Judging D’Antoni

“I was and still am a big fan of D’Antoni’s…”

*Stops reading*

Good piece Jason. I pretty much agree with everything you wrote. The Suns were a ton of fun to watch when he was the coach. But he has really lost me, especially this past year. Just a lot of really bad decisions.

But honestly, I believe he can win, and he does coach enough defense to win. As he has said and is repeated way too often but still doesn’t change its truth…The suns were the best defensive team on the floor over 50 games per year.

I do take exception to the Chris Duhon and Sergio thing. Dantoni could have benched Duhon, or he could have lessened his role dramatically on the offense. Thats my biggest problem with this season..No simple adjustments. The only time I respected him was when he finally benched Nate, I only wish he followed it up with Al Chucketts and David Lee being benched.

I really do think he can win with a decent amount of talent and I look forward to next season to see if that is true. Assuming of course we are able to get some decent talent.

When the knicks had Zeke as the coach and they played the Suns , I was like” I wish we had a coach like that because he team whooped us and were exiting to watch . The grass always seems greener on the other side. Based on his late game decisions or lack thereof I am no longer confident in this guy. I dont even care how he does next season if the knicks get LBJ since he will be the real coach.

“Comment by HaS
2010-04-30 18:45:21″

*stops reading*

lol…sry man i couldn’t resist

i got up to

“I loved his candor and his moustache. “

I felt bad so I continued.

” I knew the Knicks were getting a coach who would put his players in a position to succeed…”

Really?

“…and usually get the very best out of them (Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa aren’t exactly setting the world on fire without D’Antoni behind them).”

Barbosa has been battling injuries and Diaw is without the player who truly got “the very best out of (him)” in Steve Nash.

“the Knicks have been playing without a leader, a heart. And without that leader, they have played with no heart or fire.”

Who’s the Bucks’ leader?

“D. Lee’s hustle is undeniable”

Oh, it is most definitely deniable.

Well written piece though man.

No shots.

The coach rubs people the wrong way and he is stubborn. That is the reason Marc Cuban gave for firing Avery who actually won and preached defense. This is exactly what D’antoni does mnus the preaching of D. Jason you must be a Suns fan because there is nothing that coach did this season to be a fan of . Seriously what was this year? I understand why he was hires due to the fact he is a big name coach who should serve as an allure but whats happens if because he put his foot in his mouth so much he becomes a repellent for FA’s.

In fairness.. well written Jason-

I was initially hoping for a revival of the Riley era. Riley wasnt known for Defense in LA then came here and emphasized it. I guess that was the optimist in me hoping for the best.

The “Coach” gets a pass on the record fo rthe past two years.. totally agree Regardless of the roster moves.. and shuffling it is the USE of the players on the bench and the in game decisions that has turned my stomach and made me loathe him.

In looking back the man has serious interpersonal character flaws that remain unaddressed. We saw it first when he left the Bulls wondering why he said he would NEVER work in NY then signed on the dotted line… I shrugged it off at first but in looking back that was an ominous sign.

Can D’Antoni win me over? Sure. When Lebron signs and says the only reason he came here was because of the coach then i’ll capitulate.

But my questions about his player usage, chronically short rotations, the way he holds grudges and treats anyone who is not the teachers pet and a lack of in game adjustments/end of game play calling remain unanswered.

Ditto.

This piece reminds me of when Tommy went on and on about how intimidated it is approaching DW and writing with words about him you would only read in a school girls love letter to her first crush. Jason dude did he really have you at hello ? lol. Im out.

“Jason dude did he really have you at hello ?”

That was a little strange lol.

“Mike D’Antoni had me at hello. I watched his introductory press conference like it was the season premiere of LOST. I loved his candor and his moustache.”

Uh… pause?

You two are too funny!

This piece reminds me of when Tommy went on and on about how intimidated it is approaching DW and writing with words about him you would only read in a school girls love letter to her first crush..

Woah, wait, what?

explain…

D’Antoni can surely win me over by moving 7SOL and company down Interstate 95 to another guillable city and fan base.

This coach should be trying to win some games to get into the playoffs first.

Scott Skiles is showing what a real young coach can do and this coach of ours was suppose to be an experienced juggernaut! hahahahahaha

Maybe this coach should let his brother have a try at 7SOL. This reminds me off the the scene in “There’s something about MAry” when Ben Stiller was int he car with the serial killer and he was suggesting that he could market the killer idea better by going with 6 secs abs and etc.

Maybe the coach’s brother can go with 6 SOL!

Riley’s team played good defens ein LA but many oly paid attention to the flashy style with Magic and company. However, if you watched those games, LA played very good defense and they had to to get back the Celtics with Bird and Company.

What Riley did here was relaized that he didn’t have players to runt he flashy style offense so he made sure his team beat the crap out of ya so the other team couldn’t play any flashy style either.

The rules were different then too. We actually were able hit Michael Jordan a few times.

Riley demanded respect and he got it fromt he players period. Our coach starts singing that favorite Aretha Franklin song R-E-S-……and the players hollar shut the f-@@k up before he finishes! Only LBJ2010 , Tommy Dee and and few others let him finish!

Going off topic for the 1st time EVER! I read where you stated my Jets would be 8-8 this coming year because that’s how the league works from year to year.

Dream on! We have shutdown CBs now plus some cagey veterans oin offense and defense. Our CBS will be so good that even Chris Duhon would haver time to get to the opposing QB!

Rex Ryan is a LEADER unlike our awful Knicks coach! See how I always bring it back to the issue at hand? Pure Genius! lol

“Scott Skiles is showing what a real young coach can do and this coach of ours was suppose to be an experienced juggernaut! hahahahahaha”

The Bucks also have a better roster. That usually helps.

BTW, Lost rules. Season premiere was pretty awesome.

I hear ya Jason but THIS

“Coach D’Antoni has what it takes to lead the Knicks to the promised land, but he can’t do it on his own.”

Is that prmoised land where free blacks were promised one mule and 40 acres of land? If so, we do have something in common with this coach! Many of us blacks are still waiting! lol

This coach sucks and anyone disagreeing should be ashamed to lalk poorly of Isiah when have a coach that has done nothing for 2 years here. The turth is that both of them sucked royally as our coach!

For those that say his system can’t win, or it can’t win without nash or a star player etc…Let me ask you a question.

How many titles does Phil Jackson have without Jordan, Shaq, and Kobe? How many does Riley have without Shaq, Wade, Magic, etc?
How many does Pop have without Duncan?

No matter what system a coach runs, Hall of Fame players win championships.

Every team that has won a Title in the last few decades has had at least one hall of famer except the Detroit Pistons of 04.

Players win championships

Tommy,

I believe Oscar F is referring to your valentines day post to Donnie

http://www.theknicksblog.com/2010/02/12/if-the-knicks-dont-move-jeffries-at-the-deadline/

Please! The bucks lsot two of their key players and there is no way they should be beating the Hawks now!

Brandon Jennins couldn’t hit an outside jumer consitenely if he life depended on it and there Joe Johnson pushing up on him like he’s Devon Williams! hahahaha Jo Johnson did the same thing to N8 and N8 blew past him time and time again when N8 went off on ATL in ATL.

Skiles ees this and I heard him on TV tell Jenning about it. Skiles is smart and he is creative. All coach need decent players but Skiles will be a superb coach because he beleive sin himself and he isn’t afraid to get into players faces and tell them what he wants from him. I wish we had a Scott Skiles.

Couldn’t agree more.

How many rings or even finals did D’Antoni win with Nash, Amare, Joe Johnson, Marion and others?

Remember, Doug Collins coach MJ and they won zero!

Magic and Kurt Rambis coached LA and they won zero!

Love it. Keep it coming X!

hahahahahahaha hahahahahahaha

EQ1217, you and Oscar F wins this on behalf of Tommy Dee:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13tnjh3dZw4

“How many rings or even finals did D’Antoni win with Nash, Amare, Joe Johnson, Marion and others?”

C’mon x, you know that’s different. _’antoni would have won the championship if he weren’t “robbed” by the refs that one year.

there is no 90′s Defensive style basketball anymore, rule changes got rid of that option.

Donnie held up his end of the bargain but what has D Ant done?
If we needed a baby sitter for 2 years should have hired someone else
cuz this coach seemed to do nothing but alienate players and only pay attention to half of the game (offense)

I can recall when Larry Brown was coach and Marbury came out in the press and said “Larry should let our team run like the Suns do”. Brown replied, ” you can run all you want but if you don’t get stops and take care of the ball, you lose”. A year later Marbury was missing Brown and dissing D Ant.

Could have hired Mark Jackson instead of giving this horses ass D antoni a free pass for 2 years.

LOL!

Yeah, I knew that EQ

“I wish every educated Knick fan could pull up a chair (like I have) and talk to Donnie Walsh.”

Why?

“For the opportunity.”

Because if you get hoops, the way I see it anyway, you’re allowed to talk because it’s what he lives for…

yeah, really smoochy, smoochy stuff there. LOL.

you guys crack me up.

COULD finish 8-8 because that’s the nature of the NFL.

I;m sure you had the Mets off to this start too, huh X?

is anyone who writes for thos blog ever honest?Chrisakes do you think the’ll lock Tommy out of the practice gym if you give d’antoni an honest grade? How the hell can someone coach for 2 whole seasons and get an “INCOMPLETE”? He did coach,didnt he? You all go soooo far out of your way,just so you dont have to criticize this guy.Did he take a bad team and make the playoffs ? NO! Did he take a bad team and reach .500 with them?NO! He didnt do such a hot job did he? If he were in the same situation,and made the playoffs both seasons,would you still have given him an incomplete? I dont think so….when are you guys gonna stop kissin his ass?Did he bring out the best in Duhon,?Harrington?THE ROOKIES?..have some friggn guts!Incomplete is such a cop-out

LMAO!

If I had my way, Mike D’Antoni would be fired RIGHT NOW. But that honestly wouldn’t be fair to him, and there’s no way Donnie Walsh is gonna not give him the chance to show he can win with some real players and/or a loaded roster.

In assessing, Mike D’Antoni’s job performance so far, you can’t keep making excuses for him.

I’m sorry but the fact that he didn’t have the players he wanted is NOT a good enough excuse. I’ve seen plenty of examples of coaches walking into situations and finding ways to get decent performances out of them. Rick Carlisle (Detroit, 2001-02), Doc Rivers (Orlando, 1999-00), Terry Porter (Milwaukee 2003-04), Scott Skiles (Milwaukee 2009-10) are just some examples. [Plus someone like Rick Adelman going 42-40 in basketball's toughest division despite losing the franchise center to injury and basically banishing T-Mac]

I’m not saying that the Knicks roster as constituted at any point during the past two seasons should have been winning 45-50 games. But frankly I don’t think that going into a season hoping to *approach* .500 in a weak division is too much to ask for. And look, in December/January the Knicks were something like 15-15 and playing legitimately decent basketball, so you can’t tell me this team didn’t have what it takes to compete. Then what happened? Not really sure, but whatever defensive edge the Knicks had discovered for that 30 game stretch disappeared from February onwards.

What I was looking for was the team to show improvement from season 1 to season 2, because that would be an indication that the coach’s knowledge and way of doing things is rubbing off on the team. Were the Knicks better in 2009-10 then in 2008-09? If they were it was negligible.

Fine, so he didn’t accomplish that. So if not that he should have at least brought an exciting style of basketball to MSG–something to invigorate the crowds AND make the Knicks more alluring to free-agents. Sorry but a “system” involving 30 three-point attempts a game (and not shooting a high percentage) and Chris Duhon running the pick-n-roll for 30-40 minutes a night just isn’t gonna

Then there’s his demeanor which is what I hate the most about. He’s stubborn, he’s not particularly honest and he holds gripes and this are almost always at the detriment of the team. If he had done any research into the culture of the Knicks and their fans, he should have at least made a point of it to put an emphasis on defense. Not the BS lip-service where he says that “they work on defense in practice.”

He has been a MISERABLE investment for the Knicks so far (and this on a team that’s spent an entire decade going out of their way to blow cash stupidly).

good job BOB

they have a better center an p.g thats all
now they only have a better p.g

an a coach who knows how to get the most out of the little he has..

always liked skiles.

he did a pretty good job with the suns he won 50+ games his first 2 years as a coach..

Yep I hear ya man!

Are you watching the Denver/Utah game? Poor Andrian Dantley. He’s like NY Gov Paterson in that he was perfected suited to be a wing man and now he’s elevated to the pilot seat and he didn’t read the manuals.

Dantley is having a nervous breakdown. I can imagine him going up to the balck ref yelling “D-a-m-n you Mark Aquire, I should have won those rings in Detroit. You and f@@king Isiah got me traded….d-a-mn both of your black a-s-s-e-s!”

Dantley is gonnan need counseling after this series! He’s trying to stay calm but this team needs a real kick in the a-s-s like their real head coach usually would do at times.

Good read and nice pts!

+1 Amen!

WORD……….

lmao
A.D is a soft dude an denver really misses G.K an his screaming saying why can’t u dunk it KEMP,i thought u were the GLOVE u don’t even have 1 steal……………………………

“I was and still am a big fan of D’Antoni’s”

“Imagine how it felt to be a player with all the roster moves and emphasis on the future”

“The point is that the D’Antoni Era to this point hasn’t been much of an incubator for building team

chemistry.”

The more anyone tries to defend this dude the more you sound like a hypocrite……how can you sympathize with the feelings of the players on this roster with talks surrounding them about trades and there future in regards to building chemistry with the moving parts when the guy who is most responsible for destroying any hope of team chemistry is the guy your a fan of. How many players on this past season roster complained about this clown….the only thing players were asking for was COMMUNICATION……..not even an explanation….they just wanted to feel like they were apart of the team and not just a cheer leader…….who does this no Championship ring wearing no NBA Finals appearances buffoon think he is that he feels like he doesn’t need to tell 8+ year veterans when or how they will be used when especially there on the last year of there contract …..it’s funny how I’m guessing 1 of the new writers on the Knicksblog happens to be ANOTHER antoni/walsh apologist……are you serious SON………….

Wow!! +1 Go get em Bob!

i’m guessing the past 2 seasons have been a MIRAGE
people overrate what this guy has done with the suns.

incomplete my azz
this guy gets a D-.

yes he can win the with rite players so can any coach.

stop making excuses for this poor guy
he came here for the check an he’s been praying he gets fired he sure is coaching like he wants to get canned.

he will never win a CHAMPIONSHIP in this league
an i think in rucker park he makes it to the finals but gets sweep.lmao.

Congrats to OKC!! Those young boys went all out and earned the respect of all real basketball fans!! Also congrats to Brooks for preaching defense as well as offense to a crew of young guys and getting the most out of what you had in that front court! There a big man away from going on one hell of a run! Durant & Westbrook are the future!! They are only going to get better and that is scary!

Man listen MD will prove his system as fantastic & that he is a hell of a coach….In EUROPE!! lol That is after all the only place he ever won anything!
This dude is an emotional diva,ego maniac & so narrow minded that he cuts his own nose off to spite his face!! He wont adapt or change because it would be admitting he is wrong, there is not a shred of humility in this guy and hiding behind superstars will only hide that for so long.

guess who knew that about him???????????????????????????????????????????????????kerr??????????????????????????????????????kerr????????????????????????????????

amen, vinrummy!

with insight like this, you wouldn’t have made it past the first round of tommy’s blogger selection process.

D’Antoni wasn’t hired for the PAST two season!!! Would some other coaches pulled off a few more wins the last 2 years? Some would have, sure. You Mark Jackson guys are funny, The guy has never coached a game in his life and he was one of the worst defenders in the league…yet some automatically assume he would preach Defense.

I’m not judging Mike D til after 10-11 season. The roster will be upgraded no matter who it is. He won’t have a roster full of castoffs and misfits. If we continue to lose then I’ll start complaining about MD.

We all knew the last 2 years were throw aways and I really never got fans complaining so much when they knew what we were up against.

Would you have been happy with another coach winning 35 games? Do you think any other coach would have won 10 more games this year? No matter who the coach was we were going to be bad. Sure MD made some curious decisions and we had every right to question him, but for some of you who want the guy gone, give him a chance.

His clock starts for me around November 1st.

make a roster of the players he’s alienated/benched/shipped off, and they’d beat the current knicks any night of the week.

by a lot, too.

not judging Mike D til after 10-11 season?!?

wow!

and what, pray tell, will justify a passing grade?
10 more wins?

and when he doesn’t get his players this offseason?
then what?

you’re running out of free passes….

One more question.

What coach could we get that has proven he could win an NBA title?

Mark Jackson? X
Avery Johnson? X
Jeff Van Gundy? X
Byron Scott? X
Tom Thibodeau? X
Eddie Jordan? X
Mike Woodson? X

As far as I’m concerned we can’t get a coach who has already won an NBA Title. So any other coach that would be here is going to have the same question marks as Mike D’antoni.

I don’t understand what you guys wanted him to do these past two years. Win 50? 40? What the hell. The roster was not good. Everyone predicted them to be at the bottom of the standings. So maybe they could have won 3-5 more games? So instead of 29 we win 34. No coach in the NBA would have this Knicks team in the playoffs.

How do you judge a guy with the rosters he has had. Everyone knew these 2 years were throw aways and now all of a sudden we are pissed off because we don’t make the playoffs. How many coaches have we had the last decade that have failed to make the playoffs? It’s the players guys, what don’t you get. Do you want MD to work miracles?

it’s not about the playoffs —- it’s about a disturbing trend of stubborness, player alienation, lack of communication, sh*tty in-game coaching, etc., etc.

it’s a pattern.

and, as a side note, having us in the playoffs this past year was not out of the question. the roster wasn’t THAT bad….it was just poorly managed.

look at milwaukee’s roster to compare.

why does having won an NBA title have to be a prerequisite?

that’s like saying you’d rather have derek fisher as your PG over chris paul because he’s won a championship…

…but i would prefer quite a few of the coaches you listed over MD.

Those who complain about D’Antoni apparently have never carefully examined the roster. Eddy Curry, Jeffries, Duhon, Harrington, Bender, Darko,, Hill, and TMac. No point guard, no true center, no shotblocker. Chandler, Gallo and Lee- That’s 3/5 of a team. With that group of bums, one coach could possibly win 30 games-Jesus.

Our roster wasn’t that bad? A roster full of guys who weren’t going to be here next year? Go look at the predictions of experts for the Knicks season…National writers.

ESPN’s panel concluded the Knicks were going to go 32-50.

Ian Thomson for SI(according to scouts he talked to) predicted Knicks finishing 13th out of 15 teams in the East.

As for Alienating players… Are you really upset that he alienated Marbury, Robinson, Hughes, Curry. The Marbury one was confusing I admit and I would have liked for him to play Hill/Douglas a little more. The lack of communication is bogus. You play when your name is called. That’s what you get paid to do.

It doesn’t have to be a prerequisite. I’m just pointing out that MD gets slammed because he hasn’t won a title.

you would prefer quite a few of those coaches? who?
Why? Mike D’antoni has the best resume out of all of them.

It was a little mushy.

Mike D’Antoni has done a poor job over the past 2 years. Lack of accountability, double-standards, mediocre coaching… the list goes on.

The Mike D’Antoni era starts now though. I think he’s a good coach, but he must prove it now.

“with insight like this, you wouldn’t have made it past the first round of tommy’s blogger selection process.”

“Tommy Dee asked me the following question during his contributor selection process: What does Mike D’Antoni have to do to win over fans like you who were so attached to the defense-first teams of the 90’s? I was and still am a big fan of D’Antoni’s”

I did find that part a little interesting.

Let’s see what the other contributor he selected has to offer and what his opinion is. I would be disappointed if he’s another blogger who “shares Tommy’s opinion”… on everything.

“I think he’s a good coach”

Why?

Because he won with Steve Nash who doesn’t need to micro-managed?

There are a lot of bad people that would like their record dismissed and given a chance to start over again to prove that their record is accurate.

Once again Mucha, you still mastering the puzzle pieces and can’t solve the puzzle. lol Your first sentence demands a verdict and you don’t even come back with a hung jury. You vote innocent!

You and The Oak should stay away from management! lol

“Mike D’antoni has the best resume out of all of them.”

That is false.

I don’t think many people criticize the Knicks record. I think it is indicative of the lack of talent Mike D’Antoni had to work with.

He’s done a poor job regardless : He never benched David Lee and Al Harrington, he didn’t use Darko Milicic/Jordan Hill to hold David Lee accountable for his defense, he didn’t try to raise Jordan Hill’s trade value before the trade deadline (even the Cavaliers did it with JJ Hickson, and the target was Amare Stoudemire!), Nate Robinson’s 14-game banishment was ridiculously severe (double-standards)… the list goes on man, and it is long.

Dude, Get a clue please. This coach get slammed because he took major money for 2 years and our young players haven’t developed. The team doesn’t play any defense and we are two years away from adding what should be 1 or 2 max players and if we get 1 or 2 max players, they will be playing without much help from the devleopment that this coach has done to the other cast.

You don’t get it! I’d criticize ANY coach even those with rings if I thought they did an awful job. It is quite easy to see that this coach is a farce. You just won’t or cant pay attention.

Scott Skiles is showing what a young coach can do and you see how he handles his players. HGe’s not making excuses and he’s making the most of the hand that he is dealt. Each year, Skiles seems to be gettting better. Skiles will win a ring before our dumba-s-s coach! Bet on it!

lol, Plus the Oak never watched ther PHX games when D”antoni was awful at X and Os in key moments of the game.

PHX couldn’t get a stop in a key moment of the playoffs if they put huge STOP sign at half court.

He did a good job in Phoenix. They couldn’t beat the Spurs – the best team of the past decade. I mean I can understand the notion that “if’s” shouldn’t be an excuse but the Suns just couldn’t beat the Spurs who were coached by the best coach in the league and had the best power forward of all-time.

Conviction is a greater enemy to truth than lies

“Our roster wasn’t that bad? A roster full of guys who weren’t going to be here next year? Go look at the predictions of experts for the Knicks season…National writers.”

Where’d they have the Bucks finishing?

Let me put it together in your terms!

Isiah is a good coach but he didn’t have the players. (forget that he choose the players himself) However, Isiah needed better players so you can’t judge him for the cast that he had to coach!

That’s close to how abserd you and the oak sound defending this coach!

There’s are responsibilities that a coach does and by your own words, he has failed. So why talk about players when you admit the coach is a bust. You get out of it by syaing basically, he doesn’t have to thereticially be a bust.

Yeah that’s true, if we get players that can run on auto poliot which makes this coach useless anyway!

See, I took your puzzle pieces and made a masterpieces! lol Stop admiring your puzzle pieces and solve the puzzle once in awhile Mucha! lol

“He did a good job in Phoenix with Nash who was the true coach out on the floor.”

*fixed.

Dallas beat the Spurs! Also, they didn’t just lose to the Spurs. The Suns are doing basically the exact thing without D’Antoni!

This coach adds very little but can’t take away a lot. This coach is that whining complaining diva int he back of the car like in the snicker commericals. Only thing is, he’s a pseudo Diva! He hasn’t done anything to dseseve the title. He’s the Paris Hilton or Anna Kournakova of coaching!

Where did they have the Bucks finishing?… Thats a terrible argument. Make the argument when proving that Skiles is a great coach, not that MD is a bad coach. It doesn’t work like that.

Whats your point? The Knicks finished where they were supposed to finish. For that reason you conclude that MD is a terrible coach?

Nah Mike D’Antoni got the most out of his players in Phoenix, Steve Nash in particular. He was good player already but NOBODY thought that Steve Nash was going to be a 2-time MVP. Steve Nash and Mike D’Antoni helped eachother, the logic is reciprocal. Be fair.

LOL All yours Has!

It seems wWe can lead them to water but we can’t make them think!

You say its false but then don’t give a name. Nice.
JVG is the only one who has an argument.

1. Yes the Mavericks beat the Spurs but Nowitzki > Nash and Stoudemire and the Mavs were a better match-up.

2. The Suns are not as good today as the Mike D’Antoni-coached Suns. Yeah they reached the 2nd round of the playoffs against the Blazers sans Oden, Pryzbilla and – to a certain extent – Brandon Roy. Not extraordinary whatsoever.

I think I’ll just let you hate from now on.

Dude, they are older now! D’Antoni had Nash in his prime! He won 2 MVP unde r D’Antoni and they still couldn’t make it to the finals let alone win a ring.

That’s because they didn’t play defense and the coach had no idea how to draw up plays in key moments of the game.

The current Suns are without Joe Johnson, Marion and many others. They are an older team which makes them much olkder since D’Antoni ran their legs out running that 7SOL for years.

Nash will be getting SSI or disability in a few years.

Hate? I don’t hate for no reason. I hate this coach because he has earned it. You don’t even know the history of the team that you supposedely root for.

We play defense here in NY and the teams that have won or reached the finals, played DEFENSE!

If you like AND1 so much then you should follow DANT1 and DANT2 to the next team they con into a coaching job.

I just don’t understand what you want MD to do with the roster he had. If he fails miserably this season I’ll hop aboard but no coach would have won that many more games than MD did.

And Skiles is a great coach but what does he and the Bucks have to do with MD?

You want to say he took a bad roster to the playoffs? yea he did and deserves credit but that is no discredit to MD.

Look I’ll admit MD hasn’t done well and maybe we should have been a little better. I don’t agree with everything he does but the guy deserves a chance. No coach succeeds with that roster.

The “he only won because of nash” argument is awful. Phil Jackson only won 6 titles with the Bulls because of Jordan. Won 3 titles, Jordan left, they didn’t win 2 years, came back and won 3 more.

Then he won 3 with Shaq and Kobe. Shaq left and they were mediocre. Phil lost twice to MD’s suns in the 1st round. Then he got another star player in Gasol and the Lakers made two consecutive trips to the finals, winning one.

Don’t get me wrong Jackson is a great coach.

The point is every coach needs a star player to win big.

`”Nah Mike D’Antoni got the most out of his players in Phoenix, Steve Nash in particular.”

I think by playing in a faster pace while also giving the players around him the green light to shoot did accentuate the strengths of Nash’s game and any good point guard getting more possessions to orchestrate is going to flourish, but to give credit to _’antoni for “making” him a better point guard is a little much.

“NOBODY thought that Steve Nash was going to be a 2-time MVP.”

I still don’t think he should have been.

“Steve Nash and Mike D’Antoni helped eachother, the logic is reciprocal.”

I think we can see who really helped who now can’t we? “Be fair”.

I know the History. We played Defense here in New York and haven’t won an NBA Title in almost 40 years. We have really had a great formula huh?

Riley and JVG’s tough D teams of the 90′s failed just as much as MD’s 7 seconds or less. Neither has won an NBA Title.

“2. The Suns are not as good today as the Mike D’Antoni-coached Suns. Yeah they reached the 2nd round of the playoffs against the Blazers sans Oden, Pryzbilla and – to a certain extent – Brandon Roy. Not extraordinary whatsoever.”

I think they miss Lopez, he was a big part of their success later in the season and he helped them play amore traditional lineup with Stoudemire at the 4. Now they’re depending more on “hitting shots”` imho.

“Riley and JVG’s tough D teams of the 90’s failed just as much as MD’s 7 seconds or less. Neither has won an NBA Title.”

Riley and Van Gundy never had the level of balanced talent _’antoni was afforded in Phoenix.

“The “he only won because of nash” argument is awful. Phil Jackson only won 6 titles with the Bulls because of Jordan.”

“Then he won 3 with Shaq and Kobe. Shaq left and they were mediocre.”

Phil Jackson won in the playoffs, _’antoni? Not so much.

“The point is every coach needs a star player to win big.”

_’antoni had two. The Finals would have been nice.

“Thats a terrible argument.”

That was actually your argument if you didn’t recognize it.

No shots.

“And Skiles is a great coach but what does he and the Bucks have to do with MD?

You want to say he took a bad roster to the playoffs? yea he did and deserves credit but that is no discredit to MD.

Look I’ll admit MD hasn’t done well and maybe we should have been a little better. I don’t agree with everything he does but the guy deserves a chance. No coach succeeds with that roster.”

You’re contradicting yourself, I’ll let you find it.

It’s not my argument. It’s not the same. How do you give fault to a coach when their team was supposed to be terrible?

I know what you’re saying, that the Knicks could have done what the Bucks did.

OK so the Bucks overachieved and the Knicks didn’t. So you want to get on MD because the Knicks didn’t overachieve?

Yea we should have been a few games better. Do we fire a coach because we could have been a few games better? No.

My point is How do you fire a coach who put up results with the roster he had? I want to give him this year then I will judge. I don’t understand how you can give a full evaluation of a coach with the roster he had.

Avery Johnson has a better winning percentage than _’antoni I’m sure and he’s been t the Finals.

Tom Thibodeau is more decorated as an assistant and been a part of more than one winning situation. While being credited for blueprinting a tough league leading defense in two different eras.

Byron Scott went to the Finals twice and won in two different situations.

Gaudy win totals in the regular season mean absolutely nothing to me, you’re playing 30 teams, 20 of which usually aren’t very good year to year. In the playoffs the stakes are higher, the teams are better with the defense, poise and discipline needed is at a higher level.

The Knicks in the 90′s didn’t win a Title and they played great Defense.

He didn’t bench Lee? Are you kidding? Replace him with whom? Darko? LOL. Darko was a bum. Hill was not ready. D’Antoni didn’t make the trade for Hill and Tmac. It was Walsh.Nate Robinson was another bum. Look up his stats for the playoffs. Why are you so worried about the feelings of these over priced players. Harrington was bad, but who do you replace him with. The roster was a collection of bums except for Chandler, Gallo and Lee. There is no coach on earth who could have won more than 30 games with that team.

“Do we fire a coach because we could have been a few games better?”

It was more than “being a few games better” the flat starts and the flat 3rd quarters were proof to me that he isn’t a motivator. His play calling leaves a lot to be desired. The execution after timeouts was horrible. His communication skills with players and Walsh has been less than unambiguous.

“I don’t understand how you can give a full evaluation of a coach with the roster he had.”

If he had won 40 games he would have gotten an evaluation, no?

D Antoni never had the level of Defensive talent that Riley and JVG had.

Bottom line is neither system or era won an NBA Title.

“He didn’t bench Lee? Are you kidding? Replace him with whom?”

_avi_ wasn’t winning the Knicks anything, so why not replace him in the lineup or at least cut his minutes drastically for his terrible play (some would argue if he played at all) on the defensive end.

He’s a career 50 game loser, good riddance.

“Darko was a bum.”

When given minutes in this league he has proven he can contribute on the defensive end and did so in Minnesota. 8 games and 9 mins per was not a “chance” to see what he could do.

“The roster was a collection of bums except for Chandler, Gallo and Lee.”

Look, I agree he could have coached better. Not denying that. But this has always been about 2010. How do you fire a guy when the organization was throwing these two years away?

Everything this organization has done the last two years, including the hiring of MD, has been about 2010. Why would you not see it through? He proved he could win in Phoenix. Lets give him a legitimate shot to win here in NY before we fire him.

The last two years were not legitimate years to win

writing no shots at the end of everything you write doesnt excuse you from being an ass.

shots

I don’t think Nash is a true MVP either, but if he didn’t deserve to win the award I think it’s a bit hypocritical (no shots) to say that Mike D’Antoni couldn’t even win with a 2-time MVP. Maybe you didn’t bring up this argument (maybe it was blackwood or x-man) I think you did – my bad if you didn’t.

“We can see who really helped who now”? I think they clearly helped eachother, the Suns are not a contender and Nash is not an MVP candidate anymore. But Nash became an MVP under Mike D’Antoni – you can’t tell me this is just a coincidence. Don Nelson also a “run-and-gun” type of system in Dallas and Nash never got so many accolades with the Mavericks.

“D Antoni never had the level of Defensive talent that Riley and JVG had.

Bottom line is neither system or era won an NBA Title.”

While true, you would be hard pressed to find a more terrible team offensively than the Knicks at that time and they still were able to compete and make a strong playoff push. They were a lot worse offensively than _’antoni’s Suns defensively.

At the end of the year in every postseason the better defensive teams rise to the top, it’s not a coincidence. This era, that era and every era.

Good point but Lopez isn’t the difference between a good playoff team and a championship contender.

Those Byron Scott Net teams played in an incredibly depleted East. If MD Suns were in the East they would have had multiple Finals appearances.

Sorry, There is no assistant that you could say has a better resume.

Avery Johnson is very fair and you have a very good argument. But he also took over a team that previously won 53, 57, 60, and 52 games. If Johnson was the Knicks coach the last two years and MD sat out, guess who would have the higher winning %

And Johnson went 3-8 in the playoffs and lost twice in the first round his last two years.

Well Duncan retiring in 2005-2007 would’ve been like Jordan retiring for the Knicks. The Knicks made it to the Finals after the best player of the opposing team retired (1994 + 1999).

The Suns and Mike D’Antoni just couldn’t outplay/outcoach the best NBA team of the past decade. The Spurs were just a little bit better… but better regardless.

Mike D winning percentage – .510
Avery Johnson percentage – .489

and that was with Mike D coaching the craptastic Knicks for 2 seasons and AJ only coaching the already stacked and playoff tested Mavs. Not to mention that AJ has coached 264 games and Mike D has coached 603 games. So he has done it for a WAAAAY longer time.

That took me less then 1 minute to find.

Tom Thibodeau does have an impressive record as an assistant coach. And his record as a head coach is…

Byron Scott also holds a worse win/loss record then Mike D, and Mike D went to the same number of playoffs in his 6 years with the spurs as BS went in his 9 years as coach. And was he even available? he has been coaching CP3. why would he leave? And he has had some great PG play for him. And he coached in the east, where when he went to the finals and got his butt handed to him by the Western Conference.

“I think they clearly helped eachother, the Suns are not a contender and Nash is not an MVP candidate anymore.”

The Suns are just as much a contender now as they were when he was there in spite of the difference in record imo. They were 1 game out of the no. 2 seed in the West btw.

“Don Nelson also a “run-and-gun” type of system in Dallas and Nash never got so many accolades with the Mavericks.”

_on Nelson is more intrigued with mismatches Nowitzki is a living breathing mismatch, while _’antoni’s offense is all predicated on pick & roll and running it down the opponents throat while being centered around point guard play. Nelson loved Shawn Bradley, need I say more?

Never said they were a championship contender, simply stating they’re a different team now.

Amar’e at the 4 is a little different than Marion at the PF spot.

What are you smoking!

Gallo and Chandler have developed quite nicely thank you.
Toney D was our starter for almost 1/4 of the season his rookie year and ended the year looking real nice.

Even Nate was playing much better under Mike D then he has on Boston!

Duncan’s Spurs were better defensively. Much better. The cream rises to the top in the playoffs.

I would LOVE him to get fired, but I’m not even broaching that subject right now.

“He proved he could win in Phoenix.”

He did?

Love that you’re agreeing with me but I gotta intrude. Those %’s are from playoffs.

Johnson has a .735 winning %
MD has .544%

I agree!

I think the Spurs were a great team offensively and defensively. The Suns were a great team offensively and a “not so bad” bad team defensively. Here’s the difference!

Gregg Poppovich has been pimpin’ Mike D’Antoni for years, he’s CLEARLY a better NBA coach. But MD’s still a good coach in my opinion, he’ll have to prove it next season though. HaS you know that I’m not a MD apologist I just want to see him work with a group of player who are not only concerned with their next contracts.

“That took me less then 1 minute to find.”

I didn’t even look. I think Avery is a better coach, still. You can’t coach one end of the floor and expect to win games.

_’antoni needs to hire a Tom Thibodeau-type and stop being a stubborn ignoramus.

Yes – and ost defense has always been Mike D’Antoni’s Achille’s heel in my opinion.

So has any coach you want to replace MD with proven he could win if you want to go by championships?

I don’t think the Suns are just as much a contender today, I mean MD reached the Conference Finals sans Amare Stoudemire and just couldn’t beat the San Antonio Spurs. They always had a chance though – it was always close. In fairness the Nuggets, the Blazers, the Jazz, the Spurs have been plagued with injuries this season – I think the Suns are realistically the 5th best team in the West. We’ll see how they play against the Spurs – I think the result (positive or negative) will speak for itself.

I never said that.

Not necessarily about winning championships, strong playoff runs, ability to make adjustments in the postseason, game planning against other team’s strong suits etc. He’s done a poor job in regard to those things imo.

Don’t believe me, go back and watch his playoff teams.

I think _’antoni could be a good coach if he weren’t so stubborn, but I think if he doesn’t get LeBron or Paul this summer he’ll be out of the league or a journeyman “coach” at best after this season.

John Lucas, Eddie Jordan and countless other have looked like a geniuses at one point in his careers.

You have to be able to grow as a coach and Skiles has shown incredible growth in this season with the Bucks. Handling mercenary-like veterans and a mercurial rookie took a hell of a balancing act.

I would have liked to see some growth from this “coach” under these extreme circumstances. I haven’t. I’ve seen a deterioration.

Go play in traffic.

Interesting list.

Avery, Van Gundy, and Byron Scott all coached in the finals . . .D”ANtoni . . .not so much.

LOL @ “the oak” I would be really interested to hear the REAL Oak’s thoughts on this “coach”. I’m sure he wouldn’t be able to offer his opinion without an expletive included.

hahahahaha We got to the finals under Riley and Van Gundy and we were competitve an in the playoffs many years under the two.

Yes, we didn’t get a ring for under D’Antoni, we can’t even get to 30 wins or in the playoffs. You be the judge!

D’Antoni has even gotten to a team to the finals no matter how great the players he has had.

Yo Oak, you’re as stubborn a piece of wood as our coach!

Did Riley and JVG win a Championship? They got to the Finals, thats nice, but they didn’t win.

The Suns were very competitive in the playoffs as well.

“We can’t even get to 30 wins or the playoffs” – You want the coach to get 30?fine, maybe we could have won 33-34 games. But the playoffs? Like I said in a post earlier, all the experts, scouts, etc had the Knicks in the bottom 3 in the East this year. Great roster we had.

You want to judge MD against Riley and JVG with the 2008-10 roster? HA.

What he did in his time with the Suns is very impressive, Championship or not. Thats why I think he needs this coming year to prove himself to knicks fans. To judge the guy off of two throw away years would be crazy.

If he fails next year I’ll be the first one to call him out. If we make a deep run in the playoffs or win a title, will you change your mind, or will you say he won because of the players?