It’s kinda funny to me how uncoachable a lot of the city has been on this.
While it’s not the greatest look to chastise the fans in the middle of a 10-game losing streak. Nothing Pop did or said was wrong.
A) People act like Pop said dudes would get thrown out of the building if they kept booing. He made his plea. He found out immediately it didn’t work, and he accepted that outcome by 1. Not trying again 2. Not bringing it up again. After the game, he very well could have chastised the fans for not listening or said he didn’t like it. He did neither, and we know Pop speaks his mind when he is inclined.
B) Pop has way more access to varied perspectives on the perception of treating Kawhi like this from other players, our players, opposing coaches, NBA executives, etc. Whether it’s the difference between getting a free agent or not, we’re actively making their jobs harder in recruitment for very little gain of booing Kawhi relentlessly. I’d have to wonder if even our own players aren’t feeling it, and that added to Pop wanting to say something. I’m guessing the perception of this doesn’t bathe our organization in glory. Pop very much could have been trying to put our fan base on game, and we told him to eff off.
C) He’s just straight up right. This fan base is extremely petty about Kawhi. I’m surprised it’s even up for debate that he’s right about that part. It’s not classy behavior. Now you can say we don’t care about being classy and want to embrace pettiness, and that’s everyone’s right, but it can’t be argued that it’s extremely petty to be doing this five years later. For a fanbase that prides itself on being first class – even if we were wronged – it’s petty behavior to still not have turned the other cheek five years later, especially knowing now the outcome was Wemby. People keep excusing this as other fanbases this and that, but I was led to believe Spurs culture was above that kinda group think. And tbh I don’t think other fanbases do this. James Harden is a directly applicable situation, and I don’t think Houston treats him like this.
I get this opinion will be unpopular. And if you want to boo Kawhi, that’s your right. It’s was also Pops right to say stop because it’s pointless, makes us look petty, it’s time to move past it into the next chapter and there’s almost no positives that come from it. At best, it does nothing. At worst, it motivates Kawhi and turns off outsiders who may have otherwise liked what the Spurs offer.
I suspect all that, as well as his personal relationship with Kawhi were factors. I also find it odd that people are so desperate to hold onto this sports hate. It literally does nothing for anyone when we should be look to a bright future with Wemby not old pains with Kawhi. Pop wants this organization/city/sports trauma to heal and its kinda sad people are turning it into something nasty about Pop.
TLDR: Pop is right, but people are so determined to stick up for their right to boo Kawhi that they are missing the perspective. Pop probably has that goes beyond the San Antonio bubble and pain.
I am pro “Boo” . It’s great, it is fun, it’s petty, but overall it shows the other team we don’t support them. Fans around the world should always be doing things like this to opposing teams and players. From my opposing view this is a very petty thing and very much a Puro SA thing to do, and I hope it never changes.
I also relate this more to a family/cultural action. It’s very common for my family and other Mexican American families to remember, and always point out, the time you fucked. I’m almost 40 years old and my family still brings up something I did when I was 5 years old to have a good laugh. It’s all in good fun.
Pop realized what he did was wrong. Once he said his piece the boos got louder. And most of the boos at that point were towards Pop, at least mine were. He realized he was wrong when he changed his rhetoric for saying what he did at the post game press conference. All of a sudden it went from, “show some class” to, “Don’t poke the bear.” Pop is a very eloquent individual and I find it hard to believe that he mixed those signals up.
I guess my thing is it does not feel like it’s all in good fun with Kawhi. There’s a mean spiritedness to it imo.
But I honestly don’t mind the opinion that “I know its petty but it’s fun. And I’m going to keep doing it.” Being petty can be fun. So I respect your opinion.
I could be rationalizing big time here but to me, I don’t know that Pop thinks he’s wrong. I think he just didn’t want to get into it again. I think he was a little disappointed that the fan base didn’t listen and rather than fight a losing battle he kinda just gave up on it because he knew he couldn’t win.
But if you ask Pop, I don’t think he’d tell you he was wrong although he would probably have to acknowledge the timing was inappropriate. Just my guess.
Calling the fans “uncoachable” is about as arrogant as Pop was Wednesday night.
I will actually agree with you. It set a bad tone. It was meant more tongue and cheek with a tinge of exasperation, but it comes off terrible.
I’ll cop to this and I’m surprised you’re the first one to point it out.
It was more about Pop trying to give advice and the fan base just being like “shut up old man” which I found funny. It’s not supposed to be as serious as I think it comes off.
But again that’s completely on me. I missed the mark on starting it like that.
At the same time I still think it’s a funny line given the situation. Lol
I’m firmly in the camp that thinks we need to move on and just be proud of what we accomplished with Kawhi. The pettiness just makes us look like Knicks fans, bitter that things just never quite work out for us (when obviously we’re the most spoiled fanbase in sports).
Agreed 100%.
It’s an unpopular opinion, but Pop was right.
And you can get downvoted all you want, it does not make you wrong.
People being mad at Kawhi is one thing I totally understand.
Booing at the FT line is normal. I don’t do it, but and I don’t care if people do.BUT, the fans still being petty about him, to the point where they boo him every time he touches the ball, 6 years later, is childish, a bad look, and almost ridiculous at this point.
It’s like being petty at an ex-girlfriend 6 years later.
Grow up. Move on.Are we that emotionally immature?
Indifference is way stronger than pettiness anyway.I’ve seen people say Pop was being a Karen.
It’s the other way around to me.Some fans were actually behaving like petty childish Karens:
“Nobody should tell me what to do, I’m the customer, this is my rights, blah blah blah”.
Having the right to boo does not make it right to do.Having the right to say our opinion does not make it a good one, and does not mean we should say it.
If you ask me, Pop was the one showing class and wisdom. He was being the grown-up there, and people are mad at him for being faced with their own pettiness.
That’s why I fell in love with this organization.
The reputation, the class, the culture.
This isn’t it.Just my biased, subjective and imperfect 2 cents.
I’m legit surprised the fanbase isn’t mostly on the same page about this.
Or at least something closer to “Yes Pop we know it’s petty and counterproductive but we don’t care. We love you but we don’t care how petty this seems.”
I’ve been surprised by the amount of people acting like Pop is the crazy one and sometimes even willfully being ignorant about his point.
I’ve seen so many “oh so we can’t boo during freethrows anymore” and its like cmon yall you know thats not what he’s talking about.
Or acting like the way we treat Kawhi is normal opponent behavior.
If we as a fanbase don’t want to stop, fine. I don’t like that decision but it is what it is at that point. But let’s at least be honest about what we’re doing, how it looks to outsiders, and why we’re doing it.
It’s not because he’s the opponent. It’s not to give our guys an advantage. It’s to be petty. Point. Blank. Period.
And Pop just like me and you have every right to say he doesn’t like that direction. He just happens to have a bigger platform.
I see you put a lot of thought into writing this post and I read everything, but still, I’m just thinking “Fuck Kawhi”. You’re right about people being petty and don’t care about not booing him for the sake of being classy because I am one of them. I’d argue what nephew did that whole season and during offseason and even the season after he got traded to the Raptors was way worse than Harden’s situation with Houston.
If anything should be considered classless it would be how he handled everything. Disappearing and ignoring his coaches and teammates, dragging the organization’s name through the mud, purposely bombing his trade value after requesting for a trade etc etc. Even his THANK YOU! letter to the fans were such a joke and came days, weeks after he got traded. So yeah, I don’t care about being classy. Any franchise player pulling what he did to an organization deserves to be booed by the fans for the rest of their career.
And that’s totally your right to feel that way and ignore Pop. I hope at the very least I’ve made that clear.
We’re not all going to see it the same way. I knew I wasn’t going to change minds and I was unlikely to change mine.
I guess I just wanted people to see there were other options besides “Pop is old and senile” as to why he did this.
But if thats how you feel thats how you feel! And at the end everything will be fine either way.
Pop needs to get over himself. Maybe focus more on coaching your losing team than worrying about booing
This fan base is extremely petty about Kawhi.
Why do you think this is? Do you think Kawhi was some innocent bystander during his exit?
Booing is part of the sport. Not throwing objects, not yelling slurs, booing.
If you tell your fans to stop booing, tell them to stop cheering either.
Spurs fans think they’re Philly fans and it’s not a good look out here.
As much as I understand the hate for Kawhi, I can’t work up the courage to boo the man every time he visits. He made his decision. Respect it. Y’all act like y’all own him, and it’s a bit sickening to observe.
This booing nonsense is going to drive players away from wanting to play here. Y’all are lucky Wemby is here. That kid came in as a superstar. San Antonio isn’t a superstar town. Before you jump me, I am not speaking from a skill perspective. Tim Duncan is a top 10 player but I would never confuse him with being a superstar.
With that said, I’ve read all the reasons why Kawhi should be booed and I’m not swayed. Move on. Worry about the current state of the team while we have a generational talent withering away in mediocrity.
Y’all don’t want to hear it, but I expect Wemby to only give this experiment 1 year before requesting a trade.
I agree except the one year thing. That would be fairly unprecedented. What makes you feel like Wemby will ask out so quickly?
NBA fans fail to realize that Wemby has been a professional basketball player for years, and is very accustomed to not only winning, but dominating. Though he plays basketball, his mentality is that of a soccer player in Europe. Just listen to his interviews. He never minces words when he speaks about his abilities and his goals.
Where a top American player would say, “I’m just trying to help the team win games,” Wemby will state that he wants the championship, as that’s the point of playing basketball games for a season. He doesn’t dabble in mediocrity.
I’m speaking from a foreigner’s point of view so keep that in mind. Though I’m an American now, my sports views are not. America treats sports a lot differently than the rest of the world.
The concept of tanking doesn’t exist in Euro leagues. This is a wild concept to young Victor. When a team fails over there, they’re relegated to a lower league and have to fight their way back up. This would never work in America as we never allow businesses to fail here.
With all that said, I fully expect Wemby to want out after this season, so he could play competitive basketball again. I don’t see money as a factor for him, so even if he does finish his Spurs contract, he will not be spending more time here, no matter what they offer him. He’s off to a big market, of which I believe the Knicks will be front runners.
I don’t agree but this was definitely an interesting perspective that I had no way of considering before you brought into my life. So thank you. I appreciate the thorough response.
I will say that makes sense that his mentality is different than the average player and it makes him more prone to get fed up sooner.
It be interesting to get honest thoughts about how he feels so far.
I look forward to seeing him do another interview with JJ Reddick. I believe he has been most candid on that platform so far, though that was prior to NBA media training.
Glad I could share an alternate perspective. Respect.
I just want to be clear - you’re not saying Wemby’s going to want out because the fans booed Kawhi, right? You’re saying he’ll want out because the team is losing? Or does the booing connect to this in some way?
A) Who has said that? Pretty much every take I’ve seen is basically “old man yells at clouds”.
B) Oh no! You mean San Antonio might lose its reputation as the free agent hot spot of the league!? LeBron had his jersey burned and Gilbert wrote a scathing public letter to him. Many teams have booed their own players while they’re still on the damn team.
C) No one was yelling obscenities at him, no one was chanting something inappropriate, he was getting booed. Is it petty? Yes. It’s also petty to try and distract players while shooting free throws, which happens to every away player every single game. Trash talk is oftentimes petty. Stadium music choices can be petty. The PA begrudgingly calling away buckets and calling home buckets like he’s introducing a WWE wrestler is petty. There seems to be an accepted level of pettiness in the NBA that is seen as socially acceptable, and I don’t think the Spurs fans exceeded that. Is it petty? Yes. But people are paying money to watch these guys throw a ball through a ring, some booing is not that freaking serious.
Despite the fact that you really didn’t grapple with any of my actual points and instead just wanted to be snarky I will respond.
A) It’s implicit in a response of “who is Pop to tell me what to do. I pay good money to boo. This is my right.” that you are responding as if Pop was trying to take something from you. He did not attempt to do that. He made a suggestion. No one listened. He gave up. People have been framing it as if he tried to wield more power than he did. When I say “act like” it’s acknowledgment that no one said the explicit thing I’m about to state but their general tone gave that vibe. Someone else even used the word “Karen” so others have seen and acknowledged the vibe I’m talking about. But if you want to confine my response to only the things you interacted with, that’s your business.
B) I don’t understand why you guys insist on willfully misreading this to counter a point I haven’t made. The post is called “Pops perception,” not “how booing will kill our free agency.” It’s merely a suggestion that Pop has more knowledge of outside SA from a NBA perspective and he deals with free agents as well as his own team and he very well could be speaking up because this has been something that has effected our perception in our own locker room and beyond. Perhaps this is even something that bothered our generational talent who way down the line will basically get to choose to go wherever he wants. I suggested this as a possible reason Pop spoke up because in a competitive business with a salary cap, things like this on the margins are something Pop has to consider while fans don’t have to because they never even hear about this stuff. You guys don’t think players notice or care about stuff like this but they definitely do. PG took note he called what Pop did awesome and how the crowd treats Kawhi as unfortunate.
Do I think how fans treat Kawhi will cost the Spurs a free agent – which btw doesn’t have to be LeBron The Spurs do sign free agents just not usually big names and a big selling point is culture and respect from the fans. Wemby literally was overjoyed to come here in part because of the fanbase and culture – But no I don’t think so.
But I’m also not Pop who is way more clued in on that stuff. He clearly thought it mattered for some reason that he did something he’s never ever done before. But I’m sure it’s just because he’s old and yells at clouds.
C) Even though you made fun of A) you’re kinda doing A). I never said you can’t be petty. I never said being petty isn’t fun. Being petty can be a lot of fun. But you know what being petty can’t be — classy. If you want to pretend the organization and fanbase don’t love to stroke their own ego to how classy we are then I guess we’re just not in the same city watching the same team. Like I said if you want to petty thats fine. But then Pop isn’t wrong. You just don’t care about what he is right about. Philly is a fun sports town no one likes their fanbases because of how unrelenting petty they are. Pettiness has a price and that was my only point. It changes the perception of everything. And I personally think it’s time to move on from this petty behavior with Kawhi. I side with Pop. That doesn’t mean he can’t be bood. Just boo him like a normal opponent instead of the constant all game hate fest that makes the city look like it’s a jilted lover.
The one thing I’m dead sure about is Pop has a much firmer grasp on what that perception change means for our organization than random fan who just wants to boo Kawhi because he make me feel bad by leaving.
Yes booing normally isn’t a big deal which is why Pop hasn’t said a word about it in over four decades of coaching and yet he felt compelled to come out against it this one specific instance in a way no one has ever done in-game. I’m curious as to why.
A lot of other people just want to yell about their rights as fans. Yes we know you can boo if you want, all you want. That’s why nothing happened when you didn’t listen to him.
Be petty. Have a ball. Go crazy. Call him nephew, kawhitter. Whatever. It’s all very very lame. And smells of I can’t get over my ex energy. Maybe if nothing else he just knows it makes us look like lames around the league.
Not for nothing there are way more creative and fun ways to be petty than booing a man relentlessly who helped bring a title to the city.
Nice take. This Kawhi stuff is low level embarrassing at this point.
This kawai hate is exhausting. It’s basketball he didn’t want to be here, good leave. Plus we got a decent haul of assets all things considered.
To me it’s like the person who got cheated on 5yrs ago still complaining at thanksgiving dinner. Like no one cares anymore. It shouldn’t be your identity.
Posts like this are reading into it way too much imo. Fans boo players/teams they’re on bad terms with it, there’s not much more to it. It’s a part of sports and it’s a part of the live fan experience. Pacers still boo Paul George and Paul George left on way better terms. Kyrie still gets boo’d in like half the games he plays. I personally don’t care too much at this point but I’m also not gonna chastise other fans for still being petty. It’s not like Kawhi just asked for a trade, he went about it in a highly unprofessional way that dragged out a bunch of drama, killed his value and set us back, and considering we’re still a bad team it’s not like the effects of that are entirely in the past.
And acting like fans booing an opposing player will have any affect on free agency or perception from players is just absurd. When has that ever been the case ?
So there’s a little nuance to that point in multiple regards that I think doesn’t make it absurd because I’m not saying this will definitely effect our free agency chances. But I think fans really underestimate that players are human beings and things stick with them. Seeing a former franchise player who helped bring a title to the team be relentless boo’d could be one of those things.
So firstly my point was it can only be a negative. It’s not going to help bring a player here. There’s no player who looks at this situation and says “man it’s super cool that Spurs fans boo a man to death who helped send their Hall of Famers out with one more ring”
It can only serve to be nothing at all or a detriment. That’s why I called it pointless. At best, it does nothing. It doesn’t affect Kawhi (he still balls on us). It has no effect on anything of the court. But at worst, it’s effecting our perception around the league.
No I don’t think a player is turning down a bigger contract with us because of this. But when all things are equal could our perception around the league taking a hit affect it. Yes that’s possible.
And ultimately why take that chance when booing Kawhi has zero value. It makes the fans feel good and that’s it.
But my ultimate point was this. Pop isn’t dumb. He did this for a reason. We don’t know what that reason is.
Either our players weren’t feeling it. He’s been told this is a bad look by other outside parties. Or he literally just was sticking up for a player he cares about and felt protective of.
I think its unwise not to examine why Pop who has never said anything about booing before was suddenly compelled to speak.
But I think people are too busy being mad at being told what to do to consider that maybe Pop was reacting to something bigger than “he’s senile and wants to grandstand”
When people do something extraordinarily out of the norm, I’m interested in the why.
I was hoping people would get curious too but most people just want to talk about how booing is awesome and a God-given fan right.
And you think I’m reading too much into it and fine cool. But more than anything I just think it makes us look like lames.
Lames stuck on an ex when we got something new.
Also I don’t think Pacers fans boo Paul George. And they definitely don’t boo him every single time he touches the ball every trip five years later.
As someone who lives in Indiana, I can say that pacers fans do not think Paul George left on way better terms even though a neutral fan would think so lol
Perhaps that was poor wording, but Paul George did it in a more professional/less damaging way
Oh no I 100% agree with you but the way Pacers fans talk about him you wouldn’t think so haha