D'Antoni ???

[kman414]

What do all of you think about D'Antoni?
I'm starting to get a bad taste in my mouth when I watch him coach. His system worked in Phoenix. But he had Amare, Marion, and Nash. I don't see him doing anything unique as a coach.
I know they're not going to fire him...but I'm not really sure what he's bringing to the table.

By the way, Al Harrington may be one of the dumbest players I've seen playing for the Knicks. I think I hate him more than any other player on the team. He is a chucker and turnover machine.
If we're going to lose, I'd rather watch Jordan Hill.

[mercury]

I THINK DANTONI KNOWS THIS SEASON IS A THROW AWAY, AND HE IS WAITING TILL NEXT YEAR. OUR PLAYERS HAVE NO HEART AND NO SMARTS. I DONT THINK PHIL JACKSON COULD DO MUCH WITH THIS SQUAD. DUHON HAS BECOME PATHETIC. HARRINGTON IS DUMB, AND JEFFERIES IS USELESS. HOWEVER, IAM INTRESTED IN SEEING BIG EDDY ON THE COURT. EVEN THOUGH THE KNICKS ARE HORRIBLE THEY ALWAYS HAVE SOMETHING INTRESTING GOING ON. WEVE WAITED SO LONG WHATS ONE MORE YEAR. WE CAN LOOK FORWARD TO THIS FRIDAY THE KNICKS VS THE WARRIORS THIS SHOULD BE A REAL GEM.

[pearl]

I never thought a D'Antoni coached team would bring a ring to their franchise, unless his team incorporates a master defensive assistant coach as well. What bothere me most is Duhon's comment that the how team is unprofessional, calls the players out and he himself, cannot stop a 50 years old from getting to the rack. I watch all these entry passes from the key, to a cutter down low against NY and wonder, why doesn't Duhon put his hands up and try and deflect the entry passes.

I know the old-timers like me appreciate the Knicks-Celtic tapes I just posted this week, you will see defense played the way it was meant to be played. Those old Knicks weren't extremely gifted athletically, they were good athletes with a superior work ethic and Red Holzman demanded a defensive philosophy that was their key to success. D"Antoni never placed the defensive imprint on his teams and now we have to suffer through this second rate club, trying to reenact the old Phoenix Suns. By the way, I watched the first half of the Suns game last night and Steve Nash is back.

Build around Gallo, Chandler Hill, Douglas, Nate and Lee, see what Curry has left. I am sick of seeing Hughes and Harrington chuck up ill-advised 3's. THe young core mentioned above should get a majority of the playing time.

Pearl

[whensly]

I suspect Walsh is right now trying to trade Hughes and Harrington, probably others.
Look for Walsh to make another run at the rights to Ricky Rubio.

[daglazer]

I think a big part of the problem this year is all of the expiring contracts. It has lead to the players playing very selfish on offense and not caring on defense.

That is why I loved the fact that he started Douglas last night. It was the best first half the Knicks played all year. Bibby came out of the game praising Douglas. We need to make sure that the team knows that playing time is on the line if they do not play as a team.

BTW, I know that this sounds a little crazy, but the biggest problem the team has is a complete lack of interior presence on defense. Put Marcus Camby on this team and it is a .500 team immediately.

[kman414]

DAG, the lack of interior defense doesn't sound crazy at all. It's a major part of the problem. The Knicks interior defense creates one thing and one thing only...a layup line. As far as expiring contracts and selfish offense, it may be understandable. The sad thing is that the very selfish players are inept at offense and defense. Bench them and play the kids.

[irish2u2]

My problem with D'Antoni is lack of commitment and an inability to adjust to personnel. He goes with Toney Douglas which is good but he sticks with Duhon and Jefferies which is bad. We jack up 29 treys a game and shoot 29%. That math won't ever work. ; ) If you go off the numbers the only players who should be allowed to shoot threes are Gallo and Douglas. Harrington would be at 50% from the field if he stayed away from the 3 point line where he is shooting below 20%. Chandler would be shooting 43% from the field instead of 39% if he never took a three point shot.

Now go back to D'Antoni. Why is he allowing Harrington, Duhon, Chandler and Hughes (Larry is the best of this quartet at 26% from the 3 point line ) to shoot threes and not designing more plays for Gallinari and now TD?

We shoot 43% from the field and our opponents shoot 50%. 50%. That just boggles the mind and part of the reason we allow such a high FG percentage is when you shoot treys and you shoot poorly you get lots of long rebounds and the other team gets lots of easy baskets.

We have problems with interior defense too and our rebounding sucks but we are middle of the pack turnover wise. We make dumb mistakes but they don't kill us. The philosophy kills us. We run a system predicated on jump shooters hitting their shots and we don't hit them.

I'd like D'Antoni to throw caution to the wind. We won't fire him because he is a main free agent enabler/attractor. What Mike needs to do is think out of the box. Playing Douglas is good. Get Jordan Hill in there too. Get Milicic in there. When Eddy comes back let him start since the argument of us shooting in 7 seconds or less no longer applies. We are running a half court offense so let Eddy play his game. Get Lee out of the middle and back to PF where he belongs. Get Gallo and Chandler to switch positions. Shake it up. Let TD start at PG and sit Duhon and resist all urges to put in Jefferies. BTW, Douglas has just 5 assists this year so while his scoring has been great he needs to find teammates too if he is going to be the PG.

I have less an issue with Harrington than most but I will add that while his turnovers aka dumb ass mistakes are high he is also doing a decent job off the boards and is second on the team in steals. As the 6th man it's his job to shoot so let him. Just don't let him shoot beyond 18 feet. ; )

Commit to the young guys, play a different style of game that fits them better and use what we have. Milicic and Curry are legitimate sized NBA centers so there is no need to see Lee pummeled down low any more. Run plays to get Gallo shots. I cringe every time I see somebody besides Gallo hoist a trey. ; ) Play half court offense and get Curry some shots too. It's good when Curry and Lee get shots since they hit nearly half of their shots. ; )

I like what Chandler did last night so let's hope he is out of his funk. Shoot less treys. Drive more and get to the free throw line more. We may still get beat but at least try something different.

I am constantly reminded of the old Einstein adage about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That's the definition of insanity. That's what D'Antoni is doing now.

[whensly]

Nice post Bill, I agree with you on all,
cept I think the jury is out on the effectiveness of Darko.

I read somewhere that the Hawks shot 54% in last night's game...ouch~

[jbnewyork162]

I dont know what happened to the Knicks last night(actually we all know but......), because I thought they played the way they all should have in the first half. I go get something to eat and turn the channel for like 4 minutes and they are down in the second half and the Hawks have woken up.

These Knicks are beyond belief and understanding so much so, this is the only team you probably love that you have a hard time in 2009, saying to someone else why we are on the cusp of greatness, when we lay eggs like we have been the past 10 years. You can proudly say why you like the Yankees or Tiger or the Brazillian volleyball team but the Knicks lately leave you with..........." Well...... do you remember that 4 point play Larry hit.....in that series......back in........ummmm...99?" While the other person looks at you like your stupid.

I bet you when we finally get good some of us wont be able to fully enjoy it with fear it will all come crashing down or be short lived. Like what if Lebron signs here but only 3 years and then goes back and retires in Cleveland. what tease that would be, you know.

-Jason

[irish2u2]

Nov 12, 2009 14:01:43 GMT -5 @whensly said:

Nice post Bill, I agree with you on all,
cept I think the jury is out on the effectiveness of Darko.

I read somewhere that the Hawks shot 54% in last night's game...ouch~

Mouse

Darko is getting less than 10 minutes per game. Jefferies is getting over 20. You and I may be old school but even ancient math adds up to the same thing here. Sit Jared. Play Darko.

Our frontcourt rotation (next week ; ) should be Curry, Darko, Lee, Gallinari, Hill and Harrington. That's it. Considering the questions on conditioning for both Darko and Eddy then 20 minutes apiece and Hill gets the remainder plus another 10 minutes or so at PF.

With Nate coming back it's Douglas, Nate and Chandler with Hughes and Duhon fighting it out for the remaining minutes. I think it high time Nate plays some more PG and if Douglas is going to be a contributor on the Knicks then scoring and defense is just part of the job. He has to learn to run the team. As crappy as Duhon is playing right now we can't do much worse than Toney and Nate.

[ironman95]

I also agree with sitting Jeffries and playing Darko and Hill, and Curry if he can handle it. I don't get what they see in Jeffries. In the limited minutes Darko has played he has done a reasonable(not great) job out there. He IS a presence in the middle. He is a threat to score with his back to the basket, and he can pass and rebound, although I still don't like his one-hand rebound style. Jeffries gives us none of that. Jeffries needs to put on the weight that Curry lost in muscle and get strong, that would make a difference in his game. He is just so weak out there, physically. His shot sucks too. I want to see Darko or Curry even start, and Lee go back to PF. I am quickly getting disenchanted with D'Antoni's coaching. He is not utilizing his personnel to their strengths. He has to realize that a guy like Harrington, sees nothing but the basket and his man. He has no sense of what is happening on the rest of the floor. Jeffries is similar, although he will hand the ball off, rather than drive, he never drives. Jeffries has zero creativity. I have never seen him make or attempt a play or pass to a cutter underneath. He's useless.

[axios]

I think they are just showcasing Jefferies and everybody else. I wouldn't make a big deal about it this season. I think Donnie knows that that 2010 pick will be a Isiah headline. All we have to do is get by this season and all he has to do is dump jefferies or curry, easier said than done.
What's so painful is Jennings/Lawson doing well, and Hill glued to the bench. Im still not a fan of Jennings game but he is talented and he is a reason they are winning. What sucks for every fan is the fact that after every loss, all you think of is Utah, biggest reason everyone is so pissed.

[whensly]

for the last 3 years the team ignored the coaches and tried to play streetball, ignoring the 50+ % of the game that is defense,
we see where that got us. Then D Ant comes here with a system that's pretty much what our players have been doing on their
own for 3 years...

doesn't make sense.

Should have kept Larry Brown,
players might have disliked him but they played hard
and given another year the team probably would have been respectable.

[jbnewyork162]

With the contracts we had then and even now and the fact that it takes high IQ to want to whose to say if ANY COACH SHORT OF HOLTZMAN would have been able to coach this team into respectability.

Since theres no way we can sign a Lebron and a Wade and get Duhon and Mlicic and David Lee and Nate here on our payroll all at once it may be time(our at least at the deadline) for us to turn in guys who we may lose for nothing like Lee for instance into draft picks from teams who need veterans but may want a glue guy for a late playoff push.

The Clippers for instance or even Charlotte always try to push for the playoffs and anyway get very decent picks so if Nate isnt working out, or we want to see if we can maximize the fact that in a deep draft we have only the Balkman trade second rounder in 2010 and thats it and some teams may not want to trade their picks to us for 3mil. But Lee and Nate are worth mid to early draft picks since they are established veterans and contribute in some way a vet team would need them in so why not make new recruits out of them if we are not going to resign them. We need a PG and a big man preferably a defense scrapper above 6'10".

Jusy saying is all. If you gonna lose em', rotate them.

-Jason

[irish2u2]

Nov 14, 2009 13:56:07 GMT -5 @whensly said:

for the last 3 years the team ignored the coaches and tried to play streetball, ignoring the 50+ % of the game that is defense,
we see where that got us. Then D Ant comes here with a system that's pretty much what our players have been doing on their
own for 3 years...

doesn't make sense.

Should have kept Larry Brown,
players might have disliked him but they played hard
and given another year the team probably would have been respectable.

This all could be true but Larry Brown teams are not fun to watch and having 10 Eric Snow-Clones (pun intended ; ) makes the experience of watching that team win even more painful than watching our current team lose.

I wonder if Larry Brown and Donnie Nelson are somehow related. They both seem to be infected with a similar strand of schizophrenia.