Pop sounds... worried.

http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/golden-state-warriors-stephen-curry-san-antonio-spurs-gregg-popovich-envious-ball-movement-021216

Spurs' Popovich says he's 'envious' of 'unsolvable' Warriors' offense, pristine ball movement

By Jeff Caplan
Feb 12, 2016 at 1:42p ET

San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich didn't have a great night the last time he visited Oakland. Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors gave Pop whiplash as he watched them rack up 31 assists on 44 baskets in a 30-point victory.

Popovich and the Spurs helped revolutionize NBA offenses in this era of ball-movement with their pristine passing. Golden State just might have perfected it. And even Popovich can't helped but be amazed by what's going on in the East Bay. During an appearance on ESPN Radio on Friday he even said he's "envious" of the Warriors:


"I've spent more time thinking about Golden State than I have any other team I've ever thought about in my whole career. Because they are really fun. I'd go buy a ticket and go watch them play. And when I see them move the ball, I get very envious. When I see them shoot uncontested shots more than anybody else in the league, it's inspiring. It's just great basketball.

"So I'm actually enjoying them very much. You try to solve them, but they're in a sense unsolvable because it's a particular mix of talent that they have. It's not just that Steph can make shots or that Klay can make shots or that Draymond Green is versatile. Everybody on the court can pass, catch and shoot. And they all get it.

"They're for real They're talented. But they're also very, very smart."


That's some serious respect from the man widely considered the best coach in the NBA. Part of Popovich's success has been being open and able to adjusting his coaching style to the direction of the game. He's won five titles with the Spurs. In 1999 and three more times during the 2000s, he did it with suffocating defense. Two Finals appearances and another title this decade have been accomplished with beautiful offense.

His praise of the Warriors is arguably the highest praise you'll ever hear a rival coach give another team. Especially one that coach will likely have to get through for a chance at a sixth championship.

But that's Pop. Real. Honest.

As NBA fans, we can only hope Pop and Spurs get a chance to attempt to slow down the Warriors in the playoffs.

I think I am ready to call them the best team since the Bulls, with no disrespect to various Lakers, Spurs and Pistons squads.

>I think I am ready to call them the best team since the
>Bulls, with no disrespect to various Lakers, Spurs and Pistons
>squads.

Plus the competition they are doing it against. The Lakers threepeat teams were the best in my book but they only faced one formidable team a year, really (Portland, SA and Sac, respectively).

>Plus the competition they are doing it against. The Lakers
>threepeat teams were the best in my book but they only faced
>one formidable team a year, really (Portland, SA and Sac,
>respectively).


Who are all the "formidable" teams GS is facing?

Two out of those three have been completely blown out the water this season

>Two out of those three have been completely blown out the
>water this season


Timmy 15 years older is more "formidable" now? The Cavs were a 1 man team in the finals. OKC is a 2 man team. Competition now is weaker than ever in both conferences.

the competition in the east was weak as fuck in the lakers era, weaker than it is now. the competition in the west was, for the most part, just OK when the bulls were winning. i don't see how anyone could look at the west last year and say the competition was weak.

>the competition in the east was weak as fuck in the lakers
>era, weaker than it is now. the competition in the west was,
>for the most part, just OK when the bulls were winning. i
>don't see how anyone could look at the west last year and say
>the competition was weak.

Every team in the west is in decline right now except for GS. SA has key pieces getting older. The supporting cast around KD and Russ has gotten worse. Memphis is getting old, the Clippers are in disarray.

last year the competition in the west was arguably the best it has ever been, at least with this many teams. they won 67 games and the title.

the sixers were kinda formidable but the nets and pacers? eh. and the rest of the east pretty well sucked a fat one during that time; i guess the bucks were decent in 01.

swept the core of a Detroit team in 04 that would win the finals the next season.

>swept the core of a Detroit team in 04 that would win the
>finals the next season.

That's pretty revisionist. That was Chauncey and Rips first year in Detroit and Tayshaun barely played. No Sheed obviously, no Lindsey Hunter/Mike James either. Add in the coaching change and it was a far different team from '03 to '04.

even though Carlisle was shit on then he turned out to be a decent coach too.

Good team, but nowhere near what they were the following few seasons.

To the Clippers, in a series that looked more like the conference finals than the conference finals.

what does that have to do with anything?

The Spurs struggled momentarily and one simple adjustment swung the series heavily in their favor. Credit Jason Kidd for playing his ass. The rest of them dudes were sorry, period. Wanna tell me how great Keith Van Horn and Kerry Kittles were? Be my fucking guest.

Was just listing formidable teams that GS has faced.




Those three are all very good teams btw. The reason you're downplaying them is because you too watched GS made them look foolish

> Was just listing formidable teams that GS has faced.
>
>
>
>
>Those three are all very good teams btw. The reason you're
>downplaying them is because you too watched GS made them look
>foolish

None of those teams are better than the SA, Portland, Sac teams the Lakers had to go through EVERY YEAR.

>> Was just listing formidable teams that GS has faced.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>Those three are all very good teams btw. The reason you're
>>downplaying them is because you too watched GS made them
>look
>>foolish
>
>None of those teams are better than the SA, Portland, Sac
>teams the Lakers had to go through EVERY YEAR.

Overall leaguewide, I agree that the competition isn't really any better. There's the best team(GS), and one, or possibly two teams that can beat them(SA and maybe Cleveland). That's not much different than the Lakers run....there were 1 or maybe 2 teams each year that gave them any concern at all.

But, this current Spurs team is a monster and a better team than '00 Portland, '01 SA, or '02 Sac. If GS goes through these Spurs and repeats, that "weak competion" card can't be played IMO. The Spurs are legit.

round last year? Softridge makes them that much better? Even with Timmy, Tony & Manu being a year older?

That Spurs-Clippers series was incredible, there was no real shame in losing that and it was only because last year's west was so good that it happened in the first round. Both of those were WCF caliber teams.

You can knock Aldridge, but as a #2? He's 20 and 10(only the lower minutes are keeping him from that) on 50% shooting in his sleep. Adding him certainly makes them better than last year.

Also, Leonard has taken his game to another level this year.

have some good supporting casts, he was a stat padder like Love that gets exposed on a better team

He's a legit good player, at the very least.

He wasn't a go to guy that could carry a team deep in the playoffs......fine. There's only so many of those guys in the league, and on the Spurs he doesn't have to be that guy. He's their #2.

He certainly makes them a much better team. Not sure how you can even argue otherwise, even if you aren't a fan of his/think he's overrated, etc.

10 year career, and this is the first time he's shot over 50% in the last 4 years when he's NOT a first option anymore.

>10 year career, and this is the first time he's shot over 50%
>in the last 4 years when he's NOT a first option anymore.


Who cares if he didn't hit the boards hard enough in 2007 or something? He's improved that aspect of his game and he's a 10 rpg type player right NOW. 11 rpg in '14 and 10 rpg in 15....and the only thing keeping him from 10 or 11 this year is the 30 mpg(as opposed to a typical 35-36) that he's playing, which is just how Pop does things.

And uh, he's shooting 50% right now. That's the point. He's a 20-10 (17 and 8 but only 30 mpg) and 50% type of player right now, as their #2 guy. He's a good player who makes them better than they were last year.

>>10 year career, and this is the first time he's shot over
>50%
>>in the last 4 years when he's NOT a first option anymore.
>
>
>Who cares if he didn't hit the boards hard enough in 2007 or
>something? He's improved that aspect of his game and he's a
>10 rpg type player right NOW. 11 rpg in '14 and 10 rpg in
>15....and the only thing keeping him from 10 or 11 this year
>is the 30 mpg(as opposed to a typical 35-36) that he's
>playing, which is just how Pop does things.
>
>And uh, he's shooting 50% right now. That's the point. He's
>a 20-10 (17 and 8 but only 30 mpg) and 50% type of player
>right now, as their #2 guy. He's a good player who makes them
>better than they were last year.

Spin the numbers how you want, he was on milk carton status when they played the Warriors.

That's really good.

I said "around 20 and 10"(which they are) on 50%, because that's where he's at if you look at per 36 min.

He's an upgrade. He doesn't have to be a #1 star franchise player to be a big upgrade for them.

C'mon.

conveniently sum them up by saying a much older Duncan makes them worse. I guess Kawhi and LMA count for nothing, right?

No one is taking anything away from the 3-peat Lakers team. Some (myself included) are just saying that the current competition in the West is far more loaded than it was during the Lakers run.

>conveniently sum them up by saying a much older Duncan makes
>them worse. I guess Kawhi and LMA count for nothing, right?

Kawhi is great but Softridge is overrated like I always said he was.

>No one is taking anything away from the 3-peat Lakers team.
>Some (myself included) are just saying that the current
>competition in the West is far more loaded than it was during
>the Lakers run.

"Loaded" how? Do you really think the Spurs are that much better NOW than when Duncan was in his prime? OKC was a better team a few years ago when they went to the finals. Who are these other "great" teams in the west?

The 7th & 8th seeds in the west are .500 teams right now, when was the last time that happened?

>Kawhi is great but Softridge is overrated like I always said
>he was.

He may be soft, but he's a scoring option that the Spurs desperately needed. Kawhi was banged up for much of last year and is now just hitting his prime. He's significantly better this year than ever before.

>"Loaded" how? Do you really think the Spurs are that much
>better NOW than when Duncan was in his prime? OKC was a better
>team a few years ago when they went to the finals. Who are
>these other "great" teams in the west?

The Warriors and Spurs are playing at an incredible level right now. OKC is winning 75% of their games. That's 3 championship caliber teams right there. All 3 teams have a higher winning % than any team the Lakers faced between those years (that doesn't necessarily make them better, but still...)

The Blazers and Kings had great teams, but weren't consistently great. The Spurs had a very legit chance in 2000 but Duncan was hurt and those 2001-2002 Spurs teams were devoid of talent outside Duncan. Derek Anderson was their #2 scoring option, lol - yet they were still in contention every year bc of Duncan. The Jazz were over the hill at that point. So yes, I do think the top 3-4 teams in the West right now are better than the top teams in the West in 2000-2002.
>
>The 7th & 8th seeds in the west are .500 teams right now, when
>was the last time that happened?

What does that matter? Were the 7th and 8th seeds ever in serious contention for a 'chip during the Lakers run???

>The Warriors and Spurs are playing at an incredible level
>right now. OKC is winning 75% of their games. That's 3
>championship caliber teams right there. All 3 teams have a
>higher winning % than any team the Lakers faced between those
>years (that doesn't necessarily make them better, but
>still...)




>>The 7th & 8th seeds in the west are .500 teams right now,
>when
>>was the last time that happened?
>
>What does that matter? Were the 7th and 8th seeds ever in
>serious contention for a 'chip during the Lakers run???

and by a significant margin.

the 16 warriors might end up being the best team since the 96 bulls, but the 16 spurs actually might be the second-best. they currently enjoy an .850 winning percentage (a 70W-12L pace), they're on pace to finish with the highest scoring differential in nba history (+13.2 ppg), and their overall defense (http://www.inpredictable.com/2016/01/san-antonios-stinginess-in-transition.html) literally might be the best ever.

san antonio is surrendering 97.3 points per 100 defensive possessions.

http://bkref.com/tiny/GNZST

there's the 30 teams (including the 16 spurs) that have surrendered 97.5 or less. 22 of them played before there was a 3 point line. the other 7 played in 99 (league avg: 102.2 pts per 100 poss) and 04 (league avg: 102.9 pts per 100 poss) which were the 2 worst offensive years since the 3 point line was introduced (http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_stats.html#stats::none)

their defense is potentially historic. one of the more under-the-radar seasons i've seen.




>No one is taking anything away from the 3-peat Lakers team.
>Some (myself included) are just saying that the current
>competition in the West is far more loaded than it was during
>the Lakers run.

Duncan?

And this season's "historically" bad western conference has nothing to do with the '16 Spurs "greatness"?

but yeah, this year's spurs could easily end up being the best of the duncan-popovich era. and that's even if they don't win the title.

>And this season's "historically" bad western conference has
>nothing to do with the '16 Spurs "greatness"?

says the guy in here singing the praises of the '2-time conference champion nets'. man, shut up. lolz.

>but yeah, this year's spurs could easily end up being the
>best of the duncan-popovich era. and that's even if they don't
>win the title.

Only from a statistical nerd perspective. I don't the either Duncan or Pop would say that, lol.


>>And this season's "historically" bad western conference has
>>nothing to do with the '16 Spurs "greatness"?
>
>says the guy in here singing the praises of the '2-time
>conference champion nets'. man, shut up. lolz.

It's either one way or the other, you guys want both.

the 01 spurs for instance were better than the 99, 03 and 05 champion teams imo. they just ran into a lakers juggernaut, sort of like what might happen to this year's spurs.

there are lots of teams that didn't win titles -- 72 bucks, 86 bucks, 90-92 blazers, 94 sonics, etc -- who are better than some of the teams that did. it's all about timing.

Shaq/Kobe teams of the early 2000s? C'mon. Stop being so damn dense.

There is no comparison at all between the 2000-2004 talent the Spurs had and what they have now. DRob was on his last legs and they had absolutely no major go to scorers outside of Duncan. It took until 2004 or so until Parker and Ginobli hit their range. Right today, Kawhi and LMA are more talented than Parker/Ginobli ever were. Top to bottom the current Spurs roster is the most talented it's ever been.

>Shaq/Kobe teams of the early 2000s? C'mon. Stop being so
>damn dense.
>
>There is no comparison at all between the 2000-2004 talent the
>Spurs had and what they have now. DRob was on his last legs
>and they had absolutely no major go to scorers outside of
>Duncan. It took until 2004 or so until Parker and Ginobli hit
>their range. Right today, Kawhi and LMA are more talented
>than Parker/Ginobli ever were. Top to bottom the current
>Spurs roster is the most talented it's ever been.

DRob "on his last legs" was better than Softridge is RIGHT TODAY.

than they've ever been. In 02-03, yes DRob was on his last legs an no he was not better than LMA right today. Not sure why you're so butt hurt over this.

than Softridge is RIGHT TODAY.

You think that because Duncan is 39 and obviously not at his best that the current Spurs team can't possibly be better than the prime Duncan years.

In 2000-2001 this was the Spurs main lineup

Admiral (averaged 14 and 8)
Timmay - just hitting his prime
Derek Anderson (2nd leading scorer at 15ppg)
Antonio Daniels - solid contributor, but mainly a journeyman
Sean Elliot - on his last legs/last season in the NBA
Avery Johnson - on his last legs/last season w/ Spurs
Terry Porter - almost 40 at the time

2001-2002:

Admiral - regardless of your distorted memory, he was definitely on his last legs. Avg 12 and 8 a game and avg. 6 and 7 vs. the Lakers in the playoffs
Prime Timmay - was basically unstoppable
Young Tony - wildly erratic and not very effective
Bruce Bowen - solid defender but offered no offense
Steve Smith - solid contributor, but was past prime


Flash forward to the 2016 Spurs lineup:

Timmay - basically where DRob was at in 2001. #s are down, but can still deliver when asked to
LMA - All-star talent; 20/10 guy
Kawhi - DPOY candidate, top 10 player in the league
Danny Green - solid defender and shooter
Top 5 Tony - past his prime, but still a solid contributor

Key bench guys: Manu playing his best ball in 3-4 years. Still a solid contributor; Boris Diaw and David West can put in work when needed; Patty Mills right now is better than Tony circa early 2000s.


This current Spurs team might not win a championship, but that doesn't negate the fact that this might be the deepest, most talented Spurs team ever assembled.

in life.

http://youtu.be/Gy9Fun9CuZ4

I remember people saying "no way the old ass Spurs can beat Miami"

my initial read was this was a darryl sutter type comment in the mold of "ohhhhh, he's the greatest goalie ever, we were lucky to even get one by him tonight." but it doesn't seem that way.

I thought his whole shtick was "honesty to the point of discomfort."

Pop very well may have done media mind games before, but I can't think of any off the top. Usually it's curt brutal honesty.

As you said, he's brutally honest and open about things...especially regarding great teams and players.

http://www.animateit.net/data/media/april2014/POLITICS-AT-THANKSGIVING.gif

According to filf and his one co signer

That doesn't negate or minimize the result of their last match up. It just means that Duncan's help can't be replaced and will be an integral part of matching up with the Warriors.

I know Duncan's minutes and numbers are way down this season, but we all know he comes to play in the post-season.

among the all-time greats after 1 title?

Haven't people learned from the hype and predictions for Lebron's last 2 teams?

However, IF the Dubs win it all this season, and especially if they break the all-time wins record in the process, then it's time for those hard conversations. And I don't want see anyone go into hiding or come through with a list of excuses and plea-cops. But this board will cross that bridge IF we come to it.

We already went through this with Miami, lol

Okay then. Just as long as we're clear on this out the gate.

And IF they win it all this season, AND win 70 games or more in the process, anyone is would have an extremely tough time arguing this is the best back-to-back season team ever.

than Kobe even though he's not halfway there yet.


>Okay then. Just as long as we're clear on this out the gate.
>
>And IF they win it all this season, AND win 70 games or more
>in the process, anyone is would have an extremely tough time
>arguing this is the best back-to-back season team ever.

3-peats are on a whole different planet than repeats, just remember that.

>among the all-time greats after 1 title?
>
>Haven't people learned from the hype and predictions for
>Lebron's last 2 teams?


this is already the greatest dynasty to ever set foot on a basketball court.

he didn't say unbeatable, because that wouldn't be true.

but they shoot so well 1 - 5 (w/ draymond at the 5)

that there's no good option against it. if you slow it down, they kill you. if you speed it up, they kill you faster.

draymond makes it so they're not giving up anything in defense/rebounding at the other end, and the league won't let you just beat the shit out of them anymore.


so what's left, strategy-wise?

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

Force their hand. Go big. Stay big. Be stubborn. Grind them out. Hope for the best. ***shrugs***

Even with MCW being completely unable to do anything running the offense,having him on Steph and Giannis on Klay made it damn near impossible for them to score.


On offense they pounded the shit out of them with Monroe and drives from Giannis,MCW and Jabari.

You have to be able to make Draymond have to beat you
____________________

<================== Learn the name now before everyone gets dunked on

Lose by 30 playing their game vs Losing by 20 or 30 playing your game.

nobody else can match up with them like that.

perimeter defender to at least slow down Curry, Memphis gave them trouble until Tony Allen got hurt.

The Spurs could be tough for them if Duncan is healthy.

with your bigs.

Both Steph and Draymond were over 50 minutes in that game

They were able to maintain for 3 quarters but then petered off as the minutes and b2b caught up to them

in that first game against the Bucks that they lost...in the 2nd game, the Bucks kept it close in Oakland until the 4th quarter.

but you're not going to be able to do that every night, and most teams aren't built like that.

www.engadgethd.com - the other stuff i'm looking at

I said this a couple of months ago. Going big is the way to beat these dudes.

only way they can beat Warriors' 9-10 man rotation IN THE SECOND ROUND is if Parker/Duncan/Manu legs feel good, Aldridge plays like an all-star, Diaw gives solid minutes guarding Draymond, Danny Green slows down Livinston coming off the bench shoots lights out, and Mills gets it going on offense.

in the postseason yet

http://ww3.hdnux.com/photos/41/64/10/8864270/3/1024x1024.jpg

at least you're a real Spurs fan...