Game Thread GAME# 14: SPURS @ BLAZERS - JANUARY 18, 2021 - MONDAY, 12:00, NBCSNW

When you include the head coach, yes I do.

 

Trying again

 

You mentioned his stars. He MADE Parker, Manu and Kawhi. He has made more crap players look good or mediocre than any other coach in history.

Of course, you seem to be forwarding the argument that Popovich is just an okay coach. Good luck with that.

 

I think their mothers would disagree with that point.

Popovich had arguably the best power forward of all time on his team. He was the #1 overall pick. Pop didn't make Robinson or Duncan. It's really easy to look like a genius when you have arguably the best player ever at his position. Just ask Phil Jackson.

 

Certainly disagree. I have no interest in trying to say Pop is a bad coach though, he's great. Like most, he needs elite talent to be a title contending coach.

 

Did I mention Duncan or Robinson? Did it ever occur to you that perhaps Popovich may have helped Duncan reach those heights?

Of course, you keep thinking Pop is lucky. I think that argument has real legs--keep making it.

 

Kawhi seems to be doing just fine w/out Pop.

 

I'm not saying he's a bad coach, but the shine comes off real quick when he doesn't have a generational talent on his team anymore.

 

Until there is data to prove otherwise, wouldn't it be silly to say anything else?

 

You. Miss. My. Point.

What if Kawhi would have been drafted by the Kings? What would his habits, his understanding of the game, his fundamentals, etc., be? There's a reason he was drafted in the middle of the first round.

 

Nobody in their right mind thinks less ball movement = more success.

Nobody.

 

And yet..... Kawhi couldn't wait to get out of there. Why?

 

I've made multiple posts showing the data, but I will be happy to provide it again.

http://thebrooklyngame.com/nba-correlate-offensive-efficiency-winning/

• Assist ratio. This is a surprising one, but the ratio between points created by assists and points actually had a minimally negative correlation (-6.8) to offensive rating. It seems to run counter to basketball wisdom that ball movement makes an offense good, but three of the top eight offenses ranked in the bottom 10 of the percentage of their points created by an assist, and three of the worst seven offenses ranked among the best.
  
  More than anything else, a team needs scorers; it doesn’t matter what offense you run if you don’t have players that can finish the play. If you pass the ball around in a well-run offense, you get an open look a la the Spurs. If you throw it around until someone takes a bad shot, you get the Bucks.

This is from basketball-datascience.com:

"Assists and assists percentage alone are not good indicators of win-loss records because there are many other factors that can contribute to wins other than good movement." Citing assists as a measure of good/bad coaching is a lazy argument and the data backs that up.




Again, I'm open to you showing me otherwise, I would actually prefer your narrative be true. Please share your data now.

 

On that I will hold my comments to myself.

 

I have seen no data to back up that less is better either. It's something that is meaningless in both directions.

 

I know it wasn't your point, but we heard that excuse all last season. Now we're hearing it again. I'm thinking we're past the point where the injury excuse has become a real injury problem. Nurkic's health is not dependable. It's looking like the same is true for Collins. If the optimal Blazer team is basically depending on players that can't depended on, then that team doesn't exist

 

Them two players was great but one thing POP he also held them with accountable of there play. I watch on the side line jumping in Duncan ass or any other players he has. He inspect them to play as a team not individual players not like Stotts teams. This make Pop a top coach.

 

All valid points, I agree. I wish we could either:

1) Build such a good roster we could handle injuries to multiple starters
2) Build a roster with players who have proven to be healthy.

 

Why do you think this hardass mentally hasn't worked as of late? Why did Kawhi leave? Why isn't Aldridge any better for the Spurs than he was for Portland? Why hasn't he had more success in the last 6 years than Dame in the playoffs? Why hasn't DaRozen quality of play changed drastically in the positive favor since coming from Toronto?