Wednesday, April 1st, 2009...8:21 am
Other People: Unhappy with Popovich
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- Pop, postgame: “Obviously it was a tough loss. We’ve been playing up and down. Some nights we play really well and some nights are like tonight. I think the common denominator is we’re not hitting our jump shots. We had the same problem in New Orleans. It makes it tough if we’re not hitting those shots and a couple of people aren’t playing well. Knocking down shots is really important in the NBA and we’re not doing it.”
- My reaction to the above quote: Coach Popovich is correct that the team is in a shooting slump. But that is a smaller issue. The bigger issue is, as Graydon and others have pointed out, that Pop has made a mess of the rotation. Mason Jr. should permanently return to shooting guard; George Hill should play decent minutes behind Tony Parker or off the ball when Manu Ginobili is in the game; JV should not play; Michael Finley’s minutes should be reduced, with the net split between Bruce Bowen and Ime Udoka; Manu Ginobili should come off the bench; the front court rotation should include Tim Duncan, Matt Bonner, Drew Gooden, and Kurt Thomas. That’s a long list. But a recent slew of mad scientist rotation tinkering has knocked everything off center-and I would include team shooting in that number. Popovich is, perhaps, the best coach in the league. He’s known for honestly attaching blame to whomever it is due, whether Malik Hairston or Tim Duncan. Earlier this season, he acknowledged the team defense started in a bad place because of ill-conceived changes he and his staff made to pick and roll coverage. But then, getting over himself, he reverted course and things began to improve. He’s a humble guy. The blame for last night’s loss is his. The recent changes to the rotation are playing Monster to his Frankenstein. Here’s your chance, Pop. Issue the mea culpa.
- Two snips from LJ Ellis: 1) “…Finley is not good enough anymore to be a key part of a championship team. He’s just not. Durant slaughtered him repeatedly. It got sickening to watch after a while. It was even more sickening that Pop never made much of a move to fix the situation. In Pop’s eyes, Finley must be some sort of cross between Bruce Bowen and Michael Jordan. Otherwise, I just can’t explain the love affair any longer…” and 2) “…Pop is in the worst coaching stretch of his career. He has no clue what he’s doing and he’s hurting this team - both in the short-term and the long-term. Pop has been instrumental in these recent losses and he’s laying the foundation for a disappointing playoff exit. I seriously can’t figure out what he’s doing or any of the method to his current madness.”
- Mike Monroe says the Spurs regret not using a timeout of the final possession.
- The same article reports that assistant coach Brett Brown will coach Australia’s National Team.
- Despite the worry surrounding a disappointing loss, the Spurs did manage to back into a playoff spot last night.
- Royce Young: “Easily the best win of the year (hey, when you don’t have a lot, it’s easy to top the last one) and another great baby step in the journey to respectability.” That Sam Presti, he’s alright.
- Box Score, Popcorn Machine’s Game Flow, and Statsheet’s Four Factors and Player Impact Chart
- Update: Over at Pounding the Rock, Aaron Stampler gets in on the hate: “To put it simply, I have lost all my faith, and I’m starting to suspect the team is beginning to as well, in Pop. His random rotations, his match-up decisions, have gotten more indefensible by the game. It’s like he makes decisions out of anger or spite more than anything else.”
- Update: Robert Kleeman hits the panic button. Found via SpursReport.
29 Comments
April 1st, 2009 at 8:52 am
On the last possession, Tony had the ball and it looked like he could have taken it in for layup if not get a foul call. I don’t think they regretted not calling a timeout. Spurs just made a mistake trying to look for a 3pt shot while being down by a point.
Duncan has been disappointing lately. Especially against that Australian in New Orleans. Why doesn’t he back down anybody anymore? He doesn’t even try to use his back or big butt. He needs to back people down THEN go for his right handed hook shot, his best shot.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:19 am
The “Royce Young” link isn’t working. That said, Sam Presti’s line just made this loss easier. Thanks for that.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:35 am
Fixed.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:42 am
Wow, for whatever reason I thought we were 2 games away from being able to secure a playoff spot before playing the Thunders. At least that’s one good news.
April 1st, 2009 at 10:18 am
Pop always starts Finley against the opponent’s best offensive player, and the results are almost always uniform … he gets dissected. When Fin is hitting his jumper (which has become increasingly erratic), there is some offset, but when he’s not, it’s a formula for disaster. I absolutely do not see what Pop continues to see in Fin, nice guy pro that he is. It is like Horry last year, everyone else knew it was over before Pop did. At least if Fin came in off the bench, he would likely not have to defend their best weapon. I know none of us wants to believe it, but I think Ellis is right, Pop has no clue what to do at this point.
April 1st, 2009 at 10:42 am
Geez, last night was absolutely frustrating. I have some thoughts, some of which agree with some of the sentiments expressed here, and others do not.
Pop’s rotations have been odd, and they do seem to have been hurting the team. I like to think that he has a master scheme, but it’s getting awfully late in the season to still be scheming. Here’s to hoping he knows what he is doing, even though recent team performance has been less than stellar.
Fin is done and doesn’t deserve any more than 10-15 minutes a game. This is aweful reminiscent of Horry and NVE, as previously commented. Unfortunately, it seems he is definitely in the wing rotation and will average about 2.3 points in the playoffs.
Seems that a lot of people here feel Bowen deserves more court time. I hate to admit it, but I think he is as done as Fin. Yes, all of us here are sentimental about his contributions, but I think we need to admit it: He isn’t nearly the same defender as he once was - he’s slowed more than a step. He may still be the Spurs best on-the-ball defender, but I don’t think it is by much. Depending on the matchup, I’d rather sacrifice a little size with Hill or quickness with Udoka defending, as they contribute more on the offensive end of the floor.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:22 am
Bryan,
We more or less see things the same way.
April 1st, 2009 at 11:24 am
The Spurs top priority in the draft and off season must be taking shots at correcting the issues at small forward.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:07 pm
To beat another dead horse, I also think that’s why some of us were so disappointed in how quickly Pop gave up on Mensah-Bonsu. On the one hand, we like to give Pop the benefit of the doubt, but on the other, the guy had good size at 6′8″ and great athletic ability. If he wasn’t that good defensively, he could have learned from Bruce. Udoka just isn’t tall enough or athletic enough to truly defend guys like Durant, Kobe, Carmelo, etc. And right now we desperately need someone who can slow those guys down. Short of that, someone who can consistently put 15 points on the board to offset any defensive weakness. Neither Fin nor Ime can do that.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:09 pm
I completely agree, Tim. I’ve gone back and forth in my thoughts as to whether or not the Spurs should have tried to swing a deal for VC or RJ. I think at this point, I have decided that they should have. Guess it’s a moot point now.
The question is, would we have any assets that would be trade-worthy this offseason? I guess most of the roster is set to expire in 2010, which might make guys enticing to other teams. It just didn’t seem to be enough at the deadline. I’m thinking the draft is likely going to have to be the place to find that SF.
April 1st, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Bryan,
1) To be fair, I think the Spurs absolutely did try to land the players you mention.
2) I have a few drafts posts on the back burner, but you’ll have to wait a couple weeks before I start those conversations. For now, remember that the Spurs do not have a 1st round pick. They dealt it to OKC for Kurt Thomas just over a year ago. And it’s a relatively weak draft.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Thanks for the reminder. I keep forgetting the small detail about the Spurs not having a 1st rounder this year.
And I’m hoping that in a couple of weeks, we’ll be focused on the playoffs and not already looking forward to the players we can get in to help us next year. That would be a bad sign. I’m hoping to see those draft posts in a couple of months instead of weeks.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:29 pm
And agutierrez, I’m not sure PMB fills the Spurs’ current needs. PMB is really more of a PF, while it seems that a more glaring need for the Spurs is a SF. With Duncan, Bonner, Thomas, Gooden, and even Fab at the 4/5 spots, there isn’t really much room for PMB.
They really need to get younger at the 3 spot. The only true SF’s on the team would be Bowen, Udoka, and maybe Finley. I could live with ONE of those guys coming off the bench, but don’t want all three of them as my entire SF corps.
April 1st, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Everyone knows I thought Mensah-Bonsu was a good prospect, but if forced to choose between Drew Gooden and Pops Mensah-Bonsu, I think Drew Gooden is the right choice. And Bryan, you’re correct. Mensah-Bonsu had the lateral speed to guard some 3s, but he is a 4. Re: the three-headed monster at SF. In a perfect world, I’d like to see the Spurs return with only Bowen next season, letting Udoka go and seeing Finley retire. But that’s doubtful. That desire, by the way, is not so much a knock against Finley and Udoka as it is an acknowledgment that the Spurs need to bite the bullet and begin to retool at SF. If they want to compete for a championship, 2010 is too far off.
April 1st, 2009 at 2:31 pm
2 bones to pick.
1. Why is everyone so down on Finley all of a sudden? I remember a few weeks ago a post about how Finley was playing with a “professional malice” or something to that effect and everyone agreed. The guy is making momentum changing shots daily. Then he has a couple “bad” games, or so we think, yet he posted a +/- of +9 against The City That Shall Not Be Named, which tied Timmy for the highest on BOTH teams. Durant scored a bunch of points, but saying that Bowen would have done better is pure conjecture because he didn’t even play! He is, by far, the best value on the team as far as his statistical output to salary ratio is concerned.
2. Reaming Pop for this and that is unfair at best. He had injuries out the wazoo to deal with until last week. He finally has his full team healthy and playable for the first time the entire season, and the hang up is that he doesn’t have a set rotation yet? He’s dealing with bench players who are inconsistent/young, role players who are aging gracefully but aging nonetheless, and stars who have been injured for significant lengths of time. The guy is the best coach to have never won the COY. He deserves the benefit of the doubt from now until he retires based on principle alone.
3. Hearing boos from the crowd just makes me sick and ashamed. If you booed (boo’d?), shame on you.
April 1st, 2009 at 2:36 pm
***3 bones to pick***
April 1st, 2009 at 2:50 pm
ThatBigGuy,
The reason everyone is concerned about Finley is because he’s averaging 30+ minutes a game over the last 5 games..
If we are depending on a 36 year old jump shooter with limited defensive capabilities we are in big trouble.. (also, the +/- statistic is extremely overrated)
Furthermore, reaming Pop is a fair play in this situation.. His substitution patterns are erratic and he seems rather stubborn for not playing Hill & Gooden more.. I know he loves his vets, but last year proved our vets are not good enough in the playoffs
p.s. Pop won coach of the year 02-03
April 1st, 2009 at 2:54 pm
One more thing, there is no way Pop is going to get consistency from his players until he shows consistency in his rotations..
April 1st, 2009 at 3:01 pm
TBG,
Pop one Coach of the Year in ‘03, I think. I think he’s the best coach in the league and should have won it more than once so far. Having said that, let me respond to your bones.
1) Speaking for myself, I’m not “down” on Finley in a cut and dry way. But I am cold on Finley in a nuanced way. To the point: I’m not happy with Fin playing 35 minutes in a game (and Bowen not playing at all) wherein he was getting torched. My contention is that Finley’s minutes should be reduced in order to allow Udoka/Bowen more playing time. Or, put differently, that Pop should recover some of the defensive-mindedness that has been so successful in the past. And, with due respect, I don’t think it is guesswork to assume that a man who has repeatedly been named to the NBA’s All Defensive First Team would have helped cool a hot player just, as you point out, it’s not wrong to assume that a man who has a career coaching percentage of .600+ knows what he is doing. But it’s amazing to me that Bowen played 0 minutes against a team whose best player is a wing.
2) I’ll grant you some latitude here and concede that this may be Pop tinkering with parts because of circumstances like injury. You’re right that he’s earned at least the benefit of the doubt. If his crazy rotations work, I’ll admit to being wrong. If not playing Bowen, limiting Thomas’ minutes, and favoring Vaughn over Hill proves successful, I’ll eat my words. But the nature of Pop’s tinkering has been so extreme (i.e. consecutive DNP-CDs for Bowen) and contrary to past preferences (i.e. defense before offense) that it has me rattled.
3) We agree.
April 1st, 2009 at 4:50 pm
The blood people should be calling for shouldnt Be Fins. Michael happens to be having a better season than he did last year.
Its pop who people should be worried about. He dictates Mikes playing time.
If your looking to reduce Fins minutes, im not sure many if any should go to Ime. Hes horrendous most of the time. ( Misses wide open shots/is only marginally more effective than bruce taking it to the basket)
Perhaps there is something wrong with Bruce that the staff refuses to disclose. His DNPs really are perplexing…
April 1st, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Being on of the fans that booed, I’ll say this, it wasn’t meant to be disrespectful, it was more of a wake up call to the players. But to bring up something TBG said earlier, just because we’re not New Yorkers, we can’t voice a little displeasure? I will admit though, it was premature booing, since the Spurs did make a nice run after that, but I stand by my booing, that I somewhat regretted afterward haha.
April 1st, 2009 at 6:39 pm
You have a once in a generation player and you use him strictly as a decoy. Everything is draw the double team and then kick out for a Finley or Bonner brick. Duncan needs to go to work fast and make them go at him, Manu and Tony can cut and score. Take it to the rim.
Last night we were only down five and we wasted all these possessions shooting threes.
Duncan is breaking down because we haven’t had any help with him in the paint since Robinson. We have a shot to win it every year with him and that window is closing. Nice of Pop to burn losses and want to play on the road in the playoffs like NO last year. Yeah waiting on that tarmac was so much better than taking care of some lottery teams in January.
April 1st, 2009 at 8:05 pm
I’m not so sure Pop’s the issue at all. In fact, IMO, one should cut him some slack. Consider:
1) Manu just got back in the rotation, but is not yet the Manu we know and love. I’m sure Pop doesn’t want to put too much on his shoulders just yet so he doesn’t make him the anchor of the second rotation, thus throwing it all off;
2) I agree with above; I think either Bruce is slightly hurt (which Pop may not want to disclose) or Pop is saving him up. Besides, Pop knows we need fire power for the playoffs to compete with LA and Bruce doesn’t have much left- nor is he a good match anymore for Kobe. Kobe knows he can get pretty much any shot over Bowen he wants. This doesn’t mean Bruce is done, just he’s no Kobe stopper anymore;
3) I don’t think Pop is too worried about road vs home issues. As someone has said before, it might be better to play the Lakers sooner than later;
4) Perhaps Pop just is trying to get Finley to hit his stride. The last shot he took hit the back of the iron. I’m sure it felt like a game winner to Michael. If he hits it, much of this anti-Fin talk goes away;
5) Booing the Spurs is just sad. Shame on you.
April 1st, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Pop’s sandbagging for the No. 8 seed, to meet the Lakers before the fatigue sets in.
Bowen will be back playing significant minutes against Bryant.
Spurs cannot take the Lakers after 1 or 2 long series against the Hornets or the Jazz.
April 2nd, 2009 at 2:02 am
Sandbagging to the 8th seed?
This is comical..
I hate the way the Spurs are playing and think they would lose to most teams in the West if the playoffs started today..
If you are not concerned you haven’t been paying attention..
8 games left in the regular season.. they better figure it out soon
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:08 am
Speaking as someone at the game who did boo… I was booing at the refs only. Most of the booing came along with “Ref you suck” chants. Maybe that doesn’t come across on TV very well, but I didn’t hear any boos directed at the Spurs.
I would NEVER boo the Spurs.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:27 am
Regarding Finley… I thought he did a decent job on Durant. Durant’s shot is sweet and if he’s hitting, it is pretty much indefensible. From the stands, I saw Finley in Durant’s face for most of his shots (maybe the view from TV gives a better angle and a different opinion). I would have liked to see whether Bruce could have denied Durant the ball, because it is pretty much the only way to stop him when he’s on.
Regarding Pop… The tinkering in the rotation at this point in the season can be partially attributed to the injuries. However, I think Pop gets too enamored by vets at the expense of young players. Otherwise, why would Vaughn sit all season long, even with all the injuries, and then start playing at the end of March while Hill sees less minutes? Especially now that Manu is back, Hill doesn’t have to run the second team. Manu can do that. If Pop started Manu against the Thunder because he’s moving him back into the starting line-up for good, then we’ll continue to have no dribble-penetrators on the second team.
But one thing is true. Jump shooting problems are the heart of the problems right now. If at least two of the shooters (Bonner, Finley, Mason) or others (Udoka, Hill, Bowen) were hitting with any consistency the last few weeks, the Spurs would not be playing .500 ball right now. Of course, Hill and Bowen haven’t been playing much, so who knows if they would be struggling as well. The defense is down without Bowen or a Bowen-like perimeter defender.
Many of the changes from last year were to improve the offense at the expense of defense. If our best offensive weapons aren’t hitting, we’ve sacrificed defense for nothing. Defense is consistent. That’s why they say defense wins championships. If we have to rely on jump shooting to win anything, luck will have to be there.
When we relied on defense… we could win close games regardless, but when the offense was clicking we blew out teams.
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:40 am
Krista,
Thanks for the comments. They both push the discussion along. FWIW, I kept some defensive stats during the game. Durant blew by Finley on a couple plays, and beat him badly on a cut for another. Finley gave a solid effort but Durant’s height and lateral speed were just too much for him. Brooks called play right at Finley on a number of possessions. If I remember correctly, Ime Udoka held Durant to 1-5 from the floor. He did a fair job, especially using his body against Durant when he was off ball, and Udoka forced a trap once in the corner that led to a turnover. But Udoka doesn’t have the speed to keep up with him from the perimeter. In some ways, Durant is just an impossible guard for the Spurs. Durant is on his way to super stardom. He’ll be a headache for a long time. I still would have tried Bowen, but what’s done is done.
Your point about defense first is spot on. This is my primary gripe with the current rotation-it doesn’t place enough emphasis on defensive players such as Bowen, Hill, and Thomas. But you know that, and I’m beating a dead horse.
April 2nd, 2009 at 1:23 pm
Let me express my concern, I’ve had time to think this over, after the last game. I am really frustrated beause I’m spoiled as a spurs fan. I am tired of watching the anti-spurs play. All of the characteristics that exemplified the spurs way of play are gone, being replaced by those which we learned to stay away from.
Being complacient, lack of effort, no team hustle, no defense, no consistency. Who can you rely on if your leaders don’t show up? Completely anti- spur, giving the rest of the league reason and ammo to call it a night for us.
The truth is we better get used to the fact that It won’t get any better from here on, we have had a good run, but it is over. Even Pop is not doing his thing right. If this were any other sport, next year would be rebuilding around the big three with NO vets.
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