Gregg Popovich’s most notorious lineup decisions
From undersized centers to munchkin lineups and no point guard, these are some of Pop’s most notorious lineup decisions.
Gregg Popovich is a legend who has built a reputation for puzzle-piecing imperfect players into perfect rotations on the way to NBA championships. Avery Johnson, Danny Green and even Boris Diaw immediately come to mind has players who were rejected by the rest of the league for notable flaws but flourished under Pop’s guidance and systems. That being said, nobody’s perfect, and even Pop has made decisions that have left fans (and media) scratching their heads.
The most recent (and admittedly tiny) example would be pairing Victor Wembanyama and Dominck Barlow together for stretches in the last two games. Even though both are capable shooters from outside the paint, they’re both better off around the basket, so there were unsurprisingly spacing issues. Against the Warriors and Rockets, that duo shared the floor for a combined 11 minutes and were outscored by 13 points. After four minutes last night, Pop pulled the plug on Barlow in favor of Sandro Mamukelashvili, which went notably better. This is not a knock against Barlow; his pairing with Wemby just didn’t work against the pesky defenses of two small, swarming teams. Assuming this is the end of that experiment for now, it won’t even be a blip on the radar in a week.
Still, that got me to thinking, what are some of Pop’s more notorious lineup decisions that lasted a lot longer and have stuck with us over time? Here are a few off the top of my head, and feel free to add more in the comments below. (And to be clear, were talking about decisions that lasted multiple games, not one-offs like not having Tim Duncan on floor during Ray Allen’s three.)
DeJuan Blair over Tiago Splitter
DeJuan Blair was fan favorite the instant the Spurs drafted him in 2009. A projected lottery pick with a charming personality who fell all the way to the second round thanks to notoriously not having any ACL’s, he brought a level of intensity and excitement that the “boring” Spurs had been lacking. His first couple of years were a success, with the Spurs earning the top seed in the West in 2011 and vying for their fifth championship. Then, disaster struck.
Manu Ginobili — who was a starter, All-Star and arguably the Spurs’ best player that season — broke his elbow in the regular season finale, and the Spurs ran into their worst possible matchup in the first round: the up-and-coming Memphis Grizzles. With Duncan struggling with knee issues, he and the undersized Blair were getting killed on the boards by Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol, and they ended up being upset in six games.
While Manu missing Game 1 and playing hobbled the rest of the way was probably a bigger deciding factor in that series, Pop — notorious for not trusting rookies, especially in the playoffs — was eviscerated for not playing Tiago Splitter enough, since he had the size and knack for rebounds to deal with the Grizzlies. Pop learned his lesson and began starting Splitter the next season, but it was too late for 2011 and etched the Spurs into the wrong side of the history books as a 1 seed who lost to an 8.
The Munchkin Lineup(s)
The 2017-18 season was a hard one. It should have been great with a rejuvenated LaMarcus Aldridge, healthy Kawhi Leonard and the addition of Rudy Gay as his backup, but alas, we all know how that went down. Kawhi was a no show most of the season (injured or not), Tony Parker was not the same after returning from his hamstring injury, and it ultimately ended up marking the end of an era.
The players who did play showed a level of toughness and tenacity that should be admired today, but there was still one lineup pairing that drove fans nuts: Patty Mills and Bryn Forbes. Both were elite three-point shooters, but pairing them together on court was a defensive nightmare in an age when the Spurs were still a top-tier defense. When looking back, the two had a NET rating of -0.2 when sharing the floor that season, so they were actually only barely a net negative in over 500 minutes together, but it was still maddening relative to expectations of the time.
That being said, while we think of Forbes and Mills as the Munchkin Lineup, Mills and Parker actually got plenty of minutes together that season as well, and they were much worse with a net rating of -6.9 in 300 minutes together. No matter which way you slice it, having two players under 6’3” on the court at the same time is never ideal for defense in the NBA.
Jeremy Sochan at point guard
Finally is another lineup decision from this season that likely won’t have any long-term consequences, but Pop still gets flack for it today, and it might end up being his most notorious decision of all because of the national scrutiny that came with it. That’s right, we’re talking about the decision to start the season with Jeremy Sochan at point guard.
Few would have cared last season, but with the arrival of Victor Wembanyama, all eyes were on the Spurs to start this season. It started well enough, but things quickly went south as they were mired in extended losing steaks with seemingly no offensive system to keep up the NBA’s record-breaking offenses. They couldn’t get the ball to Wemby, he was having to freelance for himself, and Sochan looked lost and confused, even admitting that the struggles were taking a mental toll on him.
After presumably seeing what he needed to see, Pop finally moved Tre Jones to the starting lineup and Sochan back to his natural position of power forward in January. While the results haven’t been too different in the win/loss columns, the Spurs have been considerably better, and Wemby — while also moving to center and having his minutes restrictions lifted — has flourished with Jones guiding the offense.
When you become the GOAT, you’re going to receive flack for every perceivable bad decision, and this is one Pop will have a hard time living down, even if it’s only because we’re looking back and laughing.
