Gregg Popovich Unsure If He’ll Coach Spurs Beyond 2018/19

January 17, 2019, 6:25 pm

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Longtime Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich remains undecided about his future beyond the 2018/19 season, writes Marc Stein of The New York Times. Popovich is in the final season of his current contract, and while the team would be happy to extend him for as long as he wants, he’s unsure whether he’ll continue his coaching career next season.

“I don’t know the answer,” Popovich said when asked about his coaching future.

According to Stein, Popovich – the NBA’s longest-tenured head coach by 12 years – said that he and general manager R.C. Buford have “periodically” discussed the Spurs’ options beyond this season. Buford notes that Popovich will remain on San Antonio’s bench for “as long as he wants to coach.”

NBA observers have speculated that Popovich would coach the Spurs for one more season after 2018/19, then retire after working with Team USA in the 2020 Olympics. However, while Popovich remains on track to coach the U.S. basketball squad in Tokyo in the summer of 2020, there’s no guarantee he’ll still coach the Spurs leading up to that event.

As Stein observes, Popovich will also coach Team USA during this year’s World Cup, which takes place in September, just two weeks before NBA training camps get underway. With international competitions bookending the ’19/20 season, Popovich may prefer to focus on those Team USA responsibilities.

Stein also points out that Popovich will turn 70 years old later this month. Only three other head coaches in NBA history have worked into their 70s, per Stein — Bill Bertka (71), Hubie Brown (71) and Larry Brown (70).

Popovich currently has the third-most wins of any coach in league history, with 1,223, and also ranks fifth in all-time winning percentage (.686) among coaches who have been on the sidelines for at least 100 games.

Link to article: https://www.hoopsrumors.com/san-antonio-spurs

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NBA To Televise All-Star Draft On February 7

January 17, 2019, 6:27 pm

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February 7 is shaping up to be an eventful day on the NBA calendar this season. Already the date of the 2018/19 trade deadline (at 2:00pm central time), Thursday, February 7 will also be the day on which the NBA televises an All-Star draft for the first time.

The league confirmed today in a press release that the 2019 All-Star draft will air on TNT on February 7, starting at 6:00pm CT. As was the case last season, the top vote-getter in each conference will be an All-Star captain, and will draft a squad of four starters from a pool of eight players selected by fans, players, and media members. The captains will subsequently select seven players apiece from a 14-player pool of All-Stars named by NBA coaches.

This year’s All-Star starters will be announced on January 24, with the remaining All-Stars revealed on January 31. Based on the latest voting results, released today by the NBA, LeBron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo project to be the All-Star captains this season — LeBron (3,770,807 votes) is ahead of Luka Doncic by about 469,000 votes in the West, while Giannis (3,626,909 votes) leads Kyrie Irving in the East by approximately 440,000 votes.

This is the second time the NBA has used this All-Star format. James and Stephen Curry were captains last season, but the draft was conducted privately. After talking things over with the players, the NBA has decided to make that event public this time around, which should make for an entertaining broadcast.

Link to article: https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/01/...ebruary-7.html

Spurs Interested in NY Knicks Porzingis

January 31, 2019, 3:04 pm

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Porzingis May Prefer Trade; Knicks Expected To Explore Market

January 31st 2019 at 2:00pm CST by Luke Adams

After meeting with Knicks management to express his concern about the team’s direction, Kristaps Porzingis left the franchise with the impression that he prefers to be traded, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com (Twitter link). The Knicks are expected to begin discussions about possible Porzingis trades ahead of next week’s deadline, the ESPN duo reports.

As we relayed in our earlier Porzingis story, the injured big man – along with his brother (and agent) Janis – reportedly spoke to the Knicks today about his frustration with the team’s losing, the franchise’s history of dysfunction, and his concern about whether sustainable organizational success is possible.

While ESPN’s report suggested that Porzingis would like to win in New York, it seems that he’s not confident that can happen anytime soon. He’ll be a restricted free agent during the summer of 2019, so the Knicks are in position to hang onto him for at least another season, if they so choose, but it sounds like the club is willing to test the market to see what kind of offers are out there. The Knicks previously considered trading Porzingis when Phil Jackson was in charge of basketball decisions.

An All-Star a year ago, Porzingis averaged 22.7 PPG, 6.6 RPG, and 2.4 BPG with a .439/.395/.793 shooting line in 48 games in 2017/18, displaying franchise-player potential.

However, a torn ACL ended his season early and has sidelined him for the entire 2018/19 campaign so far.

Considering Porzingis still hasn’t returned to action following that ACL tear, it’s not clear what the trade market for him would look like at this point. If he’s able to get back on the court during the final couple months of the season and prove he’s healthy, it would increase his value, but it’s not clear when he’ll return — plus, it may be tricky for the Knicks to pull off a sign-and-trade deal in the offseason.

The Celtics, Clippers, Thunder, and Spurs figure to be among the teams with interest in trading for Porzingis, tweets Frank Isola of The Athletic. Wojnarowski names the Clippers and Spurs as well, adding the Nets, Heat, and Raptors to the list of potential suitors (Twitter link). Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer (Twitter link) throws the Mavericks into the mix as well.

As we noted earlier today, Porzingis will have a limited ability to jump ship anytime soon if he’s not traded during the season or in a sign-and-trade. He could accept his qualifying offer this summer and become an unrestricted free agent in 2020, but settling for a one-year, $4.5MM deal would be a big risk for a 7’3″ player coming off an ACL tear.

His other option would be to sign a shorter-term offer sheet with a rival suitor — the Knicks would almost certainly match it, but Porzingis would have the opportunity to get back on the open market sooner than if he signs a four- or five-year contract with New York.

If the Knicks don’t move Porzingis before the deadline, it will be interesting to see if he reconsiders his stance at all in the coming months. New York has a good deal of cap flexibility and is in position to land a top-five draft pick, so it’s not as if the club is poised to stay stuck in lottery territory forever. Some good luck in the draft lottery or on the free agent market could substantially accelerate the Knicks’ rebuilding process.

Link to article: https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2019/01/...re-market.html

Have the Spurs Gone Batty??

February 3, 2019, 3:45 am

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In both games this week (31Jan-NJ Nets/2Feb-NO Pelicans) bats have appeared during the games, halting play for a number of minutes. Kudos to the Spurs Coyote in the Pelicans game for filling in for Manu, whose services were not available.

NBA Players Are Working 9-5 Jobs Since Retiring

February 10, 2019, 12:03 am

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Easily the strangest retirement choice on this list, San Antonio Spur legend Tim Duncan has been training as an MMA fighter since retiring. Currently, his training can only be considered a hobby, although his trainer is high on his potential, calling him “a monster” and “a legit contender.”

While he waits for his MMA career to begin, Duncan keeps plenty busy running BlackJack Speed Shop, an auto body shop he opened in 2013. In 2017, the shop helped organize the delivery of needed supplies to Hurricane Harvey victims.

**alh1020: I cut TD's story away from the article about retirees. You can read about the rest at the link below.

Link to article: These NBA Players Are Working 9-5 Jobs Since Retiring

Pau Gasol requested a trade from the Spurs

February 11, 2019, 12:19 am

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The NBA trade deadline passed at 2:00 PM CT back on Thursday, Feb. 7. It was “leaked” a day prior that the Spurs had been trying to trade 38-year-old center Pau Gasol and obviously had no luck since he is still with the team. However, it is now being reported through ESPN Deportes that Gasol actually asked the Spurs to trade him prior to the deadline.

The closing of the trade deadline in the NBA left Pau Gasol with the San Antonio Spurs against the will of the player.
The Spanish power forward had asked for a change of air from those in charge of the Texas franchise, but the negotiations did not reach any avenue and Pau will end the season where it started, with the Spurs jersey.

This would explain the excess amount of playing time he got in recent weeks: the Spurs were trying to showcase him for possible suitors. Gasol admits his reduced role is not ideal as he has been clearly passed by Jakob Poeltl in the rotation. Since the deadline passed, Poeltl has returned to his spot ahead of Gasol in the rotation.

Gasol joined the Spurs after Tim Duncan retired in 2016. He was a pretty good addition to the Spurs in his first season-and-a-half, but a shoulder injury over the second half of last season and a foot injury that robbed him of 26 games early this season has seen him fall out of the rotation to the younger, more agile Poeltl. He’s currently averaging 4.4 points and 4.8 rebounds in 12.5 minutes per game, all career lows by a landslide.

His hefty $16.8 million salary combined with those numbers likely played a large role in the Spurs’ inability to move him. He is owed $16 million next season, with $6.7 million guaranteed. Should the Spurs waive him this summer between July 1 and August 31 (which is probably a safe bet at this point unless they are able to trade his entire contract), they could use the stretch provision on him, which would allow them to pay it off his remaining salary over twice the number of years remaining on his contract, plus one.

In this case, they would owe him just over $2.2 million per year through the 2021-22 season. Although it would count against the salary cap, his pay can always be traded to another team who is willing to take the cap hit. This is just one of many possibilities that can happen this summer (ideally they’ll be able to trade him and his expiring contract for something in return), but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

In the meantime, expect to see a lot more Poeltl and less Gasol on the court for the Silver and Black as they make their final push towards the postseason.

Link to article: https://www.poundingtherock.com/2019...from-the-spurs

Gregg Popovich will be inducted into the Air Force Athletics Hall of Fame

February 15, 2019, 12:26 am

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Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich will headline the Air Force Academy’s Athletic Hall of Fame Class of 2019. The induction ceremony will take place on May 4 at the Academy’s Arnold Hall Ballroom. Other members of the Class of 2019 include volleyball standout and Rhodes Scholar Delavane Diaz, hockey All-American Chris Gizzi, legendary wrestling coach Wayne Baughman, and the 1985 Western Athletic Conference champion football team.

A spokesperson for the Academy has told Colorado Springs paper The Gazettethat Pop does plan on attending the ceremony, so hopefully the NBA will work the playoff schedule around it for him (ahem).

Pop graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1970 after playing four years of basketball for the Falcons, where to this day he still owns the all-time school record for career shooting percentage at 54.1 percent. He served his required active duty for the Air Force, touring Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union before returning to the Academy in 1973 and spending 6 years as an assistant coach.

As Pop’s NBA record with the Spurs indicates, he would only continue to rise up the ranks from there to become one of the greatest basketball coaches of all time, and this spring he will be recognized back where it all began. Congratulations, Coach Pop!

Link to article: https://www.poundingtherock.com/2019...tics-hall-fame