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@Spurs
Mar 24, 2021 11:17:52 GMT -5
Post by Chicago Bulls (Charlie) on Mar 24, 2021 11:17:52 GMT -5
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Post by San Antonio Spurs (Chris) on Mar 26, 2021 22:18:20 GMT -5
In regards to which part of the commentary, exactly? I mainly think the guy has a poor understanding of popp and the organization's motivations, and seems to harbor a weird personal dislike of popp, insinuating he's a racist and at one point stating he's "a gross old man who shouldn't be around people"... IDK, felt mostly like a poorly informed personal opinion piece. Suggesting that popp wants to block players from talking to media so he can be the face of the franchise and take credit for the Spurs' success is so stupid it's not even worth discussing further. Suggesting we "got rid of him in a hurry" when Boban "developed his own personality" is equally silly, he played out his contract and we chose not to offer him another because he's not that fucking good; notice nobody else signed him for quite a while either.
As far as kawhi, nobody really knows, but my very strong suspicion is that uncle Dennis convinced kawhi his legacy was more important than the Spurs immediate success, which does not fly with PATFO or the culture. I do think uncle Dennis was a major factor, based on the very limited statements that other players made at the time, but more so on the fact that kawhi was very much a team player at first, then started behaving differently after he achieved a certain level of personal success and media accolades. What makes the most logical sense to explain that change is that uncle Dennis got in his ear about his obligation to his family and everyone benefitting from his ability to command huge financial success; from what I know of kawhi as a person, all second hand of course, this would be a very effective argument. But who knows, that's my personal opinion.
Calling the trade to Toronto "petty" because it put kawhi "as far as possible from his preferred destination", as this guy did, is just fucking ridiculous. It was petty of kawhi to publicly announce that he wouldn't resign with anyone but LA, destroyed his trade value in one statement. Sending him to Toronto was just PATFO getting best possible value back after being put in that position, and was actually well-orchestrated; look how fucked the rockets just got with the harden situation.
The main thing to understand about Spurs culture is that winning and doing whatever is needed to help the team win take precedence over all else, egos and perceived "superstar status" be damned. How many times did we see popp yank Tim fucking Duncan from a game, often at critical moments, for making a bad decision, then yell at him on his way to the bench? Can you imagine that happening with a player of Duncan's status on any other team? It's that kind of thing that other organizations/coaches are too afraid to do, and it was Timmy's character, taking that in stride and showing he was okay with it because he knew it would make the team better, that really established the culture and allowed us to be so successful for so long. This is also exactly what popp was talking about when he said he "prefers european players", as the European league is much more team-focused and those guys generally tend to play in a much more team-first manner, which is well-established. Popp simply meant it was easier to get guys with that background to buy into the Spurs culture. And this guy tries to make that into proof that he's secretly a racist? LMFAO.
So anyway, when kawhi put a higher priority on making sure he didn't take the slightest chance of further injury possibly diminishing his future career (and ability to establish a LeBron-esque empire for his family's financial stability), that was frowned on but tolerated for a while; when he started seekng outside medical opinions to justify his behavior while the Spurs medical staff (probably the best in the league, at least at the time) was saying he was good to go, that's when it really became an issue. Then he started placing his "rest games" and coddling himself above the team's chances to win... Nope. I was mad at Parker for his comment, but only because of it's public nature, which wasn't necessary and made it impossible to be a productive component of the issue; he certainly wasn't wrong, Kawhi was being a pussy because he was scared of impacting his future, and that was hurting the team. Badly. The Spurs culture will not tolerate an individual putting their personal success above team success, and in my opinion that's how it should be. It's a team game, and "superstars" have far too much personal influence in the modern NBA.
The LMA story is sorta similar, especially at the beginning. He was used to being the guy and being allowed to dominate the ball and take as many long 2 point shots as he wanted; PATFO wanted him to modify his game to fit the system better, and also to reduce those inefficient possessions, in order to give the team a better chance of winning games. He struggled with that, because he was "a star" and thought he would/should be treated as such, and in fairness he was sort of promised that would be the case when Ime Udoka flew out to meet with him and convinced him to come to SA; nobody really remembers that, but Ime talked about it in a Sports Illustrated article while he was still riding high on the success of his role in having gotten LMA. The Spurs never officially said anything, but notice that Udoka, who had been a very promising young organization guy, was let go after that season.
I was actually shocked when the Spurs made the public announcement that they felt they'd mishandled LMA and were gonna allow him to get back to his game - still think that was a ploy to assauge his ego, just surprised they even did it. Personally think it was a byproduct of PATFO having their own struggles in figuring out how to deal with the influence that stars have now, especially stars that aren't as fully on board with the team-first concept as Duncan/Robinson/Manu, and TP to a lesser extent, were.
Buying LMA out now isn't weird at all to me, he and the Spurs both know the team is better off reducing his role and that we're not winning a championship this year, but he still wants to play more and wants a chance to win a title, so that's basically the Spurs taking a financial hit and letting a solid role player walk away to allow him that opportunity.
Did I miss anything? That wasn't you talking on the podcast thing, was it chuck? This was just you trying to get me all worked up about someone taking shit on popp, wasn't it? Ahhh, you play me like a fiddle, my friend...
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Post by LA Clippers GM (Remy) on Mar 27, 2021 11:46:34 GMT -5
Bruh... He wrote this on his mobile....... HE WROTE ALL OF THIS ON HIS MOBILE !!!
Thats it !
Game Over. SpursMan is the best of all of us.
He wins!
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Post by San Antonio Spurs (Chris) on May 11, 2021 3:50:30 GMT -5
You know a wizened old man what can't tell a trade up for votes from one that was already passed two years ago would be the only one to do something like this country-ass CTRL-C shit, but... Sometimes a simple quote from an inconvertible great is more profound than any hyperbolic ranting fan boy rhetoric. This (from Dirk when asked about Timmeh just after his retirement) encapsulates what I mean by "Spurs culture" to a T
He wasn’t flashy and always put the team first. I will always appreciate that he was about winning and never worried about the limelight
Happy HOF indoctrination, Big Fundys. You personified what team sports should be.
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