Maybe if teams stop giving Emeka Okafor's 72 mil contracts they'll be able to compete with the best teams. Fault the organizations who fail not the ones who succeed.BoSoxFink said:I'm so sick of same god damn teams every year. NBA just has no parity whatsoever
it's more the players having all the control in the league. They control for the most part where the power lies and where it doesn't. Spurs are an exception to that rule, even if I was rooting against thembbc23 said:Maybe if teams stop giving Emeka Okafor's 72 mil contracts they'll be able to compete with the best teams. Fault the organizations who fail not the ones who succeed.
Piggybacking on this, did anyone actually believe this Thunder team could have beaten the Heat this year?riboflav said:How can anyone complain about the rematch? Last year's Finals was epic.
Games 2-5 were epic?riboflav said:How can anyone complain about the rematch? Last year's Finals was epic.
bosockboy said:I think It's time to possibly consider Pop the greatest coach ever.
I'm a Mavs fan and I love Carlisle but I think Pop is the best NBA coach ever.jon abbey said:Honestly I'm not even sure he's the best coach in Texas right now, Carlisle took him to 7 this year with a way worse team. He is fantastic, though, obviously.
I don't understand this at all. The Spurs have home court where they are nearly invincible and are the defending champions over Miami with better Kawhi Leonard FT shooting while OKC matches up horribly with the Heat.bball831 said:Biggest winner tonight is Miami. Looks like they're getting a gimpy Parker unless he heals by Thursday.
Did you miss Wade and Mike Miller hobbling through the playoffs the past two seasons?Kliq said:Parker better be healthy. If the Heat get lucky again with an injury to another team, I'm going to start questioning why I even watch sports.
I'm with you 99% on this. The best coaches are the best leaders......period. It had nothing at all to do with x's and o's like it did 50 years ago. Everyone runs the same stuff the only difference is the talent of the star players.luckiestman said:I don't know what metrics should be used to evaluate coaches in the NBA. I know joe gibbs is a good football coach, same with parcells and belichik.
But for the NBA, people say great coaches are Red, P. Jackson, Pop and I just think Bill Russell, MJ/Shaq&Kobe, Duncan
I mean, is Eric Spoelstra one of the best NBA coaches ever? If not, why not?
luckiestman said:I don't know what metrics should be used to evaluate coaches in the NBA. I know joe gibbs is a good football coach, same with parcells and belichik.
But for the NBA, people say great coaches are Red, P. Jackson, Pop and I just think Bill Russell, MJ/Shaq&Kobe, Duncan
I mean, is Eric Spoelstra one of the best NBA coaches ever? If not, why not?
The difference between Pop and those other NBA coaches is that his message has continued to resonate for 20 years. Pitino would have been more successful in Boston with Tim Duncan, but no way he sticks around long enough to get 4 rings and make 6 finals appearances.wade boggs chicken dinner said:
Agree. I mean there is a universe somewhere where LeBron James is complaining to Bill Simmons over beer, "It's really hard to beat Rick Pitino."
triniSox said:I'm a Mavs fan and I love Carlisle but I think Pop is the best NBA coach ever.
There is no equal to Red. The fact that he coaches and built those teams is just mind boggling.PedroKsBambino said:
What would the case for Pop over Red Auerbach look like? I think it doesn't exist.
I wouldn't put Pop over Phil Jackson either, though I can imagine a case on that one based on managing through transitions
I wonder. The Spurs did just fine in the 2nd half and overtime without Parker. Their system is more important than the individuals playing it. They make the right passes and the right rotations on defense on just about every possession. Also, Patty Mills (who BTW will be an unrestricted FA in July) did a very creditable job filling in, as he has on quite a few occasions.Parker better be healthy. If the Heat get lucky again with an injury to another team, I'm going to start questioning why I even watch sports.
To play devils advocate on Red. There is no doubt he was a brilliant mastermind at taking advantage of less creative thinking GM's/Owners. He's the greatest GM in the history of the game and I LOVE RED!PedroKsBambino said:
What would the case for Pop over Red Auerbach look like? I think it doesn't exist.
I wouldn't put Pop over Phil Jackson either, though I can imagine a case on that one based on managing through transitions
HomeRunBaker said:I'm with you 99% on this. The best coaches are the best leaders......period. It had nothing at all to do with x's and o's like it did 50 years ago. Everyone runs the same stuff the only difference is the talent of the star players.
Greatness is the result of star players and continuity. No doubt Pop is among the best......I'm just not sure how much difference there is between the "best" coach and a competent one.
jon abbey said:
I have always rooted for LeBron, just as I rooted for Jordan back in the day when he wasn't playing my Knicks. He is a generational talent, one of the two best players in the 30+ years I've been following basketball (sorry Hakeem/Magic/Bird), and I want to see him play big games as much as I can as he does things that no one else has ever or maybe will ever be able to do. I have rooted for a MIA/OKC final for the last four seasons, I want to see LeBron and Durant and Westbrook and Wade push each other to new heights just like the Lakers and Celtics did back in the days of Magic and Bird.
riboflav said:How can anyone complain about the rematch? Last year's Finals was epic.
Don't take this as me knocking Pop because I feel he is at the top of the list and even possibly/likely one of the exceptions to my general rule.Nick Kaufman said:
While I agree that coaches are somewhat overrated, I think it's a gross exaggeration to say that "everyone runs the same stuff, the difference is talent" or what makes a good coach is whether he's a leader of men.
Reading Lowe on Grantland is a bit of chore because his columns so rich in substance, but everyone who reads him, sees that teams do not run the same things all the time. There is a ton of difference in the schemes they have and more importantly in the kind of adjustments coaches make to various challenges they face, like let's say when the Heat had trouble with David West guarding Ray Allen in the first game of the Eastern Conference finals.
As far as Popovich is concerned, he has to be in the conversation for best all time. I certainly consider him better than the overrated Phil Jackson and I do so for many reasons. Popovich was the first to understand the crucial role of corner 3 and to orient his teams towards attacking and defending this shot. His innovative in resting his players during the long season, ensuring their health and longevity; this is something he probably got from soccer rotations mind you and he's still ahead of the curve as very few teams choose to rest their stars. As a result, a ton of teams face injuries throughout the long season, but the Spurs remain relatively healthy (knock on wood).
When you see the Spurs roster, you don't see the kind of talent that would be a no brainer to win the hyper competitive West year in year out. There's a ton of players who are either considered too old or washed up in other places and yet they still perform above expectation. Tim Duncan is 38 and he's still killing it, but KG on the same age has a giant fork sticking from his back. Ginobili puts in the same numbers per 36 at an age when guards his age are out of the league. Boris Diaw was a nobody in Charlotte and he transforms into a vital cog in the Spurs machine. The examples are endless. That's why every year for the past 4-5 years, pundits said that the Spurs too old and they pick some one else to come out of the west. I don't think many people expected them win the West again and reach the finals yet again. The feeling last year was of a final chance lost for the Spurs.
Last, but not least, look at the gif above. That kind of ball movement isn't a product of individual talent. It's a product of coaching and the Spurs do it all the time. Do you see the plays they run? They re above and beyond in creativity and movement than what all other teams run.
So yeah, Popovich is probably the best coach of at least the last 20 years and he deserves all the adulation, because he's still underrated.
Doc did the same with the Celtics particularly in the case of KG the day he arrived in 2007 taking his regular season minutes from 39 to 30-32 a game. It's not innovative it's common sense in looking at the big picture. Anyone who criticizes a coach for best preparing their team for the playoffs does not have their priorities in order.Devizier said:Pop gets ragged on for coasting during the regular season but Phil Jackson's Lakers were epic coasters, and the Heat really took coasting to the next level this year. An art form, if you will.
HomeRunBaker said:To play devils advocate on Red. There is no doubt he was a brilliant mastermind at taking advantage of less creative thinking GM's/Owners. He's the greatest GM in the history of the game and I LOVE RED!
How well does his coaching alone compare to others? He won championship after championship in an 8-TEAM LEAGUE with 2 rounds of playoffs, a semi-final typically againt a .500 or so team followed by the championship series while allowing his group of HOFers to be taken to 7 games on multiple occasions by teams with regular season losing records.
Only Red could have assembled those players in the manner with which he did......but my dog could have allowed below .500 teams to get to a 7th game agaiant this group also. The coach has a minimal impact on these games......moreso now than ever.
Edit: After Red left the bench an inexperienced coach in Bill Russell won a couple championships too......and let's not even get into KC Jones whose greatest skill was knowing when to get out of the way which is probably as essential a skill that an NBA coach can have.
BigSoxFan said:The one "knock" on the Duncan/Popovich era is that they've played some pretty mediocre teams during their championship runs.
1999: Knicks
2003: Nets
2005: Pistons
2007: Cavs
2013: Heat
The Pistons were pretty good but the other 3 wins didn't exactly come against murderers row. Taking down the Heat would give them a "marquee" Finals win. None of this matters but it would be a nice cap to some incredible careers.
BigSoxFan said:I've spent about 15 years in San Antonio and heard this from Lakers and Mavs fans in Texas. Didn't really intend it to be considered a national commentary. I was more saying with respect to comparison vs. the other historical dynasties. I'd like to see the Spurs beat a historically great team. So far, they really haven't.