Popovich should be fired

[Ryoga Hibiki]

You can't have a top2 player in the world, the MVP, and fail AGAIN to be competitive in the playoffs.
Ok, I can accept the excuse that two years ago Duncan was injured but you can't:
- be totally humiliated last year, the team had totally no fight in it
- be easily dispatched against the same team, again
- have an offense so predictable and without any spark. Always the same iso in the post for Duncan, the same passes out of the double team that lead to those contested threes
- no adjustments at all, always the same plays that might work in the regular season but not when a team can gameplay against you

I think the Spurs should fire the coach, who's been terrible since the lockout title*, and trade Parker, who showed some promise but is not aligned with Duncan's timeline, for someone who is more ready. I don't think the Spurs have any other way to acquire another star that could help Duncan to win another title.

From May 2002, summary of stuff I used to read in Usenet and in web forums, including this one. Just there was no Twitter or Reddit

[dhsilv2]

We all know Pop was set to be fired and Doc to replace him, and then Timmy pulled off a series of wins and the rest is history.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

We all know Pop was set to be fired and Doc to replace him, and then Timmy pulled off a series of wins and the rest is history.

that was in 99, though

[-Luke-]

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

[Ryoga Hibiki]

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

not really, at the time the focus was on LeBron being a loser.
No rings, as Austin Reaves would say.

[KodiakBear]

Pop probably would have been fired if the current Milwaukee Bucks was running the Spurs back in 2002. A title contender that for 3 straight years either lost in the first round or was dominated by the Lakers. The Bucks would fire him for that.

[Pharmcat]

Not sure if serious

[jowglenn]

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!"

[dhsilv2]

We all know Pop was set to be fired and Doc to replace him, and then Timmy pulled off a series of wins and the rest is history.

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.

[KodiakBear]

Spo was also seriously talked about as being fired during the first few months of the Lebron era. He also was talked about being fired between Lebron and Butler. He had a mediocre run for 5 years where they missed the playoffs twice. Many were saying "he can only win with Lebron" during that stretch. Butler shows up and how he is a great coach again.

[ConSarnit]

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

[Richard4444]

What year we are now?

[Ryoga Hibiki]

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

or maybe we should look at history to learn and possibly avoid quite absurd takes?

[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.

[infinite11285]

In a roundabout way, the OP brings up the elephant in the room regarding coaches.

Are NBA coaches being fired too quickly in the modern NBA? Will we ever see a coach with Pop's tenure under one franchise? As a hypothetical, for example, who's to say, Coach Bud or Monty Williams couldn't have achieved additional success following tweaks to their current rosters?

[Meat]

Bob hill jr still upset for his dad

[Chuck Everett]

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.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

In a roundabout way, the OP brings up an elephant in the room regarding coaches.

Are NBA coaches being fired too quickly in the modern NBA? Will we ever see a coach with Pop's tenure under one franchise? As a hypothetical, for example, who's to say, Coach Bud or Monty Williams couldn't have achieved additional success following tweaks to their current rosters?

The thing is that coaches are often the scapegoat for the general managers to change something and save their own job.
There are cases when a change is necessary, of course, but they're extremely hard to figure out from outside and, in most cases, it's about the coach losing the locker room.
But there's a value in continuity that gets underrated.

Years ago my GM at work used to fire either the Marketing Director or the Sales Director whenever there was a bad year. Instantly, even if it was caused by external factors.
He saved his a$$ for 15 years until corporate finally got rid of him.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

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.

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.

[Ryoga Hibiki]

We all know Pop was set to be fired and Doc to replace him, and then Timmy pulled off a series of wins and the rest is history.

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