I’m Reading About: More Nate; Defense and Mike D’Antoni

i hear what you are saying with respect to the rule changes on hand checking..

But that predominantly affects guard and wing play..

The problem with the Coach is interior defense. He uses undersized centers and fours that are really three and a halfs..

Protecting the paint is still a huge part of defense as it allows the wings/guards to play looser because someone has their back.

I cant remember the last NBA team to win without a strong interior defensive presence.

Even the 70 knicks that let up points had Reed to lock up the paint.

Jeffries has been fantastic on the interior.

And amar’e held it down in phoenix.

he hasn’t had the ability to coach his guys yet, but i give him a ton of credit for putting jeffries next to lee. It’s helped tremendously.

Good post Tommy. I certainly look back to the days of Knicks defense, but the league has definitely changed. Some interior presence is definitely a good thing, but Im not sure I can say that it is absolutely necessary to winning a championship. Even though I say that, I understand that pretty much every championship team had an interior presence, but Dantoni came close enough with Phoenix(at least in my opinion) to justify his small frontcourt. This league is most definitely dominated by guards and wings now, so I tend to think that the team with the top 3 perimeter player almost always finds a way to win. Boston was an exception, but they have 3 hall of famers on that team anyway.

I don’t remember Amar’e as a defensive presence in the paint while D’antoni was there. Isn’t that one of the reasons they got Shaq?

you don’t remember amare as a defensive presence because they played at a much faster pace. they got shaq so they could slow the game down at times.

amare’s not D Howard, but he’s very capable.

Maybe that was the justification given for it, but it was more just the new gm Steve Kerr trying to put his imprint on the team and change them from running to a more slow it down defensive team. Obviously it was retarded and didn’t work at all with the players that were there, so he has now scrapped that plan and gone back to being a running team by firing Porter, trading Shaq, and getting guys like Frye and Dudley to spread the floor and run.

Jeffries has been playing predominantly on the wing guarding the opposing point guard.

Im sorry but this coach has zero history of coaching interior defense.

even with “his guys” in PHX. Thats why they got schooled in the playoffs every year.

Say what Tommy? Can ya name ANY team that has won a championship that didn’t play good defense?

Some of us are NOT expecting this team to play good defense because of a stubborn ideology. We know that you have to defend…especially in the playoffs where the opposing teams have time to concentrate only the series at hand and the stakes are higher.

As most coaches will tell ya, there is only one basketball but everyone can play defense. The NBA allow us to play zone and we still get torched in the paint now.

Ina ll fairness, when we had good defensive teams, I complained we had no pure shooters other than Mr. Softee himself (Alan Houstan). We had Ewing and a bunch of slashers who if you left them alone, they would break the rim.

When Oakley is your 2nd best shooter from the perimeter, it’s time to re-evaluate.

I beg to differ TOMMY DEE. We currently have players on teams that are playing like Oakley, Mason, Camby and I don’t know how you can forget to mention Patrick Ewing. Howard, Garnett, josh smith, Brendan Haywood, and Samuel Dalembert are just a few defensive players that can protect the paint despite the new NBA rules. Camby is still in the top 5 in block shots. Defense is all about pride and timing and courage. You don’t even see our players diving for loose balls anymore. You surely won’t see them dive into the stands. They feel that it is okay when Tony Parker or Felton drives to the basket untouched in the final minute of a close game for an easy bucket. They feel that we have to out score them instead of stopping them from scoring. For crying out loud at least knock him on his rear end. I fell in love with the Knicks because of our DEFENSE in the 90s. That type of defense wins championships.

the coach has said many times that Wilson Chandler is “his prototypical power forward”..

Honestly, I haven’t watched Amar’e all that much. I remember hearing more about his defensive liabilities than his achievements. But you probably did watch more of the Suns than me back then, so I guess I’ll take your word for it.

the fast pace was an offensive scheme.

getting back on defense SHOULD be unrelated to running off made baskets.

In Chandlers defense, he actually does a decent job of defending pfs. Also the league is changing to the point where many 4s are basically 3.5s in the Rashard Lewis mold. But I do agree that some shotblocking interior presence is definitely a good thing.

It was Amare playing good defense with a lot of help from Shawn Marion. Only it does not work very well against TIm Duncan 7′ frame in a 7 game series. It will get you to the playoffs though.

They got Shaq over D’Antoni’s wishes. Shaq was brought in solely for Duncan and SA!

Management thought someone had to be under the rim to scare Parker once be blows past Nash!

D’Antoni felt otherwise! He thought Parker would get a ticket for speeding or catch a flat!

Who is the best interior defender D’antoni has at his disposal? Darko? Not worth it in my opinion, I’d rather continue showcasing Jeffries defensive versatility. Good interior defense starts with good interior defenders, of which the Knicks have few, if any.

Most believe that Chandler is a three. D’antoni says he is a four, but he plays him as a two. Where’s HaS? LOL

You’ve gotta love this season of misfits that we have It’s amazing that we are playing well. You have to give the coach some credit for that.

we havent even seen Darko for any significant minutes.

last year in one third the minutes darko had twice as many blocked shots as Lee.

staggering.,

We have none of those players on our roster. We have Darko “I want the offense to run through me” Millicic. D’antoni can’t turn sewage into soup.

Not true at all…his charges come from help off bigs.

9 blocks last 5 games…only on guards?

I hate this coach.

i think championship teams are top 5 in either offense or defense, and top 10-15 in the other.

the knicks of the 90s were top 2-3 in D and 3rd to last in offense.

my point is the Chandler is one of the coach’s guys.. And Lee plays like Amar’e.. He even watched film of him to emulate his play before the coach ran his first practice.

I guess Lebron is one of D’Antoni’s guys. Dwight Howard too? thats convenient.

“Defense is all about pride and timing and courage.”

We know for sure _avi_ Lee doesn’t have two of those attributes. The timing we’ll never know because he hardly ever tries.

My pt exactly! We did go to the finals correct? Now name a team that was in the top 5 in offense and much lower in defense that won a ring?

If you can score and can’t stop anyone, it’s is highly unlikely you will succeed thru the playoffs. Remember, you’re playing better teams in the playoffs that will have players who can score.

most teams that have won in teh past 10 years were middle of the road offensively., Lakers being the exception and they have Kobe.

the Pistons were second to last in offense the year they won.

Yeah unfortunately Darko has zero game on the other end of the floor. Defense is important but so is offense. Darko can’t score inside provides no balance to our offense. Put Darko in for Lee and we’ll be chucking more 3′s than ever.

lol It’s also about accountability, playing time and losing revenue! My coaches used to sit my butt on the bench when I didn’t get back on defense and the message got across quickly when my family used to come to the games and WE ALL were seating watching the game. lol

I just had a better seat than they had!

I think haS is about hating on the coach knowing he’ll be right if D’Antoni doesn’t win a ring. anything short of that makes him a bad coach and thus making haS right.

good strategy.

there are bad coaches who have won, and good coaches who have lost.

Big, how dare you question the most innovative coaching mind of this era? A man referred to as “the greatest coach in the world” (in Crain’s I believe? it was in one of these threads before the season)?

He has as many NBA championships as both of us combined and twice as many Conference championships as we have combined!

Oh wait… that’s still 0.

What is D’antoni supposed to do? Give Darko 20 mins a night and have the offense run through him? Drag Hakeem out of retirement?

every team that has won in teh past 10 years has had a signficant post presence or a top defense

09 Lakers 3rd O 13th D
08 Celts 11th Offense 2nd D
07 Spurs – 14th Offense 1st D
06 Heat 6th O 14th D (with Shaq and Wade)
05 Spurs 18th O 1st D
04 Pistons 24th O 2nd D
03 Spurs 12th O 3rd D
02 Lakers 3rd O 10th D
01 Lakers 3d O 23rd D (Kobe Shaq)

Yeah bring back Larry Brown!

maybe just give Darko 20 plus a night to guard the paint..

No need to run the O thru him..

Nope. Wrong.

I have said he’ll never make it to the FInals.

And I have said countless times, I hope he proves me wrong.

I love how you talk OF me in response TO me rather than address me directly. Classy.

But that’s what Darko expects.

And who will we have scoring in the paint? Or will it just be a 3 point contest?

Which is why I would be all for benching Lee for 14 games to “teach him a lesson” too. The next stretch of games we’re playing under .500 teams, the coach should sit him.

im just contering this argument that the coach doesnt have “his guys” yet.

too tired 4 hating today.. just debating

You can’t have it both ways Circle. If he’s in the game to guard the paint you have to throw him a bone. Maybe every time he gets a block or if he beats his man down the floor. Or otherwise he can try to score on easy buckets or get to the line by crashing the offensive glass.

I don’t trust D”Antoni decisions on who should be playing or not. He benched Hughes, Nate, Curry, Hill and Milicic. Hughes and Nate look like they sure have proved him wrong when they got there chance to play. Curry, Hill, and Milicic have yet to get a fair chance. Milicic can block shots his career stats have shown that he can protect the paint.

Milicic averaged 1.2 blocks per game as a back up in his career stats. David Lee career bocked shot average is less then Larry hughes and he is our center.

Yea, I’m out before I get sucked in. I’ve got work to do. LOL

the coach can figure out the offense.. after all he is a genius on that end..

Contrary to popular opinion there are ways to score other than hoisting 40 plus threes a game..

Chandler (his prototypical 4) and Buckets have shown they have an inside game…

Interesting Biggie! We know for sure that those 2 teams you listed with lower defensive ratings, had players who could get a stop when needed. Wade and Kobe plays the passing lanes, have a high b-ball IQ while Shaq stayed under the rim to swat what gets by.

The PHX management had that plan for Shq in PHX but they didn’t expect Parker to blow past Nash so fast with Duncan under the rim to neutralize Shaq!

and even the Lee supporters admit he cant greate his own offense.

You must agree that he doesn’t have the right type of personal this year, right? It’s all part of rebuilding. This year will be crazy. It’s actually playing out better than I expected (except for the worst start in Knicks history part lol). My expectations will be much higher next year.

classy?

lol.

ok, i’ll take lessons from you.

my bad.

Yep, Lee is not a good defender which is probably what helps him get rebounds. He has the best position and can see which way his man is missing the shot. lol

Lee can be a better team defender but this team has to communicate better on defense. That was the key thing Jeffries was stated to bring to this team when he came over under Isiah from the Wizards.

You really never see that communication and the zone usually breaks down. Lately they have play a little better defensively but “saying a little better” for this team is not really saying that much.

but the knicks didnt win a ring either…

didn’t i say that?

I don’t know who brought up the Darko stuff in the first place, but there is a reason he hasn’t stuck for any teams he’s played on and can barely get minutes for any team and is now going back to Europe. People should just forget about Darko, especially when our defense has been pretty good for the last month, even if that is mostly due to a decreased pace of play. Lee is what he is at this point, which is a very good offensive player and a poor interior presence. He fits well with this defense in certain scenarios though, as he is not bad at switching onto perimeter players where he is more comfortable than most other bigs. Plus he is a good passer, has a high offensive iq, and is 5th in the league in fg percentage. I like Nate as much as the next guy, but unless he diversifies his game he is just a 1 dimensional 6th man who is capable of having amazing games like Fridays, but when he is struggling hes not anything more than Al Buckets. As people have said here, if Nate is benched than Al Buckets should also be benched when he is not playing well, but I definitely don’t think Lee and Nate should be lumped together.

But our shot blocking as a team has improved dramatically over last year performance. Even with a slow pace and less opposing team’s shots to block…and even without Darko. Keep that loser inactive. Darko sucks.

Are you throwing David Lee bones for his offense? Normally I’d agree but Lee is way more important to our offense than Darko is to our defense. In preseason and early this regular season Darko didn’t go for easy buckets. He kept throwing up 12 foot baseline jumpers with mediocre results at best. There was very little continuity when he was on the floor.

Believe me, if we weren’t trying to showcase Jeffries, I’d be all about giving Darko some solid minutes. But the fact that Darko is our only interior defender just shows that D’antoni has his hands tied.

Circle if you look around the league you can have a Center who can do nothing but block shots and your defense will be better and it leads to the playoffs. For example Chicago’s Noah and Dalembert of the Sixers last year. They did not need to score to help the team win. Chicago played very well with Noah in that classic series against Boston. Noah protected the paint. They were not running no zone defense either, buddy.

Sort of Tommy but that comment should be that to win a ring, teams have play good defense period. Very few teams have won a ring with a low defensive rating and those teams had Superstars with a high b-ball IQ!

We the Knicks have NEITHER! lol

True Dat! The Pistons got tired of playing Darko Polo with his sorry a-s-s under the basket! That should say alot because he was surrounded with good coaches and players.

It’s way to easy to say “the coach can just figure it out”

Contrary to popular opinion, a coach can’t control his players shot selection. D’antoni has said he wants them to go inside more, and for the most part they have (especially chandler), but they’re also there to spread the floor. Darko can do neither. Again I’d rather be showcasing Jeffries.

I have strong feeling that if D’antoni were giving significant minutes to Darko, everyone would be tearing him down for playing an bust who is completely lost when he’s not in the paint under his own basket and for not showcasing Jeffries or Curry.

I think we (or at least me) are trying to have a long term philosophical discussion of the importance of Post defense in winning the title.

I would argue that the coach has his prototypical “guys” here to play the way he likes and those “types” of players are incapable of winning a championship series.

if you look at the last 10 years when the game of basketball “changed” to allow more wing play every team that won had a top defense and/or a top interior defense..in the two occasions that it wasnt the case they had the best player in the league (Kobe/Wade ).. But Wade had a young motivated Shaq int he paint

I just think its at the crux of what is wrong with this coach and why he (unfortunately) will ultimately not succeed in NYC unless we get Lebron and he puts up triple doubles running the coach’s preferred offense.

no shots…

Yea but both Chicago and Philly have Stars who score at will, they get the easy points. Replacing Lee with Darko takes our easy points away.

defense an danni boy don’t go together an never will

u can’t expect a dog to be a cat
plain an simple
an stubborn as danni boy is thats what it is..

no doubt jeffries was a good idea but still…………..

True but we did at least go to the dance. Playing good defense is not a guarantee to win a ring but NOT playing good defense is surely close to a guarantee that you WON’T win a ring.

Maybe if we had just taken Starks our a moment to rest his aching wrist and let him ponder his mistakes, we might have gotten that ring. lol

Oh Well, my $500 can’t coming back no matter what!

It’s a damn shame Biggie, HaS, DaGawD_KnowLedge and others have turned this Knick fan blog into a tiresome, psychotic crusade against D’Antoni.

I only wish you guys would go to another site so fans of the TEAM can have at least conduct semi-rationale discussions. Your unexplainable crusade to convince Knick fans that their coach and GM suck has made this blog difficult to enjoy. Please go away and/or stop clogging the site with your ramblings.

Thank you. Go Knicks.

Sixers have been trying furiously to trade Dalembert for 2 years! And Noah is better at offense than Darko, as sad as that is. Noah was also surrounded by much better scorers last year.

The difference is that Lee is the ONLY CONSISTENT offensive player we have. Bulls last year had Gordon, Rose, Salmons and even Miller scored for them.

Both the Bulls and Sixers have infinitely better rosters. Both have also had a revolving door of coaches.

i think hte coach can have more than two or three offensive plays..

but seriously.. its not about now.. its about the coach’s philosophy..

i’d rather be showcasing JJ too.. my issuer isnt about using Darko or not.. its about his philosophy based on his long history in teh league.

and how he “likes to coach” versus what actually wins titles.

Darko can’t score even when the offense is generated for him.

Yep, Just Like Don Nelson, it seem to surely keep ya a job in the NBA though. Common sense should them that you have to be able to get a stop at some pt. I guess coaches like Nelson believes that your opponent missing an open shot or layup is a stop huh!

Ugh, I’m probably going to ge reemed for this one, but one can argue that great rebounding does have a defensive effect on the game. How many 2nd, 3rd and 4th chances did the Hawks have getting offensive boards while Lee was on the bench. The Hawks had 17 offensive rebounds, 8 by Al Horford himself. Those are offensive rebounds that we are talking about. If Lee was in the whole game I doubt that happens.

Kiki Vandeweghe even pointed out the Cleveland’s 16 offensive boards when talking aboout the Nets loss yesterday. We gave up 17, but Nate on in the zone so we won. That’s not a good testament for Lopez by the way.

I agree with pretty much everything there, the problem is that D’antoni doesn’t have interior defenders on this team. He can’t snap his fingers and get a Tim Duncan or Shaq.

in the words of Jules Winfield
If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions

Seriously though.. If you dont like reasoned debate then just read the articles. .. Or contribute your thoughts in a reasoned manner.

i think nyknicks.com has some cheerleaders that will spout the company line if you just want to chant go Knicks.

but i think you are smarter than that.

Noah is better than Darko at defense, too.

Everyone, while Darko might be our best interior defender, he is not Ben Wallace. Let’s not lose sight of that…

When did the tea partiers become avid D’Antoni supporters? We’re Knick Fans and care about the TEAM not particular about ANY coach! I guess you didn’t hear what was stated about Isiah huh?

Many of us though Riley and Van Gundy did a very good job.

Their discussions usually are logical. They may not say what you want to hear, but they are usually logical. However, your post was not logical and did not say anything. You should read http://www.nyknicks.com if you only want to read positive things about the knicks. They have a great website for that

You sound like an idiot saying bench Lee for 14 games.
Even though I know your joking….or I hope you were joking.

Its not helping anyone’s arguments against Dantoni to bring up Darko. He is a bum who hasn’t stuck on any teams hes been on for a reason. Sure, its an interesting and productive argument to debate the merits of Dantoni’s system and whether or not he can win a championship with it, but I think everyone knows that Darko is not the answer. I hope at least.

You can’t write-off D’antoni because he hasn’t won a title. Only, what, 5 coaches have won the chip in the past decade? He had to go against the Spurs dynasty. For all we know, D’antoni could have a chip if it weren’t for Tim Donaghey.

It’s way to easy to say I want a coach that has won a championship, but there were zero championship coaches available when the Knicks hired. D’antoni was arguably the best available.

i guess my point is that the coach doesnt want interior defenders.. they dont fit his system.

he’s so focused on fitting his offensive puzzle together that defense is an after thought..

and that is the crux of my Beef with him.

I think Tommy triggered an interesting Debate with this article.. if it stays on point there really isnt much that the D’Antoni supporters can counter with.

ui know you’ve stood on both sides of the fence as it relates to the coach and his philosophies.

Wait, I didn’t know we had to be classy here…I’m switching to another blog LOL

He had Shaq in PHX remember along with Amare? They got knocked out in round 1 winning 1 game!

In D’Antoni We Trust!!!

And Donnie also!!!

Just to set the record straight, I’m not a full fledged supporter of D’antoni’s system, though I do like the creativity. I just think we should let D’antoni get a real roster under his belt before we judge.

We’re rebuilding, let’s finish the building and try it out before we decide to tear it down.

I have received a ton of complaint emails about the hatred towards the coach in the comments section.

I appreciate all comments, of course, but sometimes it does seem to be more of a needless crusade. I don’t get the hate, myself. Not yet.

it’s not positive OR negative.Does he make mistakes? sure, but the jury has to be out on him until 2010. and if lebron comes here it was a great hire, end of story.

Hahns blog is now password protected so teh company line cant be spewed through the Dolan mafia..

no shots at Hahn.. he actually breaks some good news.. but he spouts the Dolan line way too much since Newsday became a Cablevision property.

HaS is right, you need to change that “we” to “I”

Yeaaaa!

Crusaders fight for Both sides Tommy.

Most championship teams have a very good offense AND a very good defense. That is why they are champions. What are really arguing about here. Why do we think that we can only have one or the other? You need to have both to give you the best chance for a ring.

there really isn’t much to defend with the coach because most know that it’s about him having the talent in 2010.

Tommy I think you have a little grammatical error in your paragraph.

Where you have ” if ” it should say ” when “…

i didnt say i want a coach who HAS won a chip..

I want one that CAN win one.

Hey “We” is more than one person. Im with you DVJ.

In Donnie and Mike We Trust!!!

lol

YIKES! You saw the D’Antoni system in full effect in PHX with better talent and a 2-time MVP running the show.

How much time do ya really need to figure this out? At the rate we’re going with drafting picks to sit on the bench, you’ll have to wait many years just for the talent to get here to the failure.

Fair enough, but that’s TBD isn’t it? Can’t determine that when D’antoni is building a house with balsa wood.

he has a very well known philosophy that can be discussed..

the subject of books in fact.

its easy to say bring in Lebron and he’ll win.

discussed?…to a lot of people who read the comments it’s ad nauseum what can i tell you.

True! NY is supposed to be the mecca of b-ball and yet we don’t see or wanna see the correlation with getting star players and having a good coach or system.

It’s sheer stubborness for this coach NOT to hire a good defensive mind on the nebch and incorporate that into his system.

How can the players be expected to develop with the coach won’t?

its a knicks blog.. should we talk about the Jets?

no.

not telling you what to do, just giving feedback.

The great philosopher Jules Winfield. Nice work

If Walsh didn’t hire D’Antoni…who in your opinion should he had hired?

Let’s see what the alternatives are to D’Antoni.

They love to say fire the coach…who would you replace him with?

This should be good.

Just give me the names of the coaches out there you would bring in right now or who you would’ve hired when we hired D’Antoni.

1. The West was wild back then and included the Spurs Dynasty.

2. It’s debatable whether Nash deserved those MVPs

3. The Suns were, more likely than not, Donaghey victims in 06-07

4. Suns were without Amare for virtually the entire year in 05-06 and STILL made it to the conference finals.

5. 07-08 was the failed Big Cactus experiment. You can thank Kerr for that one.

The guy couldn’t win a chip in 4 years with the Suns he must be a failure! The guy made the Western Conference finals twice with the Suns, once without their best player. At least 54 wins every season. What exactly is your beef?

I can’t believe people complained to you about posters who have a different opinion than them about the coach. That is so lame. Why don’t they just argue their point in an intellegent matter? I actually like the coach for the most part, but he is far from beyond crticism.

Oh and he is the coach of the Knicks…of course we are going to talk about him LOL

We don’t necessarily need Lebron, we just need something more than David Lee.

agreed.. totally lame..

I would have given Mark Jackson a chance or brought in a NY coach that has a resume for developing young talent.

This was the one moment in NY History where the fans were ready to rebuild and allow for this to occur. This had been the one thing stated that NY couldn’t do or wouldn’t in the past.

After Isiah, many of us were ready for a fresh breath of air. I was willing to give this coach a chance as well providing he put defense more in the forefront of his system.

it’s truly NOT personal with me about D’Antoni! I want this team to WIN period. I root for the Jets, Mets and Knicks so ya know I’m tired of expecting Mr. Ed to win the Triple Crown! I want results!

Jerry Sloan has been with the Jazz for like 2 decades and never won a chip, even with 2 HOFers.

Mark Jackson should take an assisting gig first, because lord knows he’s a terrible commentator

btw, the title of this story has Mike D’antoni’s name in it

Haha he is an atrocious commentator. I doubt he would be much better as a coach, and who in their right mind hires an announcer who has no experience coaching.

I used to read him, but for some reason I can’t bring myself to pay for it. I spend too much time reading about the knicks already for free lol

at least he called out Darko and Hill

If being a good commentator makes ya a good coach then Marv Albert should be coach! lol

Jerry Sloan got out of the Western conference TWICE and he didn’t have a two time MVP playing for his squad! Sloan is an excellent coach!

thats a loaded question..

Anyone who is suggested can be refuted easily with comments like “he’s never been a coach before” or “he’s neve won”

I can tell you this

I would have hired someone with a NEW YORK back ground who has a history of teaching defense ..

I wouldnt have a prblem taking a young guy or someone who may not have coached before.. as X-man said.. Fans were OK with a rebuilding and bought in to the 2010 plan..
The time was perfect to try something a little more bold then recycling the same names..

My pt is the PHX Suns NEVER made it out of the Wst during those 4 years under D’Antoni. They missed the playoffs in the coach 1st year and 2 out of 3 of the next years they lost to SA and 1 to Dallas.

As I’ve asked before, what other team has had a 2 time MVP and not got out of their conference?

Remember, SA didn’t win the championship those 4 years either.

PHX had REAL talent but didn’t couldn’t get stops in key moments of the game. They play very little defense especially the two time MVP.

Do you expect our Knicks to get better talent than PHX had?

You see the coach system doesn’t rely on defense so what in the heck do you expect from this coach?

Great post Biggie – I believe that interior defense has always been Mike D’Antoni’s Achilles heel but I think we also need to put things into perspective.

How many centers are actually good enough to be effective on both ends of the floor? They are either untradable or overpaid – and David Lee has always been our best option considering the fact that we can’t hurt the sacrosanct capspace. And we can’t blackmail Lee (“Darko will get your minutes until you start playing defense” for example) because he’s just too valuable and Darko Milicic is just not good enough.

The key is Jordan Hill. Why don’t we play him? Even though he needs to learn to play D with his feet and box out “harder”, the fact that he’s sitting on the bench is crazy.

PS : I must apologize, Wilson Chandler is playing really well. I mean REALLY well.

It’s only DVJ and his siblings doing that! Gotta keep Grandpa happy!

Marc Jackson – wired :

“Hey Gallo… Hands down man down!”

“Dave, hands down man down!”

“Hey Du Du ya heard! Hands down man down!”

Mike D’Antoni > Marc Jackson.

Hahahaha are you suggesting Malone and Stockton aren’t as good as Nash? Ok you’re donezo.

Sloan didn’t have a two-time MVP? Really?

Haha hilarious. Wired after a Duhon turnover- Hey Duhon YOU ARE BETTER THAN THAT!!! Dantoni is definitely better than Jackson, and in my opinion has done a decent job keeping a crappy crappy team on the brink of respectability.

1. D’antoni didn’t coach the whole year his first year.

2. You’re hooked on Nash being an MVP. Both times they were contentious.

3. “Remember, SA didn’t win the championship those 4 years either.”

Um they won in 05 AND 07.

I agree BUT :

1. The Knicks are actually playing good defense with poor defenders like Lee and Duhon…

2. The Suns reached the Conference Finals without Amare Stoudemire – with Amare I think they would’ve won the championship. Hypothetical of course… but they were unlucky. The suspensions were key as well.

3. Let’s not forget the fact that the Spurs were a dynasty, Greg Poppovich – even though he’s a better coach than Mike D’Antoni in my opinion – had the best power forward of ALL TIME (plus Parker and Manu). Garnett has been Duncan’s b*tch for years.

Thumbs up.

The Key is Jordan Hill. D’antoni should find him minutes. He leaves his feet way too much on defense and draws too many fouls, but his motor is great.

The adjustment our Knicks have made in the last several games is to pack the paint with nearly all 5 players. At any time defensive 3 secs can be called. Well at least we’re trying to do something a little different.

Watch for Indiana shooters like Dunleavy, Rush and etc to have a field day from the outside tonite.

lol He coach 61 games his 1st year. Most MVP’s are contentious dude! lol

Ok, can you name ANY other two-time contentious MVP winners who NEVER got our of their conference?

Mt pt about SA was that they weren’t the only nemesis keeping PHX from getting out of the West. Utah got out of the West twice only to find MJ in their way!

The PHX Suns found lack of Defense in their way!

Honestly, I think having Jeffries as the zone anchor is pretty damn near genius. He locks down the guards and provides help defense in the middle, his 2 defensive strong points. It shut down the Hawks late in the game last time and relegated them to outside shots.

Also, I might be wrong but the ref can’t call defensive 3 seconds if you’re within an arms length an opposing player or if a player is in the act of shooting.

I hear ya but the Spurs played defense period!

Our Knicks won’t play good defense if the system or the coach has very little accountability for this.

Our Knicks are playing a little more consistent because certain players are at least making an attempt to play some “D”. We’ll see how long it last!

I hear ya but if you keep all players in the paint, the refs ain’t gonna call it EVERYtime because that would make the game 10 hours!

It’s known as the Patrick Ewing rule! If you pick up the ball and run 4 steps everytime, you won’t be called for traveling as much. That’s the new traveling baseline for that player! lol But if he takes 5 steps, he is in trouble.

this site needs some sanity
an those guys u mention do provide it.

all i know to do is keep it real

Can you name any other MVP as terrible on defense as Nash? Nash is by far the most contentious MVP in recent history.And the second year he won, he won it without Amare there.

And you give Utah a pass on MJ but not the Suns a pass on Duncan? The only difference is that Spurs were in the same conference.

Sloan hasn’t been to the dance in over a decade, twice as long as D’antoni has coached. What is Utahs excuse when they have Deron Williams, Boozer, Okur, AK47, Milsap? I say that’s comperable to what the Suns had. Utah might not even make the playoffs this year!

You’re setting up a huge double standard. You dismiss the Spurs dynasty, tim donaghy, Amares injury and the suspensions and give Sloan every benefit of the doubt.

That’s on the refs, not D’antoni.

They didn’t even make the playoffs the next year with Shaq when D’antoni left!

lmao.

How can anyone argue for Mark Jackson? He has never coached an NBA or even a college game. I guess people could argue Avery, especially the defense lovers. But personally, I think that D’antoni was the right choice. Even with his faults.

I’m not sure why a coach from New York would make a difference either. Larry Brown didn’t work out. He is a Hall of Fame coach from NY that didn’t work out well here.

This is a tough play to coach. I think D’antoni has been ok so far. He’s not knocking the cover off the ball by any means, but he’s doing alright. His real test will be next year.

should read: tough place to coach

the team isn’t as crappy as the coach

I don’t think it’s that he doesn’t want interior defenders, I think it’s that he doesn’t want slow bumbling centers. Unfortunately a lot of those are interior defenders. I think if the Knicks got a big defender who can move, D’antoni’s system will work. The catch is that there aren’t a lot of those around, so it could spell disaster. But it also explains some of the reasoning behind the Hill pick.

I’m not really standing on both sides of the fence, I’m just waiting until 2010 to choose one. I guess you could say I’m leaning on the pro-D’antoni side but I’m playing Devil’s advocate more than anything.

Regardless it’s a great debate.

Not really – that’s why I give Mike D’Antoni credit. David Lee is still a poor defender, Chris Duhon can’t keep his man in front of him, Danilo Gallinari is not a good defender (he’s not a liability but he’s not good yet), Al Harrington is inconsistent and Larry Hughes is not a lock-down defender anymore.

Honestly the only good defenders are Jared Jeffries (who can’t guard traditional big men) and Wilson Chandler. I’m not a Mike D’Antoni fan but the fact that the Knicks are playing good defense is a miracle.

PS : Poppovich > D’Antoni, I agree, but Pop is one of the best coaches in NBA history IMO.

It’s not about complaining about criticism of the coach, it’s the relentless campaign against DA no matter what happens. It’s not logical or rationale; and worse, it makes “Knicks Fan” look like a bunch of malcontents on a crusade to prove they are right.

I like DA because he’s made me believe again and gave me hope the Knicks “could” win a championship in a few years. If he can’t, then I’m not going to defend him. Fact is, this is a “lost year” and I think the team is playing as well as could be expected until it “resets” next year. Simple as that.

We could debate the decision on how to rebulid, but to relentlessly (irrationally?) campaign against one of the most respected coaches in the league (world if you count the olympics) no matter what he does is either crazy or someone’s bad joke.

What is most disturbing about the campaign is that no matter what, it’s impossible for the DA haters to admit he can do anything right. You can’t debate a crusader on the internet, which makes good websites turn into a forum for unstable malcontents.

he did it on twitter.. didnt see it in Newsday.

I only get Hahn cause im a cablevision sucker.. er..customer.

that might not be too much longer.. i use to be a proud DTV customer but moved and too many trees now.

(

eh,,,like I said,, he has “his” players..

Chandler — prototypical D’Antoni PF
Gallo – Hand picked sharp shooter
Lee — studied Amare & coaches pet
JJ — we know the coach loves him
Duhon — again.. hand picked.
Hill — draft pick
TD — another draft pick

**Sigh** You have to be a medicated shut-in or a troll.

it si.. but some people can stand it if people disagree with them or dont wave pom poms.

In the words of Colonel Jessup — they cant handle the truth.

im on a roll today..

maybe 15 years ago.. I think LB is certifiably insane.

LB would have been another retread

no you didnt say anything like that.

you minimized the importance of solid defense in both your post and follow up comments.

the point of the original post was that defense isnt as important as it use to be.

I strongly disagree with that.. on a philosophical basis.

Exactly. The players revolted when they were expected to play defense and have their stats lowered!

The Suns have gone back to the same style under D’Antoni really.

Once you develop players who get great stats by playing one end of the floor, it’s to get them to sacrifice for the better of the team.

lmao biggie!

On the contrary, I’m suggesting Sloane is a much better coach! lol He at least got out of the Western conference!

Dallas got pass the Psurs in 2005-06 and Dallas beat PHX that yar too.

So why could Dallas do it and NEVER Phx?

The Spurs are good but they are not the Bulls during MJ rein! Noo team in recent history has dominated like the Bulls then.

Which one of those Utah players won the MVP? lol

Sloan is a much better coach than D’Antoni pt blank.

BTW, the reaosn Nash is so terrible on defense is because he learn from the best that defense don’t matter!

Wow! Isiah gave some that belief too until reality caught up to him.

Keep the faith!

If it’s such a lost year then why not play the young players period?

It’s best to make the kool-aid then to drink your product!

Oh Well, I was trying to give the coach some credit for this adjustment and u shot that down! lol

U tell him! Don’t mess with family right?

lol.

i let some of these delusional bloggers do them man
it also depends on my mood.

Because Amare was injuried that year!

Nowitzki is a better MVP than Nash anyways, it’s not even close.

hey if thats the only way to get DLEE to try……….

yeah,this site should be for fans who idolize D’antoni and Walsh.that would be so much fun. POST: Gee wiz ,i love donnie walsh POST 2: me too…..isnt that stimulating?(can you get me some blue claw crabs?)

i thought you guys were Knicks fans?

its the same thing the other way around.its hard for D’antoni and Walsh lovers to admit that they can do anything wrong!AGREE?

TOM THIBODEAU!

speak for yourselves only.I dont trust any GUY that i dont know personally.any GM who would go 2 years without a point guard,i dont trust