You said no love AT ALL. Also, not sure how Any of you can deny Pop this award. Pop is far and away the best coach in the NBA not close. His team was hurt all year and he sat some guys to rest them and they still got the best record I'm the NBA and it wasn't close. And in the tougher conference. Pop should be COY.
I mean THREE starters (Green, Lenard, and Splitter) missed major time, didn't they? No matter. 62 wins anyway. Better record than Pacers who got to play Philly and Orlando and Bucks all year long.
What's funny is the justification. "Well, he as two All-Stars, so what's the big deal?" Did it occur to anyone, they are two All-Stars because of their coach? It's like giving Jack Ramsay no credit for Bill Walton and Mo Lucas. Yes, they were great players, but he got them to take their games to a different level, perhaps not statistically, but in terms of playing winning team basketball. The same with Rick Adelman and Porter and Drexler. And that doesn't even mention the step up the role players have made. Robin Lopez didn't accidentally just have his best year. Wes Matthews and Nic Batum didn't just fall into having great years. The coach had something to do with it. Stotts created a system that fits these players very well. We play a beautiful brand of basketball where we're always making the extra pass to the open man. He is putting guys in positions to succeed and maximizing their potential. That's deserving of some COY love, IMO.
One of the great things about Stotts: Look at the camaraderie on this team. Just marvel at it. Observe how they come together after games. Watch how they clown each other when one is being interviewed post game, or any time there is a camera and in interview. These players are not drudging through a season waiting to CTC. They are not focused in individual glory or stats or 'getting theirs'. They are sharing, and caring (/Michael Holton), and they've got each other's backs. This is obviously a tight group that plays focused yet loose. The coach has something to do with that.
It's a dammed if you do-dammed if you don't kind of thing. Before the season, all the experts panned us and said we wouldn't even make the playoffs. Now they're all saying we should have done this well and that Stotts benefited from having two All-Stars. Pretty fucking ridiculous if you ask me.
Great point. That tightness shows on the court. How many times have we seen a guy pass up an open shot to make the extra pass for a better open shot by a teammate? That has to go to Stotts and his staff.
National predictors thought that our long losing streak at the end of 2012-13 must have been because we sucked. All Blazer fans knew it was just a tank. So Blazer fans knew the national predictions for 2013-14 were low. So our beating bad predictions doesn't impress me. Your link says that Stotts was #6 in the voting. Our final record was a tie for #5, 6, and 7 in the NBA. Stotts at #6 is perfect. http://espn.go.com/nba/standings/_/group/1
Not a single player on the Spurs averaged 30 minutes, and yet the Spurs had the best record by 3 games, Popo or bust.
