The spinmeister

[bartruff1]

Popovich spends his time managing Hall of Fame personalities and egos. If he can get them to cooperate on the court, they win. In the NBA he doesn't need to scheme out the complex, Euro-style offenses requiring rigid discipline to execute. That is the style of play that dominates internationally, though. It used to be that Euro teams could put up a scrappy effort against the superior American individual players, but the US would win eventually. Now there are enough high caliber NBA euros who are both individually skilled and will execute complex offenses that the US strategy of relying in superior individuals isn't working.

I don't know if Pop has the ability anymore to convince players to set aside their egos and adopt a playing style that minimizes individual excellence in order to maximize the success of the team. I think Coach K did have that ability and treated players like he does his college players. I think he was able to recreate the 'college experience' feel for the Olympic team he coached and use that novelty to get players to buy in. Pop doesn't seem able to do that. I think he needed to spend more time picking Mark Few's brain on GU's offense. He probably could not find a better, American source for innovative, offensive basketball that will work internationally.

You could be right but the talking heads on ESPN opine that K just rolled the ball out and let them play and Pops is trying to make them play in a structured offense and defense...... sure the competition on is better but I suspect they will win the gold...

[zag944]

Pop’s best coaching trait was drafting David Robinson and Tim Duncan.

Pop can be both things: A great coach and a putz. Having 5 HoFers for most of their lengthy careers didn't hurt his record, either.

I'm sure 4 of these 5 players would give Popovich all sorts of credit for their growth in the NBA, and for being a big part of why they wanted to stay in San Antonio for such long stretches of their career.

Forgive me if I am misreading these posts, but they seem to be minimizing a lot of Hall of Fame level work in coaching and management of a franchise because of some dislike of the guy personally.

[Zagceo]

I'm sure 4 of these 5 players would give Popovich all sorts of credit for their growth in the NBA, and for being a big part of why they wanted to stay in San Antonio for such long stretches of their career.

Forgive me if I am misreading these posts, but they seem to be minimizing a lot of Hall of Fame level work in coaching and management of a franchise because of some dislike of the guy personally.

do some minimize Bob Knight because of a personal dislike?

[zag944]

do some minimize Bob Knight because of a personal dislike?

Probably. I don't like him but I wouldn't hesitate to call him one of the greatest basketball coaches of my lifetime or use "having Isiah Thomas" to minimize him.

[seacatfan]

Pop's behavior is not even remotely as boorish as Knight was throughout his career; absolutely no comparison there.

[JPtheBeasta]

Team USA basketball players are “grumbling” about running head coach Gregg Popovich’s San Antonio Spurs-style offense at the Olympic Games, according to a report from The Athletic.

Joe Vardon’s report comes after Popovich’s squad lost their group stage opener 83-76 to France — a team led by Rudy Gobert and Evan Fournier — on Sunday. It was the Americans’ first Olympic loss in 6,176 days, since being upset by Argentina in the 2004 semifinals.

The report states “the players are frustrated, too, grumbling on their way back to the locker room about ‘running the San Antonio offense’ when apparently they feel like there are better ideas.”

The analysis can be kept pretty simple: USA shot very poorly from the field that day, which was punctuated when they missed their last 9 shots. Times like that is when old-school basketball wisdom would be to get the ball down low for a high-percentage shot. The USA doesn't have that option any more-- those types of players are all pretty much from other countries. Timme is a unicorn from a post-moves perspective and could really be a problem for NBA teams if someone gives him a chance to go to work down low.

https://nypost.com/2021/07/27/team-usa-players-frustrated-with-head-coach-gregg-popovich/

[Grand Valley Zag]

Pop's a great coach and seems like a really cool guy too. One of my all-time favorites.

[jazzdelmar]

Pops clobbered Angola, er, Iran.🇺🇸

[bartruff1]

Pop's behavior is not even remotely as boorish as Knight was throughout his career; absolutely no comparison there.

IMHO Knight was a narcissist to the level of being a psychopath ....... but he was a brilliant coach as his record shows.....

as I recall at Texas Tech he overcame a second half deficit of about a dozen points to eliminate a 3 seed Gonzaga team from the Sweet Sixteen.....that contributed to the Few32 meme....

I am not aware that Pops has ever abused his players.....

[Zagceo]

IMHO Knight was a narcissist to the level of being a psychopath ....... but he was a brilliant coach as his record shows.....

as I recall at Texas Tech he overcame a second half deficit of about a dozen points to eliminate a 3 seed Gonzaga team from the Sweet Sixteen.....that contributed to the Few32 meme....

I am not aware that Pops has ever abused his players.....

read Popovich's lips in the Danny Green encounter tells Danny to "Shut the F*** up" on the way to the bench

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhMmHLO0Kgo

[Reborn]

Nice to see Team USA play well today. I stick with my first post. This is a good USA team, and Pops is a good coach. Let this team get some practice time together, and they'll be fine. Team USA just added Middleton, who has become one of my fav players, Team USA played as a team today and it showed. 30 assists vs 5 turn overs. Id say that's good team basketball. Lillard was on fire today. And you all know he IS a great player. Durant played like a team player today. He was so different today. These guys got together and had a good talk.
The thing I like about this team is that there are only two guys with Olympic experience. This tells me these guys are hungry. What American boy who is a basketball player doesn't dream about playing in the Olympics? I believe that little kid is in each of our players THIS YEAR. I can't wait to watch the next game. I love team USA.

Go USA!!!

[Grand Valley Zag]

read Popovich's lips in the Danny Green encounter tells Danny to "Shut the F*** up" on the way to the bench

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhMmHLO0Kgo

meh, not so bad. They're grown men and paid professionals, not amateurs on a school team. Competitive people can get abrasive during high pressure situations.

Also, Pop didn't lay hands on anyone AFAIK, unlike Bob Knight.

[seacatfan]

Knights antics also included throwing a chair onto the court, threatening a school official, and going after a student who was with the campus paper IIRC. Not aware of anything similar for Pop.

[jazzdelmar]

Nice to see Team USA play well today. I stick with my first post. This is a good USA team, and Pops is a good coach. Let this team get some practice time together, and they'll be fine. Team USA just added Middleton, who has become one of my fav players, Team USA played as a team today and it showed. 30 assists vs 5 turn overs. Id say that's good team basketball. Lillard was on fire today. And you all know he IS a great player. Durant played like a team player today. He was so different today. These guys got together and had a good talk.
The thing I like about this team is that there are only two guys with Olympic experience. This tells me these guys are hungry. What American boy who is a basketball player doesn't dream about playing in the Olympics? I believe that little kid is in each of our players THIS YEAR. I can't wait to watch the next game. I love team USA.

Go USA!!!

Bornie, Iran is like a D4 team.

[jazzdelmar]

Knights antics also included throwing a chair onto the court, threatening a school official, and going after a student who was with the campus paper IIRC. Not aware of anything similar for Pop.

He was a mutt who should’ve been bounced a decade earlier. He was 10x worse than Mike Rice, the Rutgers POS lunatic, who’s now coaching 4th graders in south Jersey.