Spurs players are overrated

[inclinerator]

Imagine if Duncan had prime Wade and Bosh??

It goes both ways

lebron with pop has a good chance to be goat

[GeeWiz]

lebron with pop has a good chance to be goat

Depends on his supporting cast, he can't do it on his own.

[inclinerator]

Depends on his supporting cast, he can't do it on his own.

pop will just pick up some guys from the local ymca

[T_L_P]

lebron with pop has a good chance to be goat

Does he have to play in the early 2000s West though, or the current East?

[inclinerator]

Does he have to play in the early 2000s West though, or the current East?

idk how much he would win but i meant developing lebron as a player

[GeeWiz]

pop will just pick up some guys from the local ymca

LeBron is the type of player that needs his shooters/shot-creators when defenses start closing on him,

I doubt LeBron/Pop + scrubs would win anything, especially if they are playing in the west

[GeeWiz]

idk how much he would win but i meant developing lebron as a player

To be the greatest ever he would still have to win multiple titles.

[mattvNJ]

Not overrated. They just fully believe in a concept instituted by a good coach. Duncan is a grandpa putting in work, manu is hitting his shots, parker is one of the best PGs in the game and runs their system to a T and Leonard is an emerging star.

They hit their shots, they do what is needed to be successful. The players may be overrated but as a whole that team is as cohesive as it gets.

[Anaximandro1]

Pop has done a good job.

That said, Pop owes his career to Avery Johnson, David Robinson and Tim Duncan :

-Pop had a coaching record in the NBA of (17 - 47) when Duncan joined the Spurs in 1997.

-Robinson handed the keys to Duncan in 1998-99

-Pop was going to be fired after the Spurs (6-8) got destroyed by the Jazz (11-2) early in the 1998-99 season. Avery and David knew that the game in Houston was Pop's last chance and played extremely well. Of course, Duncan had a strong game in Houston.

-A few weeks later, Duncan destroyed the Jazz, the Lakers and the Knicks ... The Spurs won their first championship.

Avery Johnson served as the player-coach while Pop seemed like an interloper.

-Duncan missed the 2000 playoffs (knee injury). The Spurs lost 3-1 in the first round ... look at the Spurs' offensive rating.



-Duncan decided to sign with Orlando in 2000, but Robinson persuaded him to stay at the last minute. If Duncan leaves the Spurs in 2000, Popovich's would have had a short career.

-Pop won four titles when he had the best player in the NBA. After 2007, Duncan was no longer the same player, and the Spurs underwent a trial-and-error process .... Jefferson, Blair, Bonner were failures; Scola joined the Rockets ,etc. Later, the Spurs changed their style of play and found Kawhi. It's been seven years since the Spurs won their last title.

-The best thing about Pop is that he has improved over the years... 2014 Pop is light years ahead of 2000 Pop.

[Rocketswin2013]

LeBron is the type of player that needs his shooters/shot-creators when defenses start closing on him,

I doubt LeBron/Pop + scrubs would win anything, especially if they are playing in the west

LeBron does not need anything specific to win. It's literally the opposite. LeBron plays his current style besause Wade and Bosh are shells of themselves. LeBron plays PF because Miami doesn't have a center. If anything, the entire heat roster needs LeBron. Not the other way around.

[JimmyMcAdocious]

Duncan is Al Jefferson without Pop.
Parker is Ramon Sessions without Pop.
Ginobili is Lance Stephenson without Pop.
Leonard is Michael Kidd-Gilchrist without Pop.
Green is your Walmart bag boy without Pop.
Splitter is Nenad Krstic without Pop.
Marco Belinelli is Sasha Pavlovic without Pop.

Now Pop isn't perfect. Diaw and Patty Mills are being held back. Diaw is basically Magic and Patty is Vinnie Johnson.

So Pop took:
Vinnie/Sessions
Stephenson/Bag boy
MKG/Pavlovic
Magic
Al Jeff/Krstic

...to the Finals.

I have seen better coaching jobs before.

[GeeWiz]

LeBron does not need anything specific to win. It's literally the opposite. LeBron plays his current style besause Wade and Bosh are shells of themselves. LeBron plays PF because Miami doesn't have a center. If anything, the entire heat roster needs LeBron. Not the other way around.

LeBron has always needed outside shooting to win, this applies for almost any elite player (forwards especially).

Scrubs + Bron is not enough in the West, but they have a chance in the East

[T_L_P]

Duncan is Al Jefferson without Pop.
Parker is Ramon Sessions without Pop.
Ginobili is Lance Stephenson without Pop.
Leonard is Michael Kidd-Gilchrist without Pop.
Green is your Walmart bag boy without Pop.
Splitter is Nenad Krstic without Pop.
Marco Belinelli is Sasha Pavlovic without Pop.

Now Pop isn't perfect. Diaw and Patty Mills are being held back. Diaw is basically Magic and Patty is Vinnie Johnson.

So Pop took:
Vinnie/Sessions
Stephenson/Bag boy
MKG/Pavlovic
Magic
Al Jeff/Krstic

...to the Finals.

I have seen better coaching jobs before.

You saying right now Duncan is Jefferson without Pop, or in his prime he's Al Jefferson without Pop?

[Lebronxrings]

You literally just said Spo is an idiot who doesn't know how to run an offense.

When in reality, Miami has one of the best offenses in the league. Fcuking LeBron stans.

still mad over dubetas loss? Heat have a good offense because of lebron. Bet you thought cleveland also had a good offense when he was there . Spo is a terrible coach, who gets bailed out since he has the best player in history. People complain about scott brooks, but no one realizes Spo is a poor man's Scott Brooks.

[Artillery]

Spurs ran a simple offensive system for most of the 2000s(Duncan's prime). It was ugly but effective basketball - lots of ISOs with a primary focus to slow the game down to a crawl. A defensive team basically.

The current Spurs that play with an emphasis on finding the best available shot through passing was non-existent back then. Pop picked up a lot of PnR sets from guys like D'Antoni and Sloan and only started implementing them in the past five years(from 2010 onwards). If there's any player that benefited from this new Spurs system it's probably Parker. He was an above average player for most of the 2000s and suddenly shot to stardom from 2008 on.