Our competition likes the way we are bringing him along slowly? That should tell you something right there. I'm sure Flip would have liked it if the Heat would have brought Wade along slowly too.
This reminds me of how disappointed all of the other NFC Central coaches were disappointed when Wayne Fontes was fired....
Arew you comparing wade and AJ? Are you smarter than Popovich? AJ may be big talent but his bb knowledge was nonexistent( for nba) and that's what Pop meant: learning is step by step process, you can't learn B without knowing A. But fans here wish that with giving him PT he would learn ABC on the fly. No , he won't. Fans here may not like it but that's the life.
You think Popovich really cares about the Pistons and really likes the way that Saunders has nurtured AJ from the time he was a young pup to now, when he plays sporadic GT minutes? Pop's probably just screwing with Flip.
He may not passionately care but I know, some fans are really suprised that coaches can get along with eachother quite well: they know hardships of their job. Fans gloated here too when when scott Skiles got an axe, but did you hear coaches doing this? No, flip's comment was that it hard to send messages through when players are too high on themselves( remenber Noah boasting that they are better team even after loss?) If you do not like Pop's answer, it is your problem not Pop's. It is pathetic to read that Pop's words do not fit to your imagination what should be done and therefore you still try to find excuses, why 4-time champ wasn't right. I have no reason to think that Pop wasn't honest when he said that Flip has handled AJ in a right way. He may not care of Aj but when journalist asked, why he should lie?
One of coach's job is honestly point out playes flaws . If a big ego cannot tolerate this it is player's problem, not coach's. And it is fanmade theory that flip bruised ben's ego. It was made cuz fans so DESPERATELY want to believe that w/o flip ben could have stayed here. Btw, *how strongly should Flip have tried to placate Ben?*
A better question is... Even under water torture would he really say something bad about another teams handling of their player for no real reason. Of course it was glowing and "SUPER", it's coach speak. "He's going to be great BLAH BLAH BLAH, everybody can see it, BLAH BLAH BLAH, nope they are doing it just right, BLAH BLAH BLAH, those guys know what they are doing, BLAH BLAH BLAH, nobody could possibly play more than 6 mins a night at age 21, BLAH BLAH BLAH.
Ok, I have seen the qoute and can see both sides here.... I think the qoute needs to be in context to know how to take it.... was it a question asked to him and thats how he answered? If so it probably is coach speak so to speak..... Or was it an unprovoked comment, a question about something else that lead him to mention the way AJ is coming along? Then We should put a little more credibility into what he says...