FanPost

A few (thousand) words on the Spurs and a Theory about Gregg Popovich

A Retrospective of Last Year’s Playoffs

Well that was a hell of a year. First in the west, persevering through a series of regular season injuries, and, as always, blossoming out of the All-star break as a team possessed to crush and destroy. Struggling through a battle hardened Mavs team that had been fighting tooth and nail for nearly two months knowing every game during that stretch could determine the outcome of its playoff life. Meanwhile the spurs had been waltzing through overwhelmed opponents by an average victory margin of like 40 or something. Tim and Tony had basically forgotten that games had 4 quarters because they never needed to play in any of them and Cory Joseph and Jeff Ayres had started to think they were the Spurs’ closers based on the number of final quarters they were playing.

We were all shocked to see the Mavs unveil a new strategy that they had never even contemplated before which basically entailed, to the shock of all who have ever watched the Mavs, playing defense. I think we all had our faith shaken a little after Vince Carter nailed that corner three to take game 3 and going into game 7 we all still believed but I’m not sure anyone was certain about what would happen. The rest is history. The spurs turned it on and never looked back not until they had crushed the upstart Portland squad, one-upped the Ibaka-less then Ibaka-full Thunder, and beat, nay destroyed the Miami Heat as we knew them.

Portland was described as a younger, more athletic version of the Mavs team we had just struggled with but the Spurs decision-making and veteran savviness proved too much for their two-punch of Lillard and Aldridge. Benefitting from a hobbled and seriously injured Ibaka the Spurs looked unbeatable against OKC, only to look helplessly beatable against a motivated and shockingly healthy looking Ibaka the Spurs looked helplessly beatable but still able to adapt. The Spurs seemed to learn and transform in those last two games against the Thunder. Pop astutely inserted Matt Bonner into the starting five, a little move I like to call, the only adjustment you ever need to make, but really recognizing the ability of guys like Diaw and Bonner to stretch the floor and drag Ibaka away from the basket. It opened lanes while the ball movement, already about as tight as ball movement gets, got even tighter, quicker, and more on point. One impressive throwback game from Manu and Tim closed out game 5. In Game 6 an untimely first half injury to Tony saw Diaw and Jospeh fill in admirably at point guard (or whatever position you want to call it that Boris plays) and a lot of crafty old-school throwback post moves from Tim who abused Ibaka, Perkins, and Steven Adams down low and it was a return to the finals.

While the first two games seemed to foretell another long drawn out series (helped of course by the spurs cramping of Lebron's style in game 1 ... see what I did there?) the Spurs had other plans and again found another gear as Kawhi emerged from his deep playoff slumber to become Mr. Finals (more on that later). The dismantling of the Heat was so complete and cathartic I’m not even sure there is much to say. Xs and Os aside we just destroyed them including a sweep of their two home games, which has not historically been the easiest place to win playoffs games. Watching the end of the series it was hard to tell if the Spurs had just gotten even better by the end of the playoffs or if you could legitimately make the case that the Mavs and Thunder were better teams than the Heat. The differences from last year were stunning. Mostly because the Heat could not muster much defense at all while the Spurs were better able to hang with the Heat’s small ball attack and frequently overwhelm it with their own. The Spurs were also amazing at identifying mismatches and taking their time going to them. It also helped that Tim Duncan consistently punished Udonis Haslem and Birdman anytime they got off the bench. The Heat also sorely missed the three-point shooting of Mike Miller as LeBron often looked the best last year when they surrounded him with shooters including Allen, Miller, and Bosh. Dwayne Wade, who was also shaky in last year’s finals, really fell off the wagon this year and Danny Green repeatedly got the better of him defensively towards the end of the series. Speaking of Danny Green did anyone remember him driving to the basket repeatedly in game 5 and finishing every time? History has taught me to get really nervous anytime Danny does anything on offense other than shoot three-pointers, but in Game 5 he showed signs of having an entire offensive game we long gave up on thinking he had. If Green can pick up some Parker/Ginobili finishing skills this team can be even more deadly making Green a threat not just to launch the three which forces teams to close out on him, but also driving with consistency and hitting the open guy. The possibilities for our starting lineup are astounding because we could, in theory put four or five guys out there with a complete and diverse offensive game (I’m thinking Parker, Leonard, Green/Ginobili, Duncan, and Diaw). I know that’s nothing new, but the passing, shooting, posting, screening, and overall basketball IQ potential of that group continues to blow my mind.

Some Thoughts on Nicknames

Anyways, back to Mr. Finals. I just want to throw that out as a nickname idea for Kawhi. He should totally be Mr. finals or just straight Finals. I think I like the second one better. He's really defining his career out of emerging in a big way during the finals. Stunning stuff and earning himself a Finals MVP to boot. I have one for Diaw too. His nickname should be the Solution! I actually like this one more than the Kawhi one because Finals sounds sort of pretentious. He's the solution because Diaw is the guy that fixes any problem on a basketball court. The other team is going small? No problem Diaw can be a fast power forward and post up small forwards without getting totally beat on defense. Need scoring? No problem, Diaw can hit threes, and use what 48minutesofhell dubbed the "dream jiggle." Diaw's bump and grind drives to the basket are a thing to behold. Playing a team with a power forward who is veritably a walking pogo stick (cough OKC cough)? No problem, Diaw can drag him from the basket and use a series of pumps, fakes, and on point passes to make that dude look silly. Hell, need a LeBron stopper? Diaw can sorta kinda do that too. As mentioned the man basically played point guard for us in game 6 against OKC. What does this all mean? Obviously Diaw is the Solution. Let it sit, let it ripen. It will work... the Solution. Moving on.

An Extended Theory About Gregg Popovich’s Future and Transformation as a Coach

I have a Gregg Popovich theory. First off, did anyone ever figure out how long Pop's extension was for? Do we think like 2 years – i.e. I'm still getting out of here as soon as Duncan goes – or are we thinking like 4 or 5 years – meaning, I will personally oversee the transition after Duncan/Ginobili leave and see to it that the franchise does not fall off a cliff even after my departure. Speculating here but I think it's the latter. This is a major a departure from everything Pop had previously said and I think I know why. It made total sense to tie his career to Duncan, ride that workhorse into the sunset and retire on a high, but I think Pop has found a new passion that will carry him even longer. Here it is! I'm gonna take you back to where all this started in 2011. This is because of ... drumroll… Richard Jefferson and to a lesser extent Michael Finley. Just gonna let that sit for a little.

Okay not really, this is actually because of George Hill. Remember pop's favorite player? That guy we traded for what's his name (**cups his hand to his ear and hears you all call out in unison -Finals**). Yes that guy. But back to 2011. The Spurs after a complete shellacking at the hands of the Phoenix Suns the previous years have returned to quality basketball and just emerged as the top seed of the Western Conference and Spurs fans everywhere are decrying the lack of respect for our accomplishments, as usual. The Memphis grizzlies, the eighth seed of the playoffs are taking on our 1st seed spurs, who are just starting to figure out this motion offense thing but have not perfected it and are finding that Duncan can't singlehandedly take on Randolph and Gasol. Spurs fans are calling out Charles Barkley for picking Memphis after game 2, one of the few things Charles got right. Manu, despite having a broken fucking arm, is our best player and Tony had not yet ascended to clutch yet. Yes this was still in the day when Tony was good but still unreliable. Outside of the big 3 Pop was searching frantically for someone to keep on the floor. Richard Jefferson, on paper, was the best option but we were getting killed. He finally, and before he was really ready for primetime, put in George Hill and good things started to happen. We lost but the next year he gave Hill his due and started coaching him hard. And what happened, Curious George got better. He improved and worked harder than anyone else out there.

This is important because prior to this moment Pop had always been a veteran player guy. He looked to experienced foreign players and older NBA journeymen because he wanted to coach professionals who would (1) Do what told them to (2) Didn't feel entitled, and (3) Would sacrifice for the team by not causing waves with Tim and the other team leaders. This explains our team’s reliance on guys like Michael Finley, Glenn Robinson, Jacques Vaughn, Antonio McDyess, Keith Bogans, Theo Ratliff, Kurt Thomas, Damon Stoudemire, Nick Van Exel, and the list goes on. Add in there a few young athletic guys that didn’t work out like Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Beno, Ian Mahinmi, and to a lesser extent Devin Brown and the picture seems complete. Sure Pop developed Tim, Tony, and Manu but I think he viewed those guys as the exceptions that proved the rule. Tim has always been wise beyond his years while Manu wasn’t really a rookie when he came to the league. That just leaves Parker as the one guy Pop developed, but his raw talent and skill left him with no choice, there was just no way Parker wasn’t going to play when Pop realized what he was capable of. But I digress, Pop also hates stupid turnovers unless your name was Manu because that just comes with the territory. In Pop’s mind what do young guys do? Well they turn the ball over, are lazy, want more minutes, bigger roles, and don’t always listen. Before George I don't think Pop believed that he could get what he wanted from young American players. After George he realized that if you got the right guys not only could young players be coached and molded they could do it while being...follow me on this...athletic! The proof is in the pudding, our following draft picks went from being draft and stash Lithuanians and people from other hard to locate countries to American college players. Seriously, from 2003 to 2007 the Spurs drafted guys including Sergei Karaulov, Romain Sato, Damir Markota, Giorgos Printezis, and Goran Dragic (oops shoulda kept that one). Then Hill in 2008. After 2008 we drafted Jack McClinton, BLAIR, Ryan Richards, James Anderson, Cory Jospeh, Marcus Denmon, Finals, Deshaun Thomas, and Kyle Anderson. Anderson bucks the athletic trend but it seems clear to me that Pop realized that young, athletic, American born players could help, often immediately. Add in there the pickups of Danny Green and Bryce Cotton and the change was complete.

All of this I attribute to George Hill for breaking the trend and being utterly coachable. A pretty stunning transformation and one that lead to immediate improvement in our team and the development of the farm system down in Austin. What I think was just as important by this development was that Pop actually started to really love coaching these young guys. Not only were they better able to make the changes he wanted while improving our defense with athleticism, speed, and length but he enjoyed developing young guys and was able to, on the cheap, improve the spurs' rebuilding without having to actually rebuild. It also helped that a lot of the foreign players we had drafted had played themselves out of the NBA’s rookie pay scale making American college players more cap friendly. But honestly, does anyone remember where we were in 2009 and 2010? A lot of people questioned whether the Spurs would be better off if Duncan stuck around for three more years. Better to cut the cord and start the rebuilding than slowly go down with the ship but that's not what happened. We got better with youth and athleticism and Duncan while still crucial changed his role while the scoring and defending became more balanced around a core of younger and more balanced players. Add into that Tony's development into a true leader and a point guard with a jump shot, Tiago's interior defense, and contributions from any number of other role players and you had (1) another championship, (2) one season that should have ended in a championship, and (3) a very bright looking 2014-15 season. All I'm really saying is Pop saw the light and it was that talent, youth, and professionalism could all come in the same package. Thank you George Hill for guiding him, you'll always be one of my favorites and I’m excited to see you in an expanded role with the Pacers next year. Good luck.

One final thought. Someone posted a, who should the next coach be after Pop post. I'm excited to see what Hammond and Messina bring but you have to consider that Avery Johnson always had a home here. I would love to see AJ at the helm. He had a rough start in Dallas as a head coach but nearly led that team to a title in 2006 including an epic 7-game series with San Antonio. I feel like he could do great things here. Just throwing that out there.

I’ve clearly written too much, so Go Spurs Go! Can’t wait for next year.

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