Popovich, Buford deserve the lion’s share of credit

by

The San Antonio Spurs’ success this season owes more to R.C Â Buford and Gregg Popovich than any single player. Buford, for his gradual but now obviously successful rebuild of the Spurs’ bench and for his amazing ability to unearth free agent diamonds such as Gary Neal. Â Popovich, for the time he spent on the internal development of players like Richard Jefferson and for his willingness to transform San Antonio’s offensive attack into something more effective in today’s NBA.

It’s not an easy task for an older man to change his stripes, to revitalize an offense which boasted more than a decade of demonstrated success. Larry Brown, for all his genius, has never shown an ability to adapt himself to the game — for Brown success is always predicated on everything and everyone adapting to him.

Gregg Popovich demonstrates more humility. Gregg Popovich is a  forward-thinker.

Kudos to Popovich and Buford; they’ve done well. I’m partial, but I think they’re deserving of Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year honors.

And, for what it’s worth, here’s another argument in favor of Popovich.

One of the Spurs’ struggles last season was finding a consistent rotation. It took Popovich most of the season—his error was compounded by player injuries—to arrive at a consistent rotation. The Spurs never found a rhythm, and it’s fair to say Popovich deserved some of the blame.

Over the first 35 games of last season, Gregg Popovich fielded 10 different starting lineups. 10. Every 3.5 games the Spurs’ starting unit changed. Again, this was a combination of injury and coaching, but it was a pattern that started early and continued, more or less, through the conclusion of the season.

This season the Spurs have featured the same starting lineup in every contest. San Antonio has been fortunate to dodge injury, but Gregg Popovich has had reasons to experiment. He hasn’t. I suspect his choice is by design.

So what did Gregg Popovich and R.C. Buford do last summer? They made choices that returned stability to the Spurs. Offensive stability. Defensive stability. Franchise stability. System stability. Call whatever you’d like. It’s not sexy, and it doesn’t come with a television special, Â but it’s still a big score.

(Thanks to Scott Sereday for his quick research on the Spurs’ starting lineups for this season and last.)

  • Mike

    Hard not to trust the genius that brought us our first four championships. Popovich is a coach that many of us did not want at the time and now we realize not only how wrong we were but how right the organization was. The spurs are the class of sports for good reason and these two gentlemen have everything to do with that.

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  • Tom S.

    First of all, why do people keep saying the Spurs are old? They only have 5 players on the team that are 30 and up.

    I have another reason that you can make a case for Pop winning the COY. He is finally allowing his younger players to develop so they can contribute after so many years of not having the patience to do it. It’s hard in any sport to win and develop young talent at the same time, let alone basketball.

  • Espoon

    @Mike

    I agree with everything you said. However, for 3 years the Spurs settled and didn’t upgrade the roster at the spots it need to. The Spurs defense has declined and the roster has several holes that should be filled; namely a better #2 big and peremiter defender.

  • Nick

    Humility is the key. In a league with such large egos (both coaches and players), the Spurs have to be the most humble organization in professional sports, and it starts from the top.

  • lvmainman

    The worst 2 defensive games of Tim Duncan’s career happen this year and this team is expected to be a champion? The Celtics lost to the Hornets and Rockets @ home but the Spurs can’t win there?

    The Spurs need to trade Emeka Okafor and Chris Paul for Jefferson and Splitter and Parker. We’ve got friends in the Hornets front office with Dell Demps, ala McHale/Garnett and West/Gasol trades. Hornets don’t have to worry about Paul leaving with Parker locked up for 4 years. They get 3 starters for 2 starters. Spurs get a REAL center that avg 1.8 career blks, that hasn’t missed a game in 3+ yrs and a better all around PG.

    The Spurs as currently constructed can’t win a championship. Compete, yes. Win, no.

  • Rob

    The Spurs are one of the greatest teams in all of sports due to humble players and forward looking coaches. They are not there to sign endorsements or to do TV interviews. They are there to do a job, and they do it with class! How many teams have a superstar willing to reduce his role for the overall good of team? First David Robinson did it and now Tim if falling in the footsteps of one the greatest ever. Win or not the NBA title, they are champions.

  • mybloodissilverandblack

    The idiots who keep saying “The Spurs are old” might have their NBA rosters updated as of 2008.

    Also, anyone here watched the Spurs-Lakers preview by NBA TV last December? Damn Dennis Scott was asked to do the analysis on the Spurs, and you know what he said??

    “I’m bored.” F*ck, I wanted to kill him right there and then. I mean, what a moron, right?

  • ITGuy

    @Rob
    +10

    @lvmainman
    “The Celtics lost to the Hornets and Rockets @ home but the Spurs can’t win there?”

    The Spurs beat both the rockets and the hornets, so your point?

  • irongiantkc

    @lvmainman

    “The worst 2 defensive games of Tim Duncan’s career happen this year and this team is expected to be a champion?”

    Who cares? Why should it matter if Tim has had the worst 2 defensive games of his career? One, it’s not about Tim, it’s about the team. Two, Tim is going to continue to have “worsts” from now on. He’s getting older AND Pop is limiting his minutes. Gone are the days when Tim has to be the most vital player on the team every game. Didn’t we win at least one of his “2 worst defensive games”? btw, the Hornets entire team revolves around Paul and Okafor. Why would they make that trade? I guess I can see why we would. But just so they can pick up an extra starter? Not gonna happen.

  • Nick (Italy)

    The Gary Neal trick is outstanding.
    The guy was waived last year by a mediocre Italian team because, although obviously talented, he was considered not worth the trouble (allegedly spending one night too much partying instead of sleeping).
    Best,
    N

  • irongiantkc

    The Spurs can win a championship with this roster. Manu and TP are playing as well as they ever have and Tim is playing almost as well per minute. The amazing thing is the Spurs are still winning despite conserving all those minutes. During their championship runs, the Spurs haven’t had a number 4 as exciting as RJ since Robinson retired. Horry was an exciting veteran, but he was slow on defense (even though he was tough). Bonner is a 3 point shooting machine. Maybe he is our version of Big Shot Rob. Hill is unproven, but is awesome on defense. He is also much better on offense than Bowen was. Do you realize we won a championship with Nazr Mohammed and Rasho Nesterovich? Don’t tell me that they were the reason we won it all. Can’t McDyess, Blair, and Splitter (some day) replace those guys?

    I think alot of the guys commenting here are forgetting what Pop and the Spurs have used in the past to win. I think what we have now is as good as anything we’ve had since the Twin Towers played. Remember, we’ve won two championships since David left.

    Here is the roster for 06-07:
    17 Brent Barry G 6-6 185 36 yo
    15 Matt Bonner F 6-10 240 27 yo
    12 Bruce Bowen F 6-7 185 36 yo
    45 Jackie Butler F-C 6-10 250 22 yo
    21 Tim Duncan F-C 6-11 248 31 yo
    16 Francisco Elson C 7-0 235 31 yo
    2 Melvin Ely C 6-10 260 29 yo
    4 Michael Finley G-F 6-7 215 34 yo
    20 Manu Ginobili G 6-6 210 30 yo
    5 Robert Horry F 6-9 220 37 yo
    7 Fabricio Oberto F 6-10 245 32 yo
    9 Tony Parker G 6-2 180 25 yo
    14 Beno Udrih G 6-3 205 25 yo
    11 Jacque Vaughn G 6-1 190 32 yo
    33 James White G-F 6-7 200 25 yo
    55 Eric Williams F 6-8 220 35 yo

    The average age of the Spurs was 30.43 years of age. The Spurs were way too old to win it all. Too old to be able to play the whole season and the playoffs.

    Playing alongside Duncan down low were: Francisco Elson (a TRUE center at 7′), Melvin Ely, Fabricio Oberto, and sometimes Bonner and Horry. Before we all panic at having the best record in the league and losing 5 games total, let’s remember who Pop and the big three have taken along with them to the top before.

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  • jwalt

    I have to wonder why anyone thinks this team would want to make a trade. But I’ll play along, how about Tiago Splitter for Lebron James? Doesn’t Miami need a youthful center?

    Folks, this team is 31-6. Saying they CAN’T win a championship is pure negative thinking. Yes, we are not the 1985 Celtics. But guess what, neither is anyone else.

    And if the Spurs decided not to make any trades in 2007 (when the team was struggling and did look old and slow), what makes you think they will do so now, when they look pretty darn good (and spry).

    Have some confidence people. Timmy and Manu are both champions, and there are very few champions currently in the NBA.

    Rob — are you the same Rob from New York who also likes the Raiders?

  • Mark Wylie

    I found this link on age in the TrueHoop Monday Bullets pretty interesting.

    http://hoopism.com/?p=746

    It shows the Spurs have the 7th oldest average players age (28.42) but the 5th oldest age weighted for minutes played (29.62).

    Also 5 teams (Mavericks, Lakers, Celtics, Spurs & Heat) that a lot of people consider to be contenders are in the 6 oldest weighted for minutes played.

  • irongiantkc

    jwalt
    +10

    You summarized what I wrote in 1/3 the words.

  • J2

    Teams that are 31-6 usually don’t make major trades. The most likely outcome is a downgrade.

  • TD = BEST EVER

    @ irongiantkc

    “Playing alongside Duncan down low were: Francisco Elson (a TRUE center at 7′), Melvin Ely, Fabricio Oberto, and sometimes Bonner and Horry. Before we all panic at having the best record in the league and losing 5 games total, let’s remember who Pop and the big three have taken along with them to the top before.”

    Read that list again.

    Horry - The Best Stretch 4 of ALL Time - (OK Dirk)
    He played both ends well

    Francisco Elson (a TRUE center at 7′) - Athletic -He could run, defend, and rebound, and block shots.

    Fabricio Oberto - Extremely smart always found a way to contribute in a positive manner - And still played better D that Bonner/Blair

    If we had half of that now - we would have 3 more games in the win column and would have a top 5 D to go with our new O

  • LPspursFan

    @ lvmainman…You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but forgive me if I think it smells.
    I get a kick out of posting “experts” like yourself that make comments like, “The Spurs as currently constructed can’t win a championship. Compete, yes. Win, no.” Remember, there is nothing guaranteed in life. Even if we made the trade you suggested, the team would be no more guaranteed to win a title than they are now. This team is constructed precisely to win a championship.
    Since Pop and RC have won 4 titles, what makes you think that all of a sudden they have lost the know-how to win again? Sure, we lost a close game at Boston, where they made jump shot after jump shot. You talk about trading for a center that averages 1.8 career blocks, but teams are not making a layup line to the hoop against us. We average 5 blocks per game, 14th in the league. The Knicks are 1st at 6.9. But those same Knicks give up 106.3 points per game! We only give up 97.4…so tell me, how do Emeka’s 1.8 blocks make us a better defensive team? Heck, the No. 1 team in the league in points allowed, the Celtics at 91.8, only block 4.4 shots per game. So while entitled to your opinion, your logic is skewed, and I’ll keep the team exactly as it is constructed right now.

  • irongiantkc

    TD=BE
    “If we had half of that now – we would have 3 more games in the win column and would have a top 5 D to go with our new O”

    One, you’re saying we’d be 34-3? Who has ever been 34-3? I think it’s still possible to win it all without having the best record of all time.

    Two, I know you think defense wins championships. It’s true. Off the top of my head I can’t think of a team in the last 30 years who won it all without good defense. That said, teams don’t have to have the best defense in the league to win it all and if we had Elson and Oberto I think our offense would suffer.

    “Horry – The Best Stretch 4 of ALL Time – (OK Dirk). He played both ends well”

    True for most of his career, but he was a defensive liability 2007. His last few years, he went whole games without playing until the 4th quarter b/c he had the freakish ability to bury 3s in big situations even if he was cold off the bench. btw, I loved Big Shot Rob. It was so cool before a game the way he’d stay on the court after all the rest of the Spurs went into the locker room casually draining 3 after 3 after 3.

  • jwalt

    TD Best Ever — praising Francisco Elson? You think he’s better than what we got now? Are you kidding? He’s been the 11th or 12th man on every team he’s ever been on, including the Jazz this year, and for a very good reason. He’s a dope. Dazed and confused would best describe his Spur days.

    Please come up with something better than Elson to make your case about how bad our bigs are now.

  • Daniel T

    lvmainman:

    I’m curious as to who would have playing the SF position after your trade? There seems to be little depth there already, but you’d trade away the starter?

  • TD = BEST EVER

    @ jwalt

    Elson is better on D than Blair/Bonner/Splitter right now. And if we had him we would be a better team. No he wouldn’t get alot of minutes, and mostly for games with 2 or more Good bigs and we need the extra muscle.

    You seem oblivious to what a great Defense can actually do for a team, and are only concerned with stats, wins and whatever else passes through your mind. We could have put Elson on Psycho T, big baby, Gooden and you name it and he would have done a much better job those games. Now we won 2 out of the 3, but were exposed in all 3.

    Now he wasn’t all that - but If I could get him for the same price as Bonner, I would do it in a heart beat. You can always get a SF to play PF when going small.

  • TD = BEST EVER

    @ Daniel T

    “lvmainman:

    I’m curious as to who would have playing the SF position after your trade? There seems to be little depth there already, but you’d trade away the starter?”

    I will take this one Ivmainman - Rodney Carney - has potential written all over him and is gonna be cheap player that we can use to rebuild around.

    For those who don’t know who he is go and check him out…. he is shooting 40% from 3 this year for all of my Offense loving friends. And is long, fast and a great leaper, for all my Defense loving fans. It’s a win/win.

    Also check out my trade in the previous Article “The defense came through where the offense couldn’t”

  • Ruel

    @Rob

    Great Job and it says at all!!! I Honestly agree with you. Win or not the NBA Title, they are Champions. It’s Priceless and you can’t put any higher value than that anything in this world can offer? I hope people will understand and realize and think like you do someday and there’s nothing wrong with that?

    NO TRADE!!! Go San Antonio Spurs Go!!!

  • jwalt

    Defense wins championships, but you can’t defend if you are a dope. If he could, he would be actually playing somewhere. He is blessed with great physical skills and body and never has been an important cog anywhere. His instincts for the sport are, in a word, terrible.

    And for the same price? Bonner makes more than 3 times as much as Elson (look it up). And not because he has a better agent. Just the better player. If you asked all 30 GM’s who they would rather have between Bonner and Elson, the vote would be 30-0 for Bonner.

  • spursgermany

    lvmainman

    I though this was a Spurs´ forum, we just do no wander to a LAKERS´ forum and spit venom!!
    Kind of immature behaviour

  • lvmainman

    @ Daniel T,

    I’d have Ginobili play the small forward, backed up by Anderson, and sign a Jawad Williams/Damian Wilkins/Trenton Hassell type as a 13th man.

    Gary Neal would move to the starting lineup. Hill, Bonner, Blair, McDyess off the bench.

    @ ITGuy,
    Hornets and Rockets aren’t seen as teams that played in the NBA finals last year. That’s my point. So, beating those type of teams is no big deal.

    @ LPspursFan,
    Okafor would make teams more hesitant to penetrate and less likely to get open looks off of penetration. Okafor would add an intimidation factor that Bonner/Blair don’t provide, as well as alter more shots. We’ll agree to disagree.

  • Flavor

    Is Jim H back under another name?

  • Daniel T

    TD=B.E.

    Carney was shooting 40+% from 3 point range this season based on only 37 attempts. Last season with 135 attempts he shot only 30%, and his career average is 33%.

    He is 26 years old with this being his 5th year in the league (and least productive) and was just waived by the Warriors. If he actually had some potential while being so cheap, why would the Warriors waive him? I don’t think he’s someone the Spurs would rebuild around.

  • rob

    There is nobody coming to SA that is going to get playing time over Tim, Blair, Bonner and Dyess unless their name is Olajajuan, Barkley, Ewing, etc.

    The Spurs are “developing” Splitter. If one spends time “developing” somebody or something…they don’t just pass them off to another team.

    If people don’t trust Pop and Buford…I guess they’re blind to the “development” they’ve done with Hill, Jefferson, Parker, Ginobili, etc. All of which could barely by play time or produce effectively their first year on the team.

    So if anybody thinks somebody new on the team for only half the season is going to get more playing time than Tiago currently gets…my only assumption would be they can’t accept reality.

    And it’s not like some of the trade ideas aren’t good ideas if this were next summer…but I don’t think they happen now. Especially a team that is 32 and 6. Why in the name of reality would they?

  • TD = Best EVER

    @ Daniel T

    “If he actually had some potential while being so cheap, why would the Warriors waive him? I don’t think he’s someone the Spurs would rebuild around.”

    Because they are The Warriors……. just like The Clippers - they haven’t been bad for 10 + years because they are smart. FO’s like theirs make bad decisions all the time. Plus they have 2 SF’s on the team that are better.

  • TD = Best EVER

    @ rob

    “Why in the name of reality would they?”

    Because We need more size. And if Splitter is that guy, cool. If he isn’t this year then we need to look elsewhere. This will be our best chance at a ring for a very long time.

  • rob

    TD = Best EVER

    “Because We need more size.”

    Where out of a 32 and 6 record or facts do you assess the team needs more size? More size would be “nice”, but the team is proving to play fine with who they have…How they’re playing…And all without another 7 footer getting playing time.

    Which leads me to my point earlier…anybody the Spurs would get at this point would not be “ready” to break rotation on a consistent basis anyway. If Tiago is not playing at this moment…he’s had more time than a new player now to understand the system…what makes you think somebody else could take away Duncan, Bonner, Blair and McDyess’ minutes?

    From another angle…why risk messing with the chemistry that has been developing with who they have now by bringing in another player?

  • andy

    @TD=BE

    “Elson is better on D than Blair/Bonner/Splitter right now.”

    insanely, wildly misinformed, and you need to check your stats. if we’re talking “right now”, then elson’s 106 is a par with bonner, and well below splitter and blair. i believe that blair’s defensive rating, 99, is a dead heat with our franchise, timmy.

    @lvmainman
    “Okafor would make teams more hesitant to penetrate and less likely to get open looks off of penetration. Okafor would add an intimidation factor that Bonner/Blair don’t provide, as well as alter more shots.”

    i’ll stick up for blair/bonner here. especially over okafor, who’s about as groundbound a center as you can find. his blocks/36 have never been stellar, and even though he’s enjoying one of his better years this year, i’ll pass, especially for that salary.

    look people, we’re 32-6. you can’t definitively say we can’t compete for a championship. as someone else said, talk like that is unfettered negativism. furthermore, for a team like the spurs, who’re so reliant on the system, teamwork, and the sum of the parts being greater than the whole, a trade is not the answer. let’s take a breath and reinsert some reason.

  • Tim in Surrey

    Hmmm… Interesting comments. Obviously I’m a glass-half-full kind of guy about this year, so I’m not interested in making the kinds of moves that lvmainman and td=bestever are advocating. I’ve made the case before, which nobody has really directly rebutted, that history is full of teams much like this one that have won championships, that our perimeter play should scare the big boys as much as their interior play should scare us, and that our defense and overall play have always steadily improved over the course of the year under Pop so it’s a little hasty to worry too much about it now.

    But… lvmainman and td=bestever are smart guys who do have some very good points: The defense HAS taken a few steps backwards lately, which is a real concern. Blair and Splitter haven’t yet developed as hoped and it’s foolish to assume that they will. Matt Bonner is not a strong defender overall and will be less effective in general in the playoffs. The Spurs will struggle to defend teams with multiple large, interior threats, such as Orlando, LA, and Boston-in other words, three of the other five major contenders. Those are all valid points and things that should concern us. They clearly concern Pop.

    Unfortunately a trade is unlikely to fix them this year. Good big men are too expensive, the Spurs are way over the cap, other teams are wary of dealing with them, and it takes too long for most players to learn Pop’s defensive system. It’s just not going to happen, people. And castoffs like Rodney Carney simply aren’t good enough, smart enough, or committed enough to make the difference this year.

    And those are legitimate reasons for concern because the Spurs really ARE old. You can throw out all the stats you want but the reason everyone says they’re old is NOT because their entire roster is old. It’s because their best players are. Comparisons with the age of the 2007 Spurs team are pointless because Tim Duncan was 31 then and he’s not any more. That’s should be all the difference you need, but Manu was also four years younger and Bowen was still an effective stopper. The fact is that four of our five starters and our best interior reserve (Antonio McDyess) have a LOT of miles on their bodies. (Don’t forget that McDyess and Jefferson have also had extended postseason minutes, which tend to age players prematurely.) And it creates a real dilemma: Each of those five players has a higher than usual chance of breaking down, which would tend to mess everything up. But if they don’t break down, they’re going to wear down by the time the playoffs arrive, which will also tend to mess everything up.

    So… It’s great that we have such a good record already, because home court advantage will really help a lot in the playoffs. But I wouldn’t expect this team to continue winning at anything like this pace. (I think, despite their difficult remaining schedule, they’ll win 60 games, which would mean going 28-16 from here on out. But I doubt it will be much more than that.) And while any team with a healthy and still viable Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker is a legitimate threat to win the title, it will be a much more difficult road than any of their previous ones.

  • Daniel T

    TD=BE

    “Plus they have 2 SF’s on the team that are better.”

    Third best on the Warriors, but you’d make him the Spurs starter? At this point it would look as though it is not just the Warriors’ FO but every team’s FO that has let him slip through their hands as he’s been there for the taking when both Minnesota and the 76ers did not re-sign him at the end of the last two seasons.

  • werdnawee

    Long time reader, first time poster (but a PtRer).

    Just wanted to say that Tim in Surrey’s post summed up everything perfectly and covered the various views very well.

    Agree with everything you said.

    Nice job, Sir.

  • http://www.48minutesofhell.com JTEX

    Pop learned much from his mentors Larry Brown and Don Nelson but he developed his style of coaching also. He may really get verbal with some/all of his players but he takes them down and builds them back up. He expects no more out of his players than he’s willing to put in himself. Look at the behavior of of his players, when they are on his teams on and off court. The only player that was on any of his team that behaved badly was Rodman and he wasn’t around when they started their championship teams and he didn’t really behave too bad while with the Spurs or he would have been gone. All of his players know this no matter how good they are, if they don’t tow the line, they will be gone fast. If you behave like a ghetto thug, you be gone and were not talking about extremely physcial defensive players like Horry or Bowen, those guys just played extremely physical. Sure do miss those guys!!

  • nielsen

    why do we need a trade when we have 12 players in the roster i think maybe we can add some free agent.. not a trade

  • The Horse

    Why are people talking about trades and complete roster shake ups? And why does the word “rebuild” keep getting tossed around. I thought this was a Spurs forum not Phoenix.

  • Titletown

    @rob, You got a point there rob, hell they held on to Ian that long then there’s still hope for Splitter to get playing time in the next 3 years. By the way people don’t try analyze this team too much because the only difference really is the addition of Gary Neal. No Neal = many lost games. Its that simple. You take him away and your back to 2008-2009 seasons. there’s no improvement in pick ups after that and your older in the paint I don’t consider Splitter a pick up because he’s basically not part of the team at this point.

  • agentyellow21

    all we need to win a championship is control the tempo,tight defense no matter if the spurs are in a good percentage in offense,,tim is a reliable down the low,we can spread the floor with the likes of neal,manu.tony and manu can attack the baseline then kicked out to an open man if the defense is there,.compete every single play,.