in those years (99-04), Duncan had better numbers than Shaq in all their matchups combined. Give Duncan Kobe and all those great role players and Phil Jackson (who was a much better coach than Pop at that time, Pop was a defense minded coach) and they win from 6 straight rings from 99-04.

[Vayuputra]

I really dont understand how people can say that Duncan is better then Shaq. We saw them go head to head and Shaq dominated him much more often then not. Shaq 3 peated on Duncan, and Timmy couldn't measure up at all. Theres not much more a player can do to prove who was better, then winning against them in the playoffs time after time.

Isn't that what makes Jordan great?

Kobe gets disrespected too but thats for another time.

Again, I think alot of that has to do with Duncan's supporting cast. Parker & Ginobili were in the early stages of their careers.

Kobe and Gasol also destroyed the spurs during the 2007-2011 era. That was when they were in their prime as well. That Lakers team wasn't even as good as the Kobe-Shaq Lakers either.

I just don't see it

Yet another low IQ, blind fan post. They met each other once in 08 and Spurs were playing with an injured Ginobili. Still Spurs were up by 20 pts in each of the first two games before Lakers edged them out. Spurs were an ageing team at that point with Bowen, Horry and their other role players almost done. Duncan's prime ended that season whatwith carrying the load for 10 straight seasons going deep into the playoffs. And the Spurs didn't expect Memphis to gift Gasol to the Lakers mid-season which broke the league at that time. I still give credit to Kobe's Lakers for beating the Spurs that season, but your attempt at proving that Shaq and Kobe were better than Duncan because they ganged up to go 3-2 against him with a much better team and which could have easily reversed had Fisher not hit that 0.4 sec shot. So don't run your low IQ, big mouth without proper facts.

[ThaRegul8r]

I really dont understand how people can say that Duncan is better then Shaq. We saw them go head to head and Shaq dominated him much more often then not. Shaq 3 peated on Duncan, and Timmy couldn't measure up at all. Theres not much more a player can do to prove who was better, then winning against them in the playoffs time after time.

Isn't that what makes Jordan great?

Kobe gets disrespected too but thats for another time.

What the hell? Shaq never dominated Duncan, they both put up numbers on each other, with Duncan carrying the much bigger load.

I saw the quoted post, but left it alone, as I have no interest in getting in any "who's better" nonsense, and studies show that people will believe what they want to believe, regardless what anyone says to the contrary, so it's pointless. But I have the numbers since among the articles written after Duncan's retirement, I saw a Yahoo article on Duncan vs. Shaq that had incorrect information since the author just copied and pasted what they saw on basketball-reference, when BBR doesn't allow you to isolate specific years. I noted it in my notes and put the correct information:

SPURS VS. LAKERS, 1999-2004
Duncan: 25.8 ppg, 48.3% FG, 72.7% FT, 55.2% TS, 12.9 rpg, 4.1 apg, 2.36 bpg, 42.4 mpg
Shaq: 23.9 ppg, 53.6% FG, 53.2% FT, 55.0% TS, 13.5 rpg, 2.5 apg, 2.8 bpg, 39.5 mpg

That's what they did in their postseason meetings during that time period.

[Vayuputra]

Duncan is an amazing player but I'm not sure I agree with this premise. He played 6 years with David Robinson, starting when Robinson was 32. He played 5 years with Kawhi Leonard, including two consecutive years that Leonard won DPOY. And he played 15 years with Tony Parker and 14 years with Manu. That's a total of 40 years playing with teammates who are likely to make the Hall of Fame. If we compare that to other Hall of Famers who played their entire careers on one team over the last few decades, that's a pretty impressive level of support. Plus one of the all-time greatest coaches in one of the all-time best NBA organizations.

The thing which many casuals forget is that Duncan played with all these guys at different stages of their career. They weren't all in their prime together. David was done by 2001. Manu came into his own in 2005 and continued that till 2007 when the injuries began to hit and derail him and the Spurs, every other season (his style of play and playing for Argentina throughout the summer, there was always a friction between him and the Spurs management because of him getting injured every season since 07-08). Parker came into his own as a talent in 2006-07 but he truly became a star around 09 once stubborn Pop finally realized that Duncan wasn't in his prime anymore and he could no longer carry the load as a first option throughout the season into the playoffs AND be their defensive anchor, as he had been doing for 10 straight years. Kawhi came into his own in 2015, before that he was a young 3 D player in that Spurs motion offense system.

And coming to Pop, he was a defensive minded coach who literally ran Duncan into the ground by just dumping him the ball and letting him go to work for 6 seasons straight (questionable strategy considering that zone illegal defense rules were removed from 2001 onwards) starting with his rookie year 98 to 04, when finally Manu came into his own and Pop got comfortable enough to trust him. It isn't until Duncan's prime ended in 08 that he began to go to PnR with Manu and Parker more often and finally created that motion offense in 2012. Give Duncan a Phil Jackson and a Kobe, Shaq or Gasol and he would have won more rings than any of them because he was such a high IQ player who would have dominated even more in the Triangle system with a fellow superstar.

I don't see people taking credit away from Kobe or Shaq and giving it to Phil Jackson or with Jordan or Magic or Kareem or Bird (who all played with great players themselves and arguably better players than Manu and Parker) but why is it that when it comes to Duncan, he should share it with Pop? This is just a backhanded way of taking credit away from Duncan.

[SelfishPlayer]

Who cares about the Finals MVP. Is Iggy a better player than Curry? And who cares about All NBA or All Star, the only reason Tony has more is because Manu came off the bench. Anyone who's watched Spurs games for the last 15 years knows that the team always goes as Manu goes.

Now it's even creepier reading you say that Manu was more important than Tim Duncan. It's so bizarre reading anyone state that Manu is not only better than Tony Parker, but he is also superior to Tim Duncan.

man you are just clueless. Poll any sample size of Spurs fans, or just NBA fans in general, and I guarantee you the majority will say Manu is better.

Of course Manu isn't better than Tim. Tim was the model of consistency but Manu has always been the wildcard for the team that puts them over the edge. Just like Klay with the the Warriors.

Tim Duncan won a championship before Manu joined the Spurs. This is totally weird. Manu was the third wheel sixth man.

[lakers2020]

If anything the Spurs were very luck to win the amount of titles they did. Not quite as lucky as the Pats, but in the same tier.

[Cool_Dude]

If the clock didn't start late on the Fisher 0.4 shot (you can't catch, land, turn over your shoulder, and shoot all in 0.4), and Ginobili didn't commit that stupid foul on Dirk in 2006, the Spurs may very well have won 5 straight titles from 2003-2007.

In 2012 they could have beaten the Heat in the Finals had the team gotten there, but Pop had no answer for the adjustments OKC made that led to the backdoor sweep in the WCF.

2013 was obviously a huge coulda shoulda, but probably washes out in the end because they wouldn't have played the '14 season with such hunger and focus had they not suffered the crushing defeat. Plus Miami would likely have been a different team in '14, had they lost in '13. But, who knows. Maybe the Spurs could still have won back to back, given good health.

2015 the team had some guys suffering from injuries and the team in general had regressed from the prior year, but had Leonard not gotten outplayed by Matt Barnes in the final two games of the Clippers series, and had the timekeeper not started the clock early on the Spurs final alley-oop which gave away the play, they may have had a chance going forward given the Warriors' inexperience.

2016 Pop coached a horrible series against OKC- he failed to stagger minutes to keep some 7 footers on the floor against Adams and Kanter, and didn't try going small until it was too little too late in the 2nd half of game 6 (a reporter even called Pop out on this in the postgame presser and Pop got all butthurt about it). Spurs would have had a great chance against the Warriors and Cavs had they gotten past OKC that year.

[Vayuputra]

If the clock didn't start late on the Fisher 0.4 shot (you can't catch, land, turn over your shoulder, and shoot all in 0.4), and Ginobili didn't commit that stupid foul on Dirk in 2006, the Spurs may very well have won 5 straight titles from 2003-2007.

In 2012 they could have beaten the Heat in the Finals had the team gotten there, but Pop had no answer for the adjustments OKC made that led to the backdoor sweep in the WCF.

2013 was obviously a huge coulda shoulda, but probably washes out in the end because they wouldn't have played the '14 season with such hunger and focus had they not suffered the crushing defeat. Plus Miami would likely have been a different team in '14, had they lost in '13. But, who knows. Maybe the Spurs could still have won back to back, given good health.

2015 the team had some guys suffering from injuries and the team in general had regressed from the prior year, but had Leonard not gotten outplayed by Matt Barnes in the final two games of the Clippers series, and had the timekeeper not started the clock early on the Spurs final alley-oop which gave away the play, they may have had a chance going forward given the Warriors' inexperience.

2016 Pop coached a horrible series against OKC- he failed to stagger minutes to keep some 7 footers on the floor against Adams and Kanter, and didn't try going small until it was too little too late in the 2nd half of game 6 (a reporter even called Pop out on this in the postgame presser and Pop got all butthurt about it). Spurs would have had a great chance against the Warriors and Cavs had they gotten past OKC that year.

You are right on the money here. The reporters have no guts to point out Pop's mistakes, even respected writers like Zach Lowe avoid it. The problem in 2012 and again in 2016 against OKC which Pop corrected in 2014 (out of desperation with Parker getting injured) was his stubborn refusal to use small ball with Diaw more often. He was a perfect foil to the Thunder's length and athleticism with his playmaking ability, 3 pt shooting as well as skill and girth in the post. Funnily Pop went small in 2011 with Dejuan Blair against prime ZBo and Gasol and refused to use Splitter all season since he was a 'rookie'. And the Grizzlies clobbered the Spurs with Duncan having to contend with ZBo and Gasol by himself. No writer or journalist even in San Antonio has had the guts to raise a finger at Pop over the years.

After 2005-07, 2012-14 were the most fun years as a Spurs fan because of having guys like Diaw, Splitter and Duncan who could all defend well, screen and pass well, find the open man and keep the ball moving. It was like having two Draymond Greens on the team at all times, and then you have Manu the maestro. I hated it whenever Parker had the ball in his hands because he was such a black hole and has always had limited vision, still he was a very good scorer and the team adjusted to his strengths. That team had a great balance with three all-around bigs, two great 3-D players in Kawhi and Green, shooters in Mills and Belinelli and the versatile Manu.

I think overall they perhaps could have won 2 more rings, one in the 2003-2007 era and one more in the 2012-2015 era. Winning consistently is tough, especially when you play in the toughest conference in probably the entire league's history, with a rapidly changing league, in the last two decades. Winning 5 rings is great enough and I'm sure the Spurs players as well as their fans are grateful for that because there were other great players like Nash, Paul, Kidd, Dirk, Garnett, Yao, Carter, Mcgrady, Allen, Durant etc. who would have won more rings had they not run into the Duncan-led Spurs, Shaq-Kobe's Lakers and Lebrons.

[Cool_Dude]

If the clock didn't start late on the Fisher 0.4 shot (you can't catch, land, turn over your shoulder, and shoot all in 0.4), and Ginobili didn't commit that stupid foul on Dirk in 2006, the Spurs may very well have won 5 straight titles from 2003-2007.

In 2012 they could have beaten the Heat in the Finals had the team gotten there, but Pop had no answer for the adjustments OKC made that led to the backdoor sweep in the WCF.

2013 was obviously a huge coulda shoulda, but probably washes out in the end because they wouldn't have played the '14 season with such hunger and focus had they not suffered the crushing defeat. Plus Miami would likely have been a different team in '14, had they lost in '13. But, who knows. Maybe the Spurs could still have won back to back, given good health.

2015 the team had some guys suffering from injuries and the team in general had regressed from the prior year, but had Leonard not gotten outplayed by Matt Barnes in the final two games of the Clippers series, and had the timekeeper not started the clock early on the Spurs final alley-oop which gave away the play, they may have had a chance going forward given the Warriors' inexperience.

2016 Pop coached a horrible series against OKC- he failed to stagger minutes to keep some 7 footers on the floor against Adams and Kanter, and didn't try going small until it was too little too late in the 2nd half of game 6 (a reporter even called Pop out on this in the postgame presser and Pop got all butthurt about it). Spurs would have had a great chance against the Warriors and Cavs had they gotten past OKC that year.

You are right on the money here. The reporters have no guts to point out Pop's mistakes, even respected writers like Zach Lowe avoid it. The problem in 2012 and again in 2016 against OKC which Pop corrected in 2014 (out of desperation with Parker getting injured) was his stubborn refusal to use small ball with Diaw more often. He was a perfect foil to the Thunder's length and athleticism with his playmaking ability, 3 pt shooting as well as skill and girth in the post. Funnily Pop went small in 2011 with Dejuan Blair against prime ZBo and Gasol and refused to use Splitter all season since he was a 'rookie'. And the Grizzlies clobbered the Spurs with Duncan having to contend with ZBo and Gasol by himself. No writer or journalist even in San Antonio has had the guts to raise a finger at Pop over the years.

After 2005-07, 2012-14 were the most fun years as a Spurs fan because of having guys like Diaw, Splitter and Duncan who could all screen and pass well, find the open man and keep the ball moving. It was like having two Draymond Greens on the team at all times, and then you have Manu the maestro. I hated it whenever Parker had the ball in his hands because he was such a black hole and has always had limited vision, still he was a very good scorer and the team adjusted to his strengths. That team had a great balance with three all-around bigs, two great 3-D players in Kawhi and Green, shooters in Mills and Belinelli and the versatile Manu.

Yup agreed. They needed Splitter in 2011, as Duncan (who hadn't yet lost the excess weight that allowed him to have that resurgence from 2012-2015) was overmatched and the corpse of McDyess couldn't help much.

Though in 2012, Diaw was already the starting power forward as it was. I guess the Spurs prolly shoulda gone even smaller and put Leonard or Stephen Jackson at the 4 for better three point shooting and more of a mismatch against Ibaka.

And in 2016 Leonard at the 4 was indeed the answer as Pop discovered too late.

I agree that it's frustrating that reporters are too timid to question Pop. The most criticism he ever seems to get is for pulling Duncan out of the game twice in Game 6 2013, and even that isn't universally criticized, as it made sense in many ways.

[Dr Aki]

Of course they could've, they were 1 rebound or FT away from taking game 6 in 2013

[Son_of_Slam]

i think the general premise is fine but it greatly overlooks tony parker. at his best he was impossible to guard and was a total game changer. i don't think he gets the credit he deserves as a mid range killer with his penetration and floater. he was slithery and deceptively quick while not physically overwhelming. if he wasn't paired with duncan i think we'd see him much more like a new wave isiah thomas.

[Vayuputra]

i think the general premise is fine but it greatly overlooks tony parker. at his best he was impossible to guard and was a total game changer. i don't think he gets the credit he deserves as a mid range killer with his penetration and floater. he was slithery and deceptively quick while not physically overwhelming. if he wasn't paired with duncan i think we'd see him much more like a new wave isiah thomas.

I think this has to do with Parker getting drafted into a veteran contending team desperately looking for youth, at the age of 19 as a raw scorer without a consistent shot, and the resultant expectations. It took him a while to come into his own (like any other star) which he did around 2006-07, but still he was a great scorer but a limited playmaker. Luckily for him he had Manu to take pressure off him, who was the playmaker for those teams especially in late games.

It took him quite a while to get to the level of being an above average playmaker while still retaining his great scoring skills, for Pop to trust him and hand him the keys to the offense from Duncan and Manu. This was in 2012 when he was the key to the 'motion offense' and he had a great 2 year run but unfortunately like all Star point guards this decade, he would get injured deep into the playoffs, which is why Pop went for the final version of the 'motion offense' i.e. the 'Beautiful Game' in 2014 which no longer relied on him but had a bevy of High IQ players playing together and moving the ball. Yes Parker could have scored more had he been on an average team much like other combo guards, but he wouldn't have been half the playmaker he turned into if not for Pop and his coaching staff constantly being on him every year of his career. Of all the players who benefited the most from Pop it was Parker as in the end he overturned his main weakness (vision and playmaking) and became a Top 5 MVP candidate in 2013 (could have won it had he not got injured around the All-Star break that year).

I agree that his strength i.e. scoring - in the mid-range and low post (he led the league for a period with the highest FG% in the post) with a bevy of skills (floaters, spins, low post moves) and great finishing ability off either foot - is very underrated. He was the true successor to Allen Iverson and the precursor to Kyrie Irving as a scoring, combo guard.