We had an advantage in that NO ONE can stay in front of our guards.

i wouldn't necessarily say advantage b/c none of our guards could stay in front of the opposing guards either.

I'd say that brown would have liked us to play Red Holzman style bball, where it doesn't matter who scores or how much, just keep passing the ball till you get a good look. Now within that there are obvious limits, like Ariza shouldn't be shooting 3s and one should be mindful of Curry in the post.

Something akin to last years Pistons but with different personnel. Curry and Ben are obviously opposites so you have to adjust that, but Frye like Sheed plays inside and out; Woods/Lee plays the long disruptive SF Prince role; Richardson/Crawford play a physical midrange game; Marbury/Crawford play the initiate the offense, score to keep the defense honest, and be a head on the floor in the Billups role. Then there's Nate who gets to be a loose cannon with a purpose in the Iverson role.

I don't know, but the point is that we weren't a good perimeter shooting team, so we needed to work for good shots. You exploit Curry to whatever degree possible; you use Frye and Mo to spread the D with 15-18 footers and open the lane for penetration; your SFs cut toward the basket; and your guards develop their game inside the arc either with mid-range jumpers and drives to the rim..

I think the original vision was to be a fast break team, and Isiah still feels set back after Allan Houston not being able to come back, as he envisioned a dynamic backcourt of he and Marbury. His mistake was even envisioning that in the first place.

Problem is, you need to play some defense to play that style, and you especially need to have shooters, and we have none of that.

if he was planning for this team to be a running one, why has he of yet hired a coach who believes in that style?

Posted by Allanfan20:

I think the original vision was to be a fast break team, and Isiah still feels set back after Allan Houston not being able to come back, as he envisioned a dynamic backcourt of he and Marbury. His mistake was even envisioning that in the first place.

Problem is, you need to play some defense to play that style, and you especially need to have shooters, and we have none of that.

I diasgree with that. When the Knicks acquired Marbury it made perfect sense to me (not knowing that Houston's injury was career ending). I thought of the old Piston front line of average post players who can move in and out the paint and a backcourt that had a scoring pg which penetrates and can kick it out to a sure shooter. Craw was added because the Knicks didn't have a combo guard, and I agree that is something that every team needs. Craw was suppose to be a sixth man per Thomas when he acquired him and insurance if Houston was ready to start the 2004-2005 season. After it became more and more apparent that Houston was going to return on any time table, Thomas panic and start putting pressure on Wilkens and everybody which I should he was getting from Dolan. At that point even if Thomas wanted to move Marbury, I don't think he could because of Dolan.

[Edited by - pharzeone on 05-10-2006 11:41 AM]

[Edited by - pharzeone on 05-10-2006 11:43 AM]

D'Antoni quote from PTI:
we don't have to play defense like Detroit, we just have to play more defense than whoever we're playin against. And my question to the critics of our style, what about those teams we are playing. How much defense are they playing?

he wasn't that big a fan of TT either... i'm talking about the general makeup of the team before Isiah made that TT trade.

Sit down Holfresh... this is going to hurt
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Hardaway: Old Suns team didn't buy into D'Antoni's system

BY GREG LOGAN
STAFF CORRESPONDENT

February 6, 2005

PHOENIX - Penny Hardaway and Stephon Marbury departed Phoenix 13 months ago when they were traded to the Knicks. They returned to America West Arena last night to find a vastly different Suns team that leads the NBA with 109 points per game and now ranks as a legitimate title contender with its fast-paced style.

Asked last night if he's shocked by the turnaround, Hardaway said Suns coach Mike D'Antoni wasn't able to sell his European-style offense to his players last season, but that changed when Phoenix added point guard Steve Nash and small forward Quentin Richardson as free agents, using the salary-cap space created by the Marbury trade.

"Coach D'Antoni is a great coach," Hardaway said. "He tried to have us buy into this system when we were here, and we really didn't. There was so much turmoil going on. Steve Nash and Quentin Richardson came in and had the type of game Coach wanted. That's up and down, push the ball, kick it ahead and it doesn't matter who shoots or who scores ... We had enough on the team to get it done, but we just didn't buy into the system."
Hardaway was upset in Phoenix because his playing time was reduced to make way for younger players. Marbury was in the middle of the turmoil that enveloped the Suns.

"It was like guys talking behind each other's backs, guys being selfish, everybody was trying to get their own," Hardaway said. "That leads to trades, and that broke the team up. It doesn't seem like they have any of that going on right now."


Tim still comes off bench

Despite scoring a season-high 23 points in 23 minutes against Sacramento, forward Tim Thomas again came off the bench last night behind rookie Trevor Ariza ... Center Nazr Mohammed was able to play with a groin strain, and Jerome Williams (strained right foot) played after missing one game.

Copyright © 2005, Newsday, Inc.