D’Antoni: Suns Style Can Win in the East

and here we go….

Ahhhhhh…

WOW! Thx Tommy Dee, I read this coach’s comments in the NY Daily News today!

This coach is as stubborn as a mule and half as smart. I keep telling ya that this coach is more like Isiah than some of ya likes to admit.

Isiah gave us a lot of b.s. about small ball big ball and etc when he had no real clue about how t turn things around for the best.

This coach is now pledging that speed ball is the winning formula and making excuses that his PHX teams played good defense. He know says he doesn’t need a star pt guard and that his style of play can win using other parts to fuel speed ball.

This coach has the nerve to turn down getting a defensive mind on his staff and says his staff is fine basically

ALL OF THIS IS REASON ALONE WHY THIS COACH SHOULD BE FIRED BEFORE 5PM.

If some of ya think this coach needs more time until next year and etc, you are totally blind to what is in front of your eyes. This coach is putting down a marker to incorporate 5SOL because those two extra secs from before is causing confusion.

PLEASE FIRE THIS DUMBA-S-S COACH!

Tea Party vs. Kool-Aid Brigade…

FIGHT!

Tommy Dee (cont)

Your last paragraphs in your article is really disturbing. You’re suppose to be the pt guard of Knicks info not some luv struck teenager.

- You are excusing the coach for the players quitting on him.
- You have the nerve to say Gallo has had a rather decent year despite watching how Gallo has been ignored on this team and no attempts made to get this dude some spacing EACH game.
- Give us a break about the best of the PHX Suns when they couldn’t even get out of the West with a 2 time MVP and so much talent, That system will never be playoff b-ball especially playing very little defense.

We surely know that having a star pt guard can be important since ours (U) is playing like Duhon when it comes to this coach!

This coach has done nothing here to warrant further time as coach! We have watched White Isiah for 2 years here and some of ya act like he has answers! He’s toally trying to tell all of us “Hey folks,I’m just white! I don’t have any answers but that’s just alright!”

I never thought it would take so long for fans to catch on to this guy’s modus operandi.

Why the resistance to add a defensive coordinator type to his staff?

Who are the people “in the organization” that have this growing sentiment?

LOL Tommy Dee is spiking the Kool-aid with steriods!

He’s now pushing to run speed ball without a star pt guard. This man is insane! He really trying to break me off of some of that Peanut Brittle!

14 and5 for gallo is pretty good. Next year hopefully 17 and 7.

We can ALL rest assured for good that LBJ isn’t coming here NO WAY NO HOW based on what this dumba-s-s coach has stated today.

We might have assured that RalpheAL might be the pillar in this rotation! He surely can shoot it under 5 secs!

There you go just look at some numbers and not the games. Bring up Lee’s numbers and he’s on his way to the hall of fame!

trust me ive watched more games then u prolly. The way that hes starting to attack of the dribble is encouraging.Idk what u expected form him this year. And gallo is a 10x better defender than Lee will ever be.

u have no clue about the nba stop watching.

so in other words that would be
KOOL STERIODS

lol

I wanna see us get better but DAntoni is so FOS it chaps my a$$, if he considered putting his ego away and allow a defensive mind on his bench I might give him a break.

Look at all the playoff bound teams which one is suspect on defense? Even in the East those teams battling for # 8 all play some form of D and have a defensive system not YMCA run up and down the court 7SOL mess. Uggg

D’antoni is a nut and knicks might just run into the same problem as Kerr with his stubborness. Kerr wanted him to get a defensive coach and he got defensive. The coach might not be the reason LBJ wont come here since the coach can be fired. How Walsh handles things with the coach might influence his decision. IMO LBJ has plenty of reasons to come here but DW has to show that the knicks is bigger and more important than the coach. DW has to show authority but I feel as if he will give the coach just enough rope to hang himself. If the coach doesn’t want a defense coach then Walsh is like ” ok but you better win and prove your system”. The coach is starting to scare me with his pride. I even have a strange feeling that DW hasn’t signed a big from the d-league because the coach wouldn’t play him. That would bad on DW’s part not doing his part. Give him what he needs to win and hold him accountable. Next year will be a free pass since he will have the players to get instant results for improvement thus saving him for another year.

Wow. This should be fun. I agree the Suns got hosed that year, and they probably would have won a championship. Add in another year, where maybe my memory is off, where Joe Johnson got hurt in the 1st round of the playoffs and they were done. That could have been 2 rings. But possibility is not the same as actuality, so I have no argument. I don’t see why Dantoni wouldn’t hire a defensive coordinator rather than just come off as a stubborn ass, but I guess thats the MO of a stubborn ass. Haha, I guess we will see next year. He will either get some players that can run, not get those players and either adjust or struggle and be fired. In my opinion, the Suns were a decent defensive team with some poor defenders, so I think he can coach defense. We will see next year, based on these past 2 years while its tough to tell because the roster is full of bad defenders, I would have to say he didn’t do a good job coaching defense.

“I just don’t want the misconception that what Phoenix was and what they are, the best thing they do is the offense. They maximize it and they play as hard on defense as they can. And it was good enough to win 62 games when we were there.”

I’m not disputing or doubting that he can’t win playing an uptempo style. He has proven that, but so has Don Nelson.

Let’s all be real here, when _’antoni was coaching the Suns were any of you scared his team was going to shut down the Knicks? I know I wasn’t and the Knicks sucked then too. It’s all or nothing with this guy and his system, either he’s going to blow you out or you’re going to have a good chance at winning if you can hopefully avoid a free throw shooting contest. At least that was the feeling I got whenever the Knicks faced him.

They didn’t know the difference between a good shot and a bad shot, they wouldn’t know how to use the clock to their advantage when they had the lead or when they needed to get back into a game. They lived and died by the three, if they were hot and stayed hot you didn’t have a chance, but if they went cold you could actually run out on the long misses and make a game out of it fairly quickly. The way he plays is very seductive to the less disciplined teams, who will take the same bad shots and try to beat him at his own game. Which plays right into this “coach”‘s hands.

This system can win in the regular season, there’s no doubt about that, he’s proven it. However, in the postseason the upper echelon teams are more disciplined, take care of the ball, aren’t lured into a frenetic style of play and play sound defense. In a down year he could probably win the whole thing, but with a good amount of teams with a legitimate shot at the title I doubt 7SOL is going to have ultimate success in the league. Now if he takes the stick out of his a** and hires a defensive minded coach and opens his rotation to a solid 8-9 players, that could change everything imho.

Hopefully he gets us LeBron or Wade as planned, if not I could have done without the _’antoni era.

Ive been commenting on this blog for about a year and a half.I remember being THE only person on here questioning the KNICKS moves and hirings.I really took a lot of flack from everyone on here.Called pesisimist blah blah .Not one person agreed with anything negative that i said..Man ,how things have changed. Off subject, I bartend at a place that Bobby Gonzales used to frequent when he coached at MANHATTAN COLLEGE.I can say undeniably,that Gonzo was and always will be in my heart THE WORLDS BIGGEST PRICK AND TOTAL ASSHOLE ON THIS AND ANY OTHER PLANET

bob?

yo X your starting to get a buzz
from the kool aid drinkers…

thats BOB
what up hows them drinks coming DUDE

What happens if he is the reason LBJ doen’t come? LBJ said that he would only play for a team where the coach is defensive minded and the players care about defense. I have seen bad defensive players traded to good defensive teams and play good defense because the coach wouild accept nothing less and the players playing time was ta stake.

Off topic . Check out the scouting prospect report on Evan Turner. It’s like wow I havn’t seen a report with so many listed for strenths . If the nets don’t take that kid they would be foolish. As a knick fan you might hope they go get Wall which would make Harris expendable for maybe a cap dump to the knicks . If they get Wall and trade harris for talent they won’t get a talent better than Turner which is why they would be smart to draft him and pair him with Harris.

Tommy: Hope you didn’t really believe that you could convince the “haters” that D’Antoni and his system could win in the East. D’Antoni, like any other NBA coach can only be as good as the team he is coaching. That is Coaching 101. You fire the coach when the team stinks. When a really good team wins you give some credit to the coach. It really is as simple as that. Doc Rivers could not coach until he got Garnett and Allen. What a surprise?

The “system’s” biggest component is the fact that the players are given lots of liberty… perhaps too much… That is why a young, undermanned, undersized team couldn’t exceed expectations. But we saw some special players execute it the way it was supposed to be done in Pheonix, and we saw how incredible it can be if there are smart players who can handle it. You can’t claim that it ‘doesn’t work’ just because they didn’t win a ring… there is only one ring a year and every year there unbelievable teams who come up empty handed.

No, it’s not ideal for developing talent… But IF we get lebron… I am a firm believer that LeBron, as the ‘extension of the coach on the floor’ that nash was, could do wonders in this system… He could average 35 points, 12 assists, and 8 rebounds. Whatever nash/d’antoni did in pheonix could be dwarfed if it was re-done with lebron/dantoni…. espiecially if the big man Amare is replaced by bosh, that further magnifies the dwarfing.

So i admit he’s not the best talent developer and he is too stubborn to ‘adapt to the players he has’… but that is just the thing… He wasn’t brought here to build a team from scratch and adapt to players. He was brought here to coach a contender, and to coach one of the best players the game has seen. THAT, is donnie’s job, not d’antonis. He was brought here to play d’antoni ball with Lebron or wade, etc… it almost won with nash, now see if it can win with lebron… i think it can. But If we fail to put that team together, then he will probably leave, and rightfully so.

Again, my main point is that he wasn’t brought in here to coach a team up from scratch… these two years have been a formality; he was brought here to coach a roster worthy of contention, and donnie absolutely has to deliver on that.

“Someone told me once that NBA players “tune out” coaches after about game 10 and only “tune back in” come playoff time. And that person played in the NBA.”

Who was that Bill Wellington? lol I hear a lot of NBA players say you cant win in the playoffs with MD’s style! His former players have said he does not coach defense. So if you want to quote anonymous NBA guys cool but feel free to quote the large amount of pro’s who say its gimmick “And1″ basketball and not made to win rings.

They could of won they should of won c;mon man If this If that, if Pat would of put Hubert Davis in rather then let Starks go 1 for 18 we could of won to!! lol
Fact is this coach and this GM have no championships to speak of or to use as proof that they have a damn clue of what there doing.

Here we go again!! Repeat after me guys “WADE IS NOT AN OPTION!”

Honestly, Red Holzman could coach this team and the results would still be the same.

Consider this: Larry Brown couldn’t be any more polar to Mike D’Antoni in terms of philosophy/system, and LB arguably had more talent that MDA did. But despite all this, that LB-coached team stunk to high heaven.

So, really, NO system works with this current collection of players. The bottom lime is that the Knicks are an in-limbo team, and have been ever since the FA Bonanza of 2010 caught steam. The Knicks are the ghost in the machine, until somebody comes here and gives this team life again.

Lebron out of his own mouth said he wont play on a team that plays no defense! We should just ignore that fact because some wana be cult leader has convinced some of you he is some world beater champion?

Now the new remix is “yea it was a trash style in the west during playoffs but it can win in the east” lmaooo as if you wont end up playing the best team in the west who will bust that ass “AGAIN”.

Lebron is going to just change what he wants for a coach who has time and again refused to change and or adapted to the skill sets of players he has and refused to play or coach real defense for his whole career?

Lol

Larry Brown has rings to back up the claim his system works for the most part MD has not won a damn thing so thats the difference there. The team MD had here before the talent drain was winning and could win lots of games but thats just it, winning games and making a lttle run in the playoffs is all this system is good for!

“Again, my main point is that he wasn’t brought in here to coach a team up from scratch… these two years have been a formality; he was brought here to coach a roster worthy of contention”

We all know why he was brought in, but he has shown an ignorance to certain coaching fundamentals that really raise a concern with me. He admitted to not emphasizing defense in his 1st year, it took him over a year to figure out he needed to adjust his system to the players he had, he seemed genuinely surprised that Toney’s defensive energy was contagious the 1st night he unchained him from the bench for extended minutes and his obvious double standards when dealing with his players is sure to cause a cancer to spread in any locker room.

hey why is my name commin up like that…hey guys …yes its MEEEEEE.Who wants a drink?

does anyone know how to get my “BOB”name back up there?

the leash will be very very short on Danny boy .. and us fans will force mgt to send him packing if we get 2 max studs and the team underachieves

“Larry Brown couldn’t be any more polar to Mike D’Antoni in terms of philosophy/system, and LB arguably had more talent that MDA did. But despite all this, that LB-coached team stunk to high heaven.”

Larry Brown was in “I just won a ring, kneel down and kiss it” Diva mode when he got here. Starting players in their hometown, WTF was that? Alienating Ariza, who probably would have been a Larry Brown favorite at any other time? Then trading him for an injured version of Marbury who was a lot more dependent on his athleticism (which he had lost)?

He was more interested in erecting an empire with his first objective being to overthrow Isaiah, he just underestimated how close Thomas and Dolan really were. He wanted power and he couldn’t get it here, so he wore out his welcome.

You’re right on on many points, X:
- I do agree that, as a coach, you should be able to control your locker room as well as understand when the players need their time. Best example, how Doc Rivers handled the situation when Rondo wanted it to be “the big 4″. Players may “tune out” the coach, but he needs to know when he has impose authority.
- +1. Gallo has been a ghost throughout most of the games during the season, getting few touches without being involved in the offensive set. This, to a less extent, has been applied to Chandler, but his growth was coming along just fine before this coach, and his stats show it.
- Speculation will always exist on whether the Suns could’ve gone all the way or not. Personally, that team had enough depth to at least to get to the finals. Put it on the calls and refs, but they had enough team.

I’m pretty much with you, but the truth of the matter is that this guy came knowing that he’d have to deal with 2 years without “his horses”, which is not only an insult to the present players, but a demonstration that the guy will be around at least for the entire upcoming season, which to me is just awfull. By the time this coach leaves, Avery Johnson and Thibodeau will have thier own teams.

The 5 Moes…..people don’t believe me.

D’Baloney is going to try and put together 5 guys all about the same size and skills. No real center or point guard……good luck.

Finding the 5 Moes is impossible because their skill set has to be close to Michael Jordan and there are only 2 players in the NBA who are close, Kobe and LeBron. They have to have the skills, be unselfish and accountable to themselves and self motivated to win. I can’t name more than a few players who even come close and the best teams have those players. The Lakers, Celtics, Spurs and a few other teams have some players like that. I do not know how Walsh is going to find 5 stars for D’Baloney.

Gallo does not fit he’s too slow, Hill fit and we traded him. Chandler has skills but a low BBall IQ. So we don’t have anybody who fits that on the roster how can 32 mil get 5 of them?

Not to mention our coach and GM are NOT on the same page.

After this disaster it’s going to take another 3 years to get over all the damage and start over.

Like I have been saying nothing positive is happening with the Knicks for another 4 years or so. expect nothing but heartbreak and excuses from this duo. We need a real GM who is in touch with reality and his coach and a real coach who understands defense wins championships and that you have to hold players responsible for their play.

Defense wins championships because when you need a stop you get one. Yes you have to score but when it comes to crunch time you have to get that defensive stop or the good teams will beat you. This goes for every team sport and even boxing. It’s the most basic thing there is, you must be able to defend no matter how many points you can score.

Whatever you want to call it speed ball, 7SOL it’s been done and has not worked in the NBA. Yes it can work only if the players can defend period. Any system will work if the players execute it correctly and defend.

That’s all I ask from the man, a little thing called “doing the best for the team”, which in his case is getting a guy who knew defense and taught it to the team. He can then begin to show why he is the “offensive guru” some call him.
Two things do need to go down if the guy puts his issues aside and bring someone in: he’s gonna need a bigger rotation or his guys are either gonna get injured from playing so intense every night, or they’re just gonna get burnt if they make it to the playoffs; on the other hand, DW’s gonna need to search for a way to get a quality PG, because his SSOL doesn’t work without one of those.

TESTING TESTING

+1
If James doesn’t get here, there are interesting combinations to be made, but hell, Walsh is all in. The one thing we’re gonna need is a quality PG, because that’s 50% of his style, a quality.

Didn’t he make the playoffs four years in a row with a team that basically had T-Mac and an eternal injury in Grant Hill? He would’ve had to great players, he lucked out and did his best with MacGrady, and he never was, even in his prime, comparable in any way to Kobe, Wade or James.
I wouldn’t go so far to say that Doc couldn’t coach, I’d say he couldn’t get past the first round for 4 seasons in a row.

To justify whatever shortcomings you have with your team (lack of communication and characters, no hustle on D and on many nights the other end as well) with the excuse that “he doesn’t have his players”, is a ridiculous excuse and a demonstration that he himself isn’t putting his 100% with his roster.

It seems that D’antoni’s approval rating around here is about equal to Obamas!

But for the two of them, time will tell………………..

The guy looks for the same arquetype of player, true, but the one player that doesn’t have to fit is the PG. He’s not just another Moe, he’s the leader Moe, head honcho Moe. His qualities have to differ from the others, he needs to pass at a superior level, he needs to have a court vision unparallel to the rest of his teammates and he needs to shoot just as well as the rest of the guys. This system doesn’t work without a good PG, period. There are styles where the PG is a mere facilitator, but with D’antoni, he’s an extension of his arm.
For him, the 5 can be just as easily as the PF. In Phoenix the best example of this was Diaw, where he literally played in every position, of course both at 1 and the 5 he wasn’t as successful. Besides, it ain’t everyday you find 5 guys with such a complete skillset.

I think his approval will be really measured when “he has his team”. Personally, watching nights when the team would give up, or Gallo being phased out, or Duhon playing horrible over and over again without getting benched, knowing TD is your best defensive player and not seeing him on the court, seeing get outcoached in late game situations or watching his statements after the game ad infinitum really shows me his character as a coach, and I didn’t like it. It showed what this guy can do without 5 great players (that not a lot of teams have 5 GREAT guys).
I just couldn’t understand how a coach like that was supposed to turn around a franchise that’s become a losing culture for the past decade.

You are absolutely right about Doc Rivers. I believe he is a good coach. Do you think our “haters” would be satisfied if D’Antoni only does as well as Doc did in Orlando? I don’t think so.

I think if he would’ve made a collective effort to get this team into the playoffs, there would’ve been appreciation, but that hasn’t been the case, now has it?

That’s my point about 5 Moes you don’t need a PG. Everybody is a good enough passer and decision maker that they can take the ball up the court and make the pass or get it going. the PG is on the bench to run the second team.

I think to understand what I am saying you have to read what I have. I did not read the book but I did read stuff from the guys who D’Baloney looked to help come up with this offensive system.

If you read that then the light bulb goes on and it’s like OH I get it. I totally understand what is going on in D’ass’s mind. In fact if he does pull it off he would have a great, exciting and scary good team that would definitely contend for a title. But in reality there just is not enough talent in the NBA and today’s NBA players are woefully short on fundamental BBall skills and IQ. So in reality it will never work.

Gallo was supposed to be the key Moe but when he got here they over estimated his abilities. He’s too slow and awkward but D’Baloney is too stubborn to publicly admit that.

Chandler and Hill physically fit his prototypical player but for some reason we traded Hill. In the beginning D’ass though DLee would not fit. He was wrong and in fact DLee is a perfect Moe, D’ass has even admitted it. But because of the mismanagement of our roster by Walsh he will be gone.

Maybe Hill, DLee, Chandler, Joe Johnson and a good PG like….ummm…..Jennings would have been a really good team and more like what D’Ass is trying to do. But for some reason now that lineup isn’t ever going to be. Gallo does not fit D’ass’s concept and he won’t do the right thing and either build a team around the kid or trade him for the right pieces.

I don’t know if speedball is the way or not, but regardless, MDA needs to be a better coach to all his players, not just some.

I think he has done a phenomenal job developing David Lee, for instance, but he has wasted opportunities with other players because of his own personal preconceptions about them (i.e. Darko).

MDA needs to be more flexible about who is in his inner sanctum, because he only develops the players he lets in. Those that aren’t “in”, are alienated. Teams in disharmony don’t win championships.

So speedball doesn’t matter until he takes care of this first. He needs to pull an LB, get into the huddle and say “I love you guys”. Give the team pride, and you’ll see defense.

I got one thing to say..

SHOULD have Won is the Mantra of a Loser.

Either you Won or you Lost.

No medals for second place. This isnt the Olympics.

Take the keys HaS

Then again, I don’t think any team can win a championship without a game-changer.

See 2004 Detroit Pistons.

Maybe you can “win” with that Phoenix Suns style… and Mike D’ANtoni is QUICK to point out that he won 70+% of his (regular-season) games with the Suns.

But I believe (and maybe I’m just being too old-fashioned stubborn here ESPECIALLY after watching Winning Time on Sunday), New Yorkers aren’t going to get behind a team that isn’t at least halfway decent defensively.

He has to notice that 13 of the teams that would currently qualify for the playoffs allow less than 100.0 ppg to opponents. And that his “outscore the opponent” strategy was never successful in the playoffs?

I’m not convinced that they would have won it all in 2007. Yeah they got screwed over agaisnt the Spurs. The Suns were 1-3 against Utah that year and while they swept the regular season series against the Cavs that year, the Cavs are built around the same defensive principles that the Spurs are, and the league screwing the Suns or not, the Spurs WERE in the Suns head.

And frankly, I’m not sold on the development of the young players yet.

People say Wilson Chandler is better this year than last year. I felt he was his effort was more consistent last year.

David Lee is better this year, but that’s mostly because he has a better jump shot. That’s more about personal hard-work than anything else. And let’s not fool ourselves, his jumper has improved but it’s still not that reliable. It’s not like the jumpers that C. Oakley and Kurt Thomas developed in their careers. And as much as I like Lee, I don’t think there’s many players in the NBA who put up more hollow statistics than his 20/11.

Gallinari’s been fine for a player who’s effectively finishing up his 1st real year, and his problems are a combination of his passive nature and the “system’s” inability to get him the ball where he needs it.

I agreed with most everything you said until Gallo has been a fine player……he was a lottery pick that has played like he was picked closer to were Lee was. he’s a developmental player not a lottery pick.

He came here with glowing reviews about his game and all I see is a European bigman who lives on the outside, plus were are those point guard like ball handling skills I read about? He has not lived up to any of the hype and there are massive holes in his game which is not totally defined. He’s also a tweener and I hate tweeners, he doesn’t have a position.

Sorry to say Gallo is as much of a fraud as D’Baloney and Donnie so far.