Fox is not a team player.
One of the worst ‘vet’ acquisitions I’ve seen where there was such an obvious culture mismatch.
He’s not motivated to help the new guard. He’s still ‘swipathefox’ not the guy who lost his burst, doesn’t pass well, can’t play credible defense, and is overthinking when he should be playing on years of muscle memory.
Sadly Mitch Johnson is so way over his head he’s missed Harper’s ascendency and Fox’s decline.
For game 5, Dan Marino should be brought in to talk to this young group who probably think darn it . . . Well there’s always next year?!
Stoics got this right - tomorrow is never promised.
Spurs had/have Fox problem the entire season.
He’s living in a time warp where he was that guy late in games back in Sacramento.
He’s never been a great passer (he’s a little too in love with razzle/dazzle).
He’s lost (from either age/injury) the quick burst.
He is Trae Young level bad at defense. He looks lost scrambling around trying to look busy but in the end it leads to a lot of bad coverages and getting blown by via quicker guards.
He’s declining in his decision making in large part I believe bc he is training his replacements and he is still trying to prove his relevance. May be a little too lost in his head and not relying on muscle memory.
All of this on ugly display in what is obviously a pivotal game.
The Spurs and Mitch Johnson live in a modern day delusion that fault is assigned to the collective or external forces and wins are the product of their effort and skill.
Zero accountability on mistakes. Instead things were not seen, there was fog, there was a 3 point lead, there was ‘straying’ from plan.
Not once did I hear yesterday a person say I made a mistake. I need to learn from said mistake and I will be accountable to my team and the organization.
It’s clear to me the Spurs organization thought it would take years to get to the Finals.
Bring in a semi washed Fox to ‘help’ the young guards.
Let an eager but over his head ‘disciple’ of Pop grow into a head coach
Let reps and experience create a dominant post up center
Nope all 3 heads of the monster conspired to lose this game tonight.
Spurs prove once again that you can lose a series from incompetent coaching and strategy.
With a significant lead what in the world are you doing shooting that many 3s.
Still have not learned from the season nor the playoffs.
They struggled with big leads all season, in this series, and maybe just cost themselves the series.
Said this many times that Fox is trying to be Mr 4Q and he routinely disappears.
He’s the vet, you pull the ball back out and get fouled.
Instead he attempts a 1 vs 3 drive.
Ignore the endless Finals talking heads.
Find the YouTube replays of Shump and Lin comments to get a handle of what’s transpired.
Had not heard Lin all that much prior to the Finals but don’t be surprised if he’s a regular next year on SVP or some similar format.
Fox is the odd man out amongst the guards. His lack of defense gets exploited way too much.
The key missing ingredient is an all star 3 and D.
Vassell and KJ are decent but no one is afraid of either.
Usually it’s the team with the best 1-2 playeron the court that wins.
Not taking anything from Brunson but this Knicks run is a team effort with lots of different contributors the entire playoff stretch.
Never too impressed with Mike Brown but him trusting the bench is a key reason for the run.
Mitch Johnson so over his head
The second Spurs are down it’s all iso plays. No TOs to settle team down and run a structured play.
Spurs don’t move the ball that much bc got too many dribblers who think they can out run 3 defenders in the paint.
All these people saying it’s all inevitable that Wemby will dominate the NBA with multiple championships.
I beg to differ.
If he continues to pretend he is a part time guard and part time wing, areas I contend he hurts the team trying to be, hard to see that vision coming true.
Maturity is playing the ‘Big’ in the paint and posting up. He will score more and his team will score more when he is doubled and tripled with passes to open looks.