Tuesday, April 24th, 2012 at 10:05 am  |  63 responses

Tim Duncan: Gregg Popovich is the NBA’s Coach of the Year


Obvious bias aside, it’s kind of difficult to quibble with Tim Duncan’s choice for coach of the year this season. Per the Express-News: “Wrapping up the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference moved Spurs captain Tim Duncan to do some campaigning for Spurs coach Gregg Popovich for Coach of the Year. ‘Is it time to start the chant?” he said after Monday’s 124-89 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers at the AT&T Center that clinched the top spot in the West. ‘Coach of the Year, Coach of the Year.’ Duncan declared the work Popovich has done this season the best he has observed in any of his 15 seasons playing for him. ‘I really think so,’ he said. ‘He’s put so many guys into our system. We’ve been playing with two very young guys starting for us the entire year; getting all those guys acclimated on the fly with very little practice time. All those things, he’s done an unbelievable job with it. Yeah, it’s probably the best job he’s done thus far. Obviously, not only the coaching job he’s done, but the rotation he’s given us. He’s kept us fresh. He’s found ways to rest guys when he can. I think our minutes are as low as anyone, and we’re still No. 1 in the West.’ Duncan’s minutes are at a career low, 28.2 per game, and he is one of 10 current Spurs who average at least 20 minutes per game on the deepest roster of Popovich’s 16 seasons as head coach. ‘All the credit to Pop for making a season that could have been very bad and very tough into something very manageable,’ Duncan said.”

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , ,

← Older Comments
  • http://Roosterteeth.com Caboose

    Oh and Diesel: “past,” not “passed.” Your intellect is obvious.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    Diesel is actually a pretty smart poster. Why don’t ya get back to Co-Signing nbk Caboose.

  • http://Roosterteeth.com Caboose

    Haha nice LS. Yes, I know Diesel is smart, he just said a lot of less-than-intelligent stuff on this thread.

  • ChristianBulleN

    It’s gotta be Paul Silas. All bickering aside.. the dude still has hair on the top of his head.

  • http://www.triplejunearthed.com/dacre Dacre

    Coaching award should go to:
    Indiana
    Philadelphia
    Phoenix
    San Antonio
    Chicago

  • http://slamonline.com Datkid

    bike is the site troll? I’m very very confused lol

  • andy

    my three votes would be
    3 – pop. amazing job. the way the schedule was set you would of thought it would kill an old team like this. to beat okc for best record is an excellent coaching job. the Gary Neals Danny Greens n Kawhi Leonards have not looked out of place at all. then you add Diaw and S Jax. Cannot wait to see them in the post season.
    2 – thibs. the way the team was rolling without Rose said a lot to me. He has got his players playing great winning basketball.
    1 – Monty Williams – For what he got given and to not own the worst record speaks volumes (to him and the BCats) there was a patch when the team looked like they could of beaten really good teams.

    Worst Coach
    Brooks – He is a horrible coach. His mismanagement of Ibaka and no real concept of running a play for the last shot annoys me. This team relies on talent and talent alone
    Funny how when SI ran the players poll on which coach players wanna play for his name wasnt mentioned lol

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    Pop is the coolest f*cking coach in all of basketball.

  • http://Slamonline.com Kevin Durant’s Backpack

    It’s too bad this award doesn’t actually go to the best coach. Usually just the coach who improves his team by the most amount of wins. Pop and Phil Jackson would win it every year.

  • Holiday

    Wow the guy has a great team winning… Weird!!! No Phil and shouldn’t have em all they had all the talent. The guys that bring out the best in no name players or undermanned teams deserve it!

  • http://www.yahoo.com The Fury

    @Disel..”I’ll end this by saying you’re all crazy, and we’ll revisit how great Pop coached this team when they don’t get passed the second round this year.”…I’ll say that also to your (Thibbs) Bulls man. ;)

  • GC6

    In other news Kemba Walker say Paul Silas is coach of the year

  • FnF

    @Holiday, cosign. IMO, the award should go to the coach that got the most out of his players. How in the world Jerry Sloan goes two decades without winning it, is simply crazy. Oten times talent will trump X’s & O’s. How can you reward a coach for simply fielding a better team? Frank Vogel led his team to a better record than 25 other coaches with a roster talent level that is in the middle of the pack. He dealt with a center that can’t defend the PnR, several PFs that play below the rim, a long range trigger happy scorer, & aside from Paul George the rest of his backcourt comes off the bench for most teams. If Popovich gets it, so be it, I feel that Frank Vogel did relatively more with less.

← Older Comments
Advertisement