Better Coach Pop or Riley?

[SinJackal]

I am not trying to knock Popovich. He is a great coach. But he still has not coached anyone other than Tim Duncan. I would like to see what type of success he could have with another superstar.

Unfortunately, I believe he said he will retire when Duncan does, so we will never know.

Well, he was assistant coach and always getting into the timeouts and practice when DRob was playing, but no one will give him any credit for that prolly. Actually it's kinda funny, if you watch early 90's Spurs videos, you see Popovich doing a lot of talking and yelling and acting all edgy during timeouts. He really stands out. But again, you might not give him any credit since he was just an assistant coach. I can't really argue with that.

I don't think Pop will retire when Duncan does tbh. He'll probably stick around a little bit since the Spurs front office have somehow pieced together a good future core of young players. Blair, Hill, Splitter. When you have 25 or under C, PF, and combo guard who are all above average players, the future isn't exactly dim. Blair's a potential 15/11 guy. Splitter a 15/9 guy. Hill a 18/3/5 guy. All with pretty solid TS%. Not too bad really. If they could add in a decent FA SF or guard, they would be good even w/o the Spurs big 3. Not as good as they are with Duncan. . .but at least a 45 win team imo, assuming those players grow/improve.

Anyway. . .I hope he doesn't retire. Or at least I hope he comes back if they end up with a good FA or DP shortly after Duncan goes.

Is that when Popovich pulled a hack a Shaq after the opening tip?

Only he would do that. >_> lol :X

[gts]

toss up, you're not going to go wrong with either coach...

[O.J A 6'4Mamba]

Riley. Pop won in a weak era

[Rojogaqu11]

I think Pop has a better system.

[Yung D-Will]

[dude77]

Is this a serious question?

Riley is a legend . Pop is just a very good coach.

he's not 'just a very good coach'

how can you say that about a coach who's won 4 nba titles ? let alone one which is extremely hard to accomplish

[nbacardDOTnet]

not riley

[dude77]

Quote:
Originally Posted by BallinSinceBirf
Popovich.

"Not even close. Pat Riley is nowhere near the caliber of coach as Popovich or Phil Jackson.

If we're going to talk championships, Pop has only 1 less than Riley while only coaching half as long. Give Pop another 10 years of coaching and I guarantee he'll blow Riley's number out of the water.

this is nothing but speculation .. we don't know what will happen

Riley's whole thing is sitting back until he's got a championship caliber team and then jumping in for the glory. How hard was it to coach Magic/Kareem/Worthy or Wade/Shaq/Zo?

it's hard to coach period .. phil jackson didn't win a title with that 04 superteam .. neither did spoelstra with his superteam in 2010 .. having the talent doesn't guarantee you anything .. that's why you have a coach .. I love how people completely minimize the impact of the coach because they have good players

Pop has put in his work since Day 1 and has actually BUILT a contender. His system and methods work. He's made the Spurs into a powerhouse team.

can't argue that .. he's an elite coach .. I have nothing against Gregg Popovich

Bottom line, Riley is mostly hype while Popovich is mostly substance."

not a fair statement to make about Riley at all .. no need to take shots at a great coach to uplift another .. come on now .. Riley has great skill as a motivator and manager of a team .. 5 rings and back to back titles is an impressive resume

love these debates ..

[ThatsGame]

Come on, this is from 2010

[Xiao Yao You]

What sets Riley apart from others is that he won with the talent he had not with one just one particular system like Don Shula did in football. Showtime in LA and later with the tough Ewing/Mourning defensive squads and Wade's rookie year he had Wade/Butler/Odom all handling the ball without a true point guard. And the last title he had his defensive squad coming off the bench on a team carried by Wade. He's known for the defensive system that Jeff Van Gundy and Spoelstra continued to have success with but he showed he could win in other ways.

[Whoah10115]

It's definitely Pat Riley. Come on now. He's a top 5er.

[jlip]

Bump.

OP should be updated but same question.

[Thenameless]

Pat Riley. Just way cooler. He's got the mojo. If I were an NBA player I'd much rather play for Riley.

[houston]

pop......Riley underachieve with those Knicks teams

[Jasper]

I disagree ... he had Ewing and the rest of the players were role players.
He went to war against MJ ,Pip and Grant.
I actually believe Riley is the better coach , because he had three different teams and three different systems.

Pop had only one team and one system , and if that system was that super with pop behind it he would not be struggling as he has been last 4 years.