if greg popavich was our coach...

[Boston Garden Leprechaun]

if greg popavich was our coach

what will be our standings in the east?...
- for me i would say 54 wins and 28 loss
what will be our starting 5?
- i think its rondo bradley pierce kg millicic (before)
 in todays line-up, terry bradley pierce shavlik/bass garnett

whats yours?

no hating...this is a good question

He won't be able to do much with this crew than what Doc is doing.

GOOD LORD ALMIGHTY!!!!!!!!!!!!  SMH.

[wayupnorth]

I can't believe how many people would like to see Doc gone around here. I think the fact that Pierce and KG are so loyal to Doc, says more than anything about his coaching credentials.

[LooseCannon]

The Celtics would finish the season with a 43-38 record.  The team would have signed Kenyon Martin then cut him days before the playoffs because he was whining about getting only 15 mpg.

[BballTim]

...very little would be different.

Wrong.  It might not be more successful, but there would be clear differences.  For example...

Would Pop tolerate Rondo assist-padding by passing up layups and easy shots to throw the ball back out for a jump shot?

  One would hope he's able to figure out that Rondo kicks the ball out because of the bigs on the other team close to the rim. If not we should be discussing whether he's a better coach than Mike Brown, not Doc Rivers.

[kgainez]

if greg popavich was our coach

what will be our standings in the east?...
- for me i would say 54 wins and 28 loss
what will be our starting 5?
- i think its rondo bradley pierce kg millicic (before)
 in todays line-up, terry bradley pierce shavlik/bass garnett

whats yours?

no hating...this is a good question

He won't be able to do much with this crew than what Doc is doing.

LOLOLOLOLOsjgskghjsg
first off, Jeff Green would've had his moment long long ago.
Jason Terry would be utilized better and be averaging 15-18ppg
Paul and KG would probably have more pep in their step due to the sheer amount of trust Pop shows with his new guys. Doc forcefeeds them too much and I honestly think it wears them down.
AB I think is one of the guys here that's TOO free and I don't think it's warranted. Jeff and ABs offensive strategies should change and I think Pop would find better ways to make sure AB does better.
Courtney Lee would be much better and utilized as a spot up shooter.
Oh and Shav and DJ White would probably crack the rotation.

I think we'd have 45+ wins with the team we have now. We've lost some very winnable games thanks to dumb rotations, dumb play calls. I think if, for some odd reason, we'd have less injuries we could be a 2 seed and serious contender

[nickagneta]

...very little would be different.

Wrong.  It might not be more successful, but there would be clear differences.  For example...

Would Pop tolerate Rondo assist-padding by passing up layups and easy shots to throw the ball back out for a jump shot?

Would Pop allow the Celtic offense to consistently stagnate and fall apart the way it has for the last several seasons?

Would Pop put up with the attitude and behavior that Doc has complained about this year without ever making any visible adjustment or change to the team?

How many grade school-terrible passes by Avery Bradley would Pop accept?

You can argue that Pop couldn't be more successful with this group of players.  The idea he wouldn't do anything different is crazy.

Mike

Would Pop tolerate Rondo assist-padding by passing up layups and easy shots to throw the ball back out for a jump shot?

Pop is fairly liberal with the way he allows his stars to play. He might say something to Rondo and get on him about it, but my guess is Doc has done that. Rondo is Rondo the way Manu is Manu(not playing in playoffs but plays for his national team) or Parker is Parker(some the off the court stuff he has brought into the locker room over the years). Stars get leeway. Its how Pop and Doc get the stars to trust them.

Would Pop allow the Celtic offense to consistently stagnate and fall apart the way it has for the last several seasons?

No he wouldn't but then again Doc hasn't let his defense collapse the way Pop has for the past several seasons.

Would Pop put up with the attitude and behavior that Doc has complained about this year without ever making any visible adjustment or change to the team?

Now this is just silly. Pop has gone off on his team's performance and attitude publicly many times over the years. So has Doc. And adjustments occur. Just because you can't see them doesn't mean they don't happen.

Do you really think Big Baby, Nate Robinson and some of the other knuckleheads that came through here are not here simply because Danny thought it a great idea to trade them? Or perhaps their immaturity and attitudes had something to with it and their being gone is Doc not putting up with the attitude.

How many grade school-terrible passes by Avery Bradley would Pop accept?


I am not sure. Patty Mills had 4 TO's in 23 minutes in one game this year while going 3 for 11. He played the next few games. Gary Neal had 5 turnovers the other day and Pop played him the next game. Apparently, Pop will accept bad turnover games.


Yeah, Pop might do things differently but the end result would be that very little would be different.

[Meadowlark_Scal]

We would be much better off with pop as coach...and probably have melo being ready to contribute, because he would have been playing all along near kg since last OCTOBER.we would be a stronger team...rested stars, as pop was the FIRST to do this....just rest them..took the fine..even though when Miami rested their ref-favored-so-called stars...the league did NOT fine them...how odd...huh.?

[LooseCannon]

I have a suspicion that Fab Melo would have had less playing time under Popovich.

[CelticConcourse]

I have a suspicion that Fab Melo would have had less playing time under Popovich.

D-League'd.

[timobusa]

if greg popavich was our coach

what will be our standings in the east?...
- for me i would say 54 wins and 28 loss
what will be our starting 5?
- i think its rondo bradley pierce kg millicic (before)
 in todays line-up, terry bradley pierce shavlik/bass garnett

whats yours?

no hating...this is a good question

He won't be able to do much with this crew than what Doc is doing.

LOLOLOLOLOsjgskghjsg
first off, Jeff Green would've had his moment long long ago.
Jason Terry would be utilized better and be averaging 15-18ppg
Paul and KG would probably have more pep in their step due to the sheer amount of trust Pop shows with his new guys. Doc forcefeeds them too much and I honestly think it wears them down.
AB I think is one of the guys here that's TOO free and I don't think it's warranted. Jeff and ABs offensive strategies should change and I think Pop would find better ways to make sure AB does better.
Courtney Lee would be much better and utilized as a spot up shooter.
Oh and Shav and DJ White would probably crack the rotation.

I think we'd have 45+ wins with the team we have now. We've lost some very winnable games thanks to dumb rotations, dumb play calls. I think if, for some odd reason, we'd have less injuries we could be a 2 seed and serious contender

A-MEN!

Pop would do wonders to this team.
This team has so much talent, but its not being utilized to its fullest.
Doc is trying to fit the new players to the roles they had in 2007-2008, times have changed since then, the style of basketball has changed too.

[Tgro]

I would imagine almost every team who doesn't have Popovich as coach asks where would we be with Popovich as coach except those with so much talent on their teams it almost doesn't matter who is the coach.

What if we had Lebron? What if we had had Durant? What if we didn't get old? What if we weren't so injury depleted?

The handwriting has been on the wall with us for some time now and while Doc isn't perfect by any regards, I think he still gives us a pretty decent shot at not only winning games but advancing even with all the downright dire situations we have been facing.

Even if we lose 4-0 this series (which I highly doubt), I don't think looking to chop Doc's head off is the answer. I highly doubt Popovich would deliver a ring with this team either. Remember the Celtics and Doc didn't suddenly get good in 2007-2008 until we got the big 3 while they were still near their prime. The year before, the Celtics sucked and Doc was the coach then. The difference isn't that Doc sucked then, suddenly got better and now he sucks again. The difference is our stars are now really old and we just don't have the supporting players to compete like we used to.

Give Doc another cast of players like he once had and I have no doubt he'll guide them to the promise land once again. He's done proven he can deliver on less than ideal circumstances. We came 6 minutes away in 2010 and that was hardly a stellar team then.

The difference between us winning and losing a ring this year isn't Doc/Popovich. The difference is the players. 

[kgainez]

I would imagine almost every team who doesn't have Popovich as coach asks where would we be with Popovich as coach except those with so much talent on their teams it almost doesn't matter who is the coach.

What if we had Lebron? What if we had had Durant? What if we didn't get old? What if we weren't so injury depleted?

The handwriting has been on the wall with us for some time now and while Doc isn't perfect by any regards, I think he still gives us a pretty decent shot at not only winning games but advancing even with all the downright dire situations we have been facing.

Even if we lose 4-0 this series (which I highly doubt), I don't think looking to chop Doc's head off is the answer. I highly doubt Popovich would deliver a ring with this team either. Remember the Celtics and Doc didn't suddenly get good in 2007-2008 until we got the big 3 while they were still near their prime. The year before, the Celtics sucked and Doc was the coach then. The difference isn't that Doc sucked then, suddenly got better and now he sucks again. The difference is our stars are now really old and we just don't have the supporting players to compete like we used to.

Give Doc another cast of players like he once had and I have no doubt he'll guide them to the promise land once again. He's done proven he can deliver on less than ideal circumstances. We came 6 minutes away in 2010 and that was hardly a stellar team then.

The difference between us winning and losing a ring this year isn't Doc/Popovich. The difference is the players.

this argument kind of proves my point
his system doesn't work for anything but a group of players like the ones he had in 2007-08. At what point do you change your system for the players you have, mr great coach?
my argument is that pop would. yes pop has the same fundamentals and values, but he understands how certain players play better than doc imo. doc seems to be putting a player in a box that fits in his scheme...if that makes sense.

[Tgro]

this argument kind of proves my point
his system doesn't work for anything but a group of players like the ones he had in 2007-08. At what point do you change your system for the players you have, mr great coach?

And you kind of prove my point too.

Everybody in danger of losing just goes....
 
"we'd be better if we just had Pop."

DUH!

So wouldn't EVERY team....

[BballTim]

if greg popavich was our coach

what will be our standings in the east?...
- for me i would say 54 wins and 28 loss
what will be our starting 5?
- i think its rondo bradley pierce kg millicic (before)
 in todays line-up, terry bradley pierce shavlik/bass garnett

whats yours?

no hating...this is a good question

He won't be able to do much with this crew than what Doc is doing.

LOLOLOLOLOsjgskghjsg
first off, Jeff Green would've had his moment long long ago.

  Of course if Pop was the coach Green would have shown no signs of rust after a week off and his physical recovery from his surgery would have been many months ahead of what we saw. Apparently he's the Chuck Norris (not the man, the legend) of coaches. Any decent team that had him as their coach would immediately become title favorites (except for the Spurs over the last 5 years or so).

[kgainez]

this argument kind of proves my point
his system doesn't work for anything but a group of players like the ones he had in 2007-08. At what point do you change your system for the players you have, mr great coach?

And you kind of prove my point too.

Everybody in danger of losing just goes....
 
"we'd be better if we just had Pop."

[size=pt]DUH! [/size]

So wouldn't EVERY team....

well the difference is this:
people feel Doc and Pop are the two best coaches in the league. If Doc was so great, I'd figure he'd understand this concept. Change the system as the players change.

It's different and more like a grabbing for straws if it were, say, the Bucks or something.

Right now I could argue that (this is a stretch) Doc is along the coaching lines of a D'Antoni. Dude has 1 way to play. It worked in Phoenix. Didn't work in NY. Now bringing to LA where it's okay. No, change your system as your players change.