SB Nation User Blog: dmcnulla

Is Ginobili hurt?

dmcnulla — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 19:42:13 -0000

I kept thinking that there was no way that Ginobili plays like he did last night in a game that important if he is not hurt. Anybody got a clue what's going on?

Manu Ginobili, SG

27 min

2-11 fg

0-2 3pt

4-5 ft

0or

3dr

3tr

1to

4pf

8pts

Ginobili come up with a line like that? No way. What ever he has hurt, I hope that it's better by Saturday.

Popovich can step into a tie for third this season.

dmcnulla — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 23:37:57 -0000

riles retires. he got a lucky championship with a so-so miami heat team. he's at five. but he's not that good of a coach anymore, not like was used to be.

so gregg popovich, with four championships, can make his move into a tie for that third slot with pat riley.

NBA Top 10 Coaches (NBA 50 Year Anniversary - pre-Gregg Popovich or PGP)

Top 10 Coaches in NBA History

As part of the "NBA at 50" celebration during the '96-97 season, voters were asked to select the top 10 coaches in NBA history, without ranking them. Ten men who collectively have amassed more than 7,500 regular season wins and 33 NBA championships comprise the list of the Top Ten Coaches in NBA History, as selected by balloting among media members who regularly cover the NBA.

The ten coaches have combined to win 741 playoff games and 13 Coach of the Year Awards, which the NBA first awarded for the 1962-63 season. Four of the coaches - Jackson, Nelson, Riley and Wilkens - are still active.

The Top Ten Coaches in NBA History
(alphabetical order)

Red Auerbach	938 wins	479 losses	(.662)
Third-winningest coach in NBA history ... Served 20 seasons as NBA head coach ... Coach of the Year for 1964-65 ... NBA 25th Anniversary All-Time team coach ... Selected as the "Greatest Coach in the History of the NBA" by the PBWAA in 1980 ... Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1968.

Chuck Daly	605 wins	420 losses	(.590)
Fifteenth-winningest coach in NBA history ... 1998-99 is his second season as Orlando Magic coach; 14th season as NBA head coach ... Guided Detroit Pistons to victories in 1989 and 1990 NBA Finals ... His teams posted winning records in 11 of 13 campaigns ... Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1994.

Bill Fitch	944 wins	1,106 losses	(.460)
Second-winningest coach in NBA history ... 22 seasons as NBA head coach with Cleveland, Boston, Houston, New Jersey, LA Clippers... Guided Boston Celtics to victory in 1981 NBA Finals ... Coach of the Year for 1975-76 and 1979-80.

Red Holzman	696 wins	604 losses	(.535)
Eleventh-winningest coach in NBA history ... Served 18 seasons as NBA head coach ... Led Knicks to victory in 1970 and 1973 NBA Finals ... Coach of the Year for 1969-70 ... Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985.

Phil Jackson	545 wins	193 losses	(.738)
Best winning percentage in NBA history ... Enjoyed nine successful seasons as Chicago head coach (1989-98) ... Reached 400 wins in only 557 games, second-fastest to milestone in league history ... Guided the Chicago Bulls to NBA championships in 1990-91, 1991-92, 1992-93, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98 ... 1995-96 Coach of the Year.

John Kundla	423 wins	302 losses	(.583)
Coached Minneapolis to five NBA championships in six seasons from 1948-49 through 1953-54 ... Served 11 years as NBA head coach ... His 1949-50 Minneapolis team recorded fourth-best home winning percentage in NBA history (.868/30-1) ... Elected to Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995.

Don Nelson	867 wins	679 losses	(.575)
Sixth-winningest coach in NBA history ... Has served 20 years as NBA head coach with Milwaukee, Golden State, New York and Dallas ... Joins Pat Riley as the only coaches ever to be named Coach of the Year three times (1982-83, 1984-85 and 1991-92) ... His clubs have recorded nine 50-plus-win seasons and seven divisional championships.

Jack Ramsay	864 wins	783 losses	(.525)
Seventh-winningest coach in NBA history ... Served 20 years as NBA head coach ... Coached 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers to victory in NBA Finals ... Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1992.

Pat Riley	914 wins	387 losses	(.703)
Fifth-winningest coach in NBA history ... Achieved 800th career win on Nov. 2, 1996, reaching the mark faster than any coach in league history... 1998-99 will be his fourth season as Miami head coach; 17th season as a head coach in NBA ... Led four L.A. Lakers teams to victory in 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988 NBA Finals ... 1989-90, 1992-93 and 1996-97 Coach of the Year.

Lenny Wilkens	1,120 wins	908 losses	(.526)
Winningest coach in NBA history ... 1998-99 will be his sixth season as Atlanta head coach; 26th season as a head coach in NBA ... 1993-94 Coach of the Year ... Elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1990 ... Recently selected one of 50 Greatest Players in NBA History.

i don't know if pop had coached any nba games when this list was made. if he had, then he was a losing coach (that was his only losing season, but i consider it a victory).

here is my list of best nba coaches (i gave no consideration to coaches from before i watched basketball):

phil
pop
riles
rudy t
daly
kc jones
cunningham
motta
fitch
brown

Are we going back to suicide watch for Rockets fan?

dmcnulla — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 08:04:57 -0000

Rockets fan was ready to kill himself before the spectacular win streak on 22 wins. Now they've lost three out of four games. Since this is who they really are, a team that loses their stars to injury on an annual basis, will they stop selling shoe laces in Houston until July? McGrady has picked himself up off the ground and scored 30 against the Suns (a feat that is pretty simple for any nba star not on the Spurs), but they're great Adelson defense couldn't keep the Suns under 115. This was definitely a game that Yao could have helped in.

Poll

Will Rockets fan off himself?

No chance, Rockets will be a top 4 seed

4 votes

Too late, he's already done it

1 votes

He's looking for the fastest, least painful way right now

4 votes

Not yet, but if they miss the playoffs...

6 votes

15 votes | Poll has closed

Sacramento recap

dmcnulla — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 06:14:22 -0000

Anybody remember the punch? No, not Kermit Washington. Not the brawl at the Palace. I mean the sissy punch that Shaq threw at Brad Miller.

You have to be a real asshole to get Shaquille O'Neal to throw a punch at you. He just has a way to get under people's skin... the way Bruce Bowen does. Does Tim Duncan, the pschology major realize this? <charles_barkley_voice>First of all, you got to realize that psychology majors are people who didn't want to take real courses in college.</charles_barkley_voice> Tim will always get the better of the exchange with Brad because he, well, has talent, I see Tim react in ways that I wouldn't expect.

First half, Duncan starts off slow. He's getting singled by Mickey Moore but misses a couple 10 footers. Eventually, he breaks the ice with a pick and roll dunk. Tony Parker was aggressive on offense... at least somebody was. Michael Finley was also on fire. Those too mostly carried the team in the first half. The Kings were down by a trickle even though the Spurs held them to 30-something percent.

The Spurs held Kevin Martin to 1 of 9 shooting, but kept putting him on the free throw line. Did he shoot more free throws than the Spurs? Maybe.

The offense was looking pretty good and the defense up until the ball became loose. Rebounds and turnovers (at least two shot clock violations) favored the Kings. That kept them in the game.

Robert Horry was injured when Francisco Garcia's knee hit his knee on an offensive foul. Bill Land thought for some reason that Horry was starting to come around.

Jack Van was playing pretty well on the offensive end with some good shots and assists - I couldn't imagine that Midge would have done as well.

Second half, Spurs came out slow. The Kings deleted the lead with early offense. Spurs went cold, or should I say that Finley went cold. Just as the team was going downhill, Manu Ginobili steps in to make things happen. He scored 2 FT's when Miller flagrantly fouled him (Kings scored a T when an official thought Ginobili pulled a Shaq-Fu on Miller in retaliation).

From that point on, the Kings started disintegrating like the Spurs' defense threw water on them. Ron Artest, who was the only King that I thought was agressive the whole game, started picking up offensive fouls, Anthony Johnson (who started in Beno Udrih's absence due to cramps) had an offensive. I noticed the lead continued to build even when there were a lot of scrubs in the game like Finley, Fabricio Oberto, Kurt Thomas and Van. Eventually, the real scrubs came in - Midge, Matt Bonner, Van, etc. - where the lead decreased from 18 down to 13. Game over.

Spurs played playoff basketball. The game was definitely physical, but the Spurs aggressiveness was solid (minus early third quarter). I was pretty happy with the effort.

They took care of the ball in the second half with one turnover (I think?). The Spurs shared the ball a lot at 27 assists - even before I looked it up I thought so.

And they got starters some rest to get ready for Sunday. Nobody played more than 32 (Tim and Tony). I was glad that Kurt got more playing time than Boner. I like his energy and that he can hit three pointers (sometimes), but overall I don't like seeing Boner play when the game is still on the line.

Third Star was Ginobili. He sparked the team when the game was close in the third quarter. I thought about Horry for missing most of the game, but I catch enough crap for not jocking Ginobili more than I do.

Second Star was Parker. He had a good offensive game and he didn't turn John Salmons into a star.

Star of the game was Tim Duncan. He played the best overall, but the team probably had the best plus/minus with him in the game. I'd have no idea where to find that, btw.

The Punch:

I have no idea how to get this on the main page.

Avery's jersey gets retired tonight

dmcnulla — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 00:51:56 -0000

Prediction: the Spurs will retire four numbers from the current team.

Tony Parker's jersey gets retired. He's been improving his game year after year. He actually let the team during the finals against the Cavaliers and deserved the Finals MVP nod. At 25, and years under contract, he'll continue to have an impact on the team and on the NBA.

Manu Ginobili's jersey gets retired. Overall, not as big on an impact as Tony, but he's huge for the Spurs. He had the foul on Dirk, but before that he hit the go-ahead three point shot. He's usually the guy with the ball on the last possesion.

Bruce Bowen's number gets retired, too. He's been a defensive force for the Spurs. He's the reason people don't call the Spurs choir boys anymore. And he should have gotten the DPOY last season. Any, no Bruce, no titles.

And maybe that guy who plays power forward too. Tim Duncan doesn't need any justification.

who should have their 'number' retired from the front office?

dmcnulla — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 00:59:28 -0000

it occurred to me that some clubs retire numbers (well, put up jerseys or banners) for front office people, announcers like chick hearn, etc.

who on the spurs management/coaches should have a retirement ceremony? popovich has locked up a retirement ceremony just on his work as a gm. angelo drossos kept the team from going under for a long long time. bob bass was the gm from the 70's to the 90's, and coached from time to time. doug moe was the coach of the run and gun spurs, but had a short career in san antonio. stan albeck had his best seasons in san antonio, imo.

Poll

which non-players from the spurs org should have a jersey retired for them?

cotton fitsimmons

0 votes

angelo drossos

2 votes

other (give me a clue on who in a comment)

0 votes

gregg popovich

14 votes

peter holt

0 votes

bob hill

0 votes

jerry tarkanian

1 votes

bob bass

0 votes

larry brown

0 votes

doug moe

0 votes

17 votes | Poll has closed

Avery Johnson Jersey Retirement

dmcnulla — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 05:24:54 -0000

i love avery as much as any other spurs fan that was around more than 10 years. i don't hate that he's a mavs coach. i just don't see him as having done enough to get that honor.

my biggest knock on him was what helped the spurs win the championship in 1999. he could never hit a mid-range jump shot. for one shining season (well, 5/8's of one), he burned people all over the place by knocking down those elbow shots. before and after that, i just never felt like he was that good.

i loved that he came from getting cut on christmas to being the guy that hit the shot to get the spurs their first championship.

Poll

former spurs that should have their jersey retired

alvin robertson (will they let him out of jail for the ceremony?)

1 votes

other

1 votes

avery johnson

4 votes

george johnson

0 votes

artis gilmore

6 votes

terry cummings

3 votes

larry kenon

1 votes

dominique wilkins

0 votes

mike mitchell

0 votes

billy paultz

0 votes

16 votes | Poll has closed

I'm bored too

dmcnulla — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 02:27:22 -0000

What a slow summer. I don't get into baseball anymore. I don't get into preseason football, and the NFL is really only a temporary fix until the end of October. My wife is so busy that I end up watching the kids instead of golfing. I am looking for things to do. Well, something besides work hard at my job.

I've been finding some things to do. Here are some of them...

Party like it's 1999. The Spurs are the best and I've been on the bandwagon since Gervin and Silas drove it. The 99 championship will always be #1 with whether the Spurs win 10 more or no more. Still, I have to feel blessed as a basketball fan. There are 30 teams. If championships were evenly distributed, and I know that they aren't, Spurs would have feasted enough to be full for 120 years. I'm loving it. I love it for Duncan who has established himself as the best player of the past decade, for Finley who got to coattail (and contribute) to a championship, to Pop who has cemented himself among the coaching elite, to Parker who took the next step towards becoming the best point guard in the league.
The forums. I've been lurking and posting every forum that will have me. Of course those sissy Sun fans won't let anybody register at their cryfest. Makes me wonder who they ever got anybody to post anything. The most fun is the Mavs forums. It's a huge shame that the Spurs didn't get to eliminate their crying butts, but that's life. They can have a division banner ceremony. I wonder if they will avoid the warriors this time? I don't call them complete chokers, but it's fun to post the four trophy pic once in a while. The Jazz fans got over their whining pretty quick. And the Cavs were swept, they aren't worthy of a troll post.
The Video. I watched it, I analyzed it. I made copies of it. I converted it to put it on my phone so I can watch it there. I saw every part, including the stupid Eva and Tony segment. I am really curious about how the Jazz got only 32 seconds of video time, though. I guess watching Mehmet bricking shots over and over and over was not going to improve the video any, but they could have got some clips of the kid deron williams. he played better than Nash, Lebron, and Carmelo. They would have also done a segment for our old buddy, Steve Kerr - point out the difference between an altercation and standing up to cheer your teammates wicked slam dunk.
Other Video. I am learning about torrents. Not because I don't want to pay for my entertainment, but because my wife decided we needed to watch Jericho. It isn't on DVD so we downloaded it and converted it to DVD. The quality is not that good for a HDTV broadcast, but that's probably because it's been converted 3 times by various freeware programs. But the idea that I can just decide that I want to watch a program when I want regardless of the network schedule is pretty cool. I can see the day when it will all be 'in demand', which isn't bad IMO.
Bonds. I've been avoiding his run for imfamy as much as possible. In keeping with that principle...
My wife is working as a coordinator for a class of kids that are visiting from China. Since they didn't find enough homes for them, I ended up with four of them. I don't think they are jerks because they are Chinese, I think they are jerks because they are teenagers. There isn't a rule I've made that they don't break. And they have absolutely zero interest in basketball. The ones that like it at all only like the freaking Lakers. If I have to see one more jerk walking into my house with a Kobe jersey on, I'll scream. Anyway, the busy part is I've been cooking and washing dishes and steam cleaning crap off the carpet - they don't seem to notice when they step on a steamer, so they remove it from their shoes a little at a time. As if that wasn't bad enough, they don't seem interested in any American culture or sharing in theirs. They hide in their bedrooms all evening (actually it's airbeds in the office) while playing video games against eachother. The other night I got up at 3 in the morning because the baby was crying, they were still playing.

Enough about my boredom, what's everybody else been doing to stay busy?