San Antonio Spurs' Gregg Popovich has won two NBA Coach of the Year awards and according to NBA GMs, he could be in line for another this season. However, most GMs do not give the Spurs a shot at winning title number five or even the Western Conference.
The annual NBA GM survey has been released and coach Pop was picked as the hands down best head coach in the league with a whopping 80% of the votes. Boston's Doc Rivers came in second with 13.3% of the GMs votes. Pop also was voted as the best motivator/manager of players with 60% of the votes. He also was voted as the best at making in-game adjustments with 40% of the votes.
Continuing, Pop also was tied with Rick Adelman for second place at running the best offense on the NBA with 27.6% of the votes. This might be a bit surprising considering Pop is seen as more of a defensive coach. Pop finished second at having the best defensive schemes in the NBA with 10% of the votes behind Tom Thibodeau.
Here is how the Spurs fared in the survey:
The Heat, Lakers and Thunder were picked as the top-three teams to win it all this season. The Spurs didn't place in this section.
The Lakers, Thunder and Nuggets (not San Antonio) were picked to win the West by the GMs participating in the survey.
The Spurs were the overwhelming pick to win the Southwest Division by 96.7% over the Grizzlies.
Many Spurs fans feel Kawhi Leonard will have a breakout season but not the GMs. Warriors' Klay Thompson was picked to have a breakout season while Leonard didn't receive a vote.
Tony Parker was voted as the fourth best point guard in the NBA behind Chris Paul, Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo. He also received votes as one of the fastest players with the ball.
Manu Ginobili received votes as the best shooting guard in the NBA but Kobe Bryant was voted as the top shooting guard in the NBA. He (and Tony Parker) also received votes as the best international player but Dirk Nowitzki ran away with the votes with 72.4%. Ginobili also finished third (tied with Kyle Korver) as the best player at moving without the ball.
Tim Duncan received some votes as the best power forward but Kevin Love was voted as the top power forward.
The Spurs also finished as the fifth best defensive team in the NBA receiving 3.3% of the votes.
Spurs' Brett Brown and Mike Budenholdzer also received votes as best assistant coaches in the league. Coach Bud finished second behind Brian Shaw with 23.3% of the votes.
San Antonio also tied with the Clippers, and Warriors at fourth place as a team most fun to watch. I know, shocking!
Danny Green and Matt Bonner received votes at being one of the best players at making the most of limited natural ability.
Duncan and Ginobili were voted as two of the toughest players in the league. In my opinion, Manu should have been voted much higher. The duo were also voted as the best leaders. TD finished third tied with Chauncey Billups, and LeBron James with 10.3% of the votes. They were also voted as being one of the best players with the highest basketball IQs. TD finished with second with 13.8% while Manu finished with 6.9% of the votes.
What do you have to say Spurs fans? Do you agree with how the Spurs placed in the survey?
