All valid. Can't argue with that. Especially the point abotu Pop perfecting the D'antoni style of offense or his management of the regular season or the dynamic that he has with his players. His increased emphasis on the 3 point line has been remarkable. There's also something to be said about how Pop finds incredible depth out of seeming no depth at all. He (along with the rest of their staff) consistently find players who are seemingly on their way out of the league, or shouldn't be in the league / have no place on a championship caliber team, and turns them into surefire NBA players. I am consistently dumbfounded by how Pop routinely trolls the NBA by rolling out some incredibly awkward lineups at moments of crisis, and without fail it ends up being a turning point in a game or a series. That is a skill that very few, if any coaches have and for all those reasons he's definitely appreciated by me.
However, I just have a personal affinity for PJ and I will not lie there is a bit of a bias that comes out from me when I talk about Phil. It mainly has nothing to do with basketball ironically enough
I feel that his principles on basketball and life are synonymous, and incredibly helpful to anyone trying to achieve anything in life. He's up there with other guys like Napoleon Hill, and Earl Nightingale in that regard.
But beyond that, I think Phil's ability to get the most out of his player sis incredible man. Putting them in situations and places on the floor where they have the best chances for success. Whether it be the star player or the spot up PG, no one is seemingly out of place with his philosophy on the offensive end. I also love how for the most part, he never really ran a "play," it was more reactionary natural player movements on the floor. He's nothing to gawk at either when it comes to how he was able to implement the 3 point line into what he was doing. Also, defensively in the early 90's I loved his use of the full court press and the trapping style of defense. Not really seen in the NBA by man. But, By putting guys like Kobe, Shaq, and Jordan in places on the floor where it was incredibly hard to double them without being burned, he allowed 3 point shooters to flourish in his system. What's probably most revealing about Phil is that he never had the most talented teams. While he may have had some of the league's finest talents, he never had the most talent and that came from an understanding that in order to win, you have to have 12 to 15 guys all on the same plane, the same synergy, to win and too much talent can disrupt that.
No real right or wrong answer here, it's more of a preference.
