While this sad franchise has been languishing in the bowels of the NBA for almost a decade, and with Isiah was insinuating that you can't rebuild in NY, some people on here screamed that we could. Others screamed that we should. Well, now we are. And now some of those same people are now questioning the direction they screamed for. There are several factors that seem to keep us from trying to rebuild.

Unrealistic expectations: Comming off consecutive, 23, 33, and 23 wins, one would think we would have more patience. But what we get is after every game, the microanalysts disect every minutia of every play as if this sorry roster is underachieving. Who cares if this roster is Laydens team, Isiah's team, or Walsh's team. Bottom-line, its a Pathetic team.

PG: When we signed Duhon this summer, 3/4's of the board called him Doo-Doo, and a back-up. So essentially, we have a back-up pointguard in the starting lineup.

SG: Q is called QBrick for a reason. He was damaged goods and on the decline when he was added to this team 3 years ago. So, we have a back-up SG in the starting lineup.

SF: The jury is still out on Chandler. He's still a rookie in terms of court time. Has games when he looks like a starter, then others when he looks like a reserve. Right now, he's a really good role player who is still developing.

PF: The only legit starter in our starting lineup. But even Lee needs a legit big man to play next to to cover his defensive and sometimes offensive warts.

C: Jeffries. Need I say more.

So a quick tally shows me that we have one legit starter in the staring lineup and if you add Harrington, we have 2 starters on the whole roster. We probably have the least talented roster in the entire NBA...TWolves have (Jefferson) we have no one as good as him on this roster, Griz have (Mayo and Gay), OKC has (Durant, Green, Westbrook), the only team that might have just as bad a roster as us is Sac-town (At least they have Martin who is better than anything we have)...And still, people expect miracles from MDA. People get upset when we lose to the TWolves and Thunder. I garuantee, when the scehdules come out in October, the Thunder and TWolves fans circled our game as a W for them. We are no better.

IMPATIENCE I've seen this question in more than a few threads "Why hasn't MDA developed our players like his resume says?" So people on this board allready want to see 5,6 and 7 years veterans completely shake the lazy, bad shooting, bad shot selection, poor game recognition, non fundamental labels they've carried from college in just 34 games? Ridiculously impatient.
Larry Brown, a first ballad hall of fame coach, notorious for turning teams around for the better couldn't make this franchise any better in 82 games. In fact, they regressed. I remember Brown saying things like, "They dont know how to play basketball." Same thing MDA has been saying lately. Brown had to dumb things down for this team beacsue they wasn't running the plays correctly. MDA has hinted at the same things. Brown also said "They have a lot of bad habits that need to be broken." Sounds strikingly similar to MDA's recent rethoric. It takes time to breal bad habits. Players sometimes need to be broken before they can be fixed. And it'll take longer than 34 games.

SHORTSIGTEDNESS When Isiah was here, we had no plan. Now we have a sensible plan they most were calling for before Walsh's hire, and now that the plan that we all seemingly wanted is underway, we still find fault with it. I'm seeing things like "Lebron or Bust!" Dont recall seeing Lebron wearing the Green and White when the Celts hoisted the banner this November. Nor was he calling South Beach his home when the Heat won the Chip. Lebro is clearly the best player on the market in 2010, but he isn't the only piece of a championship recipe. In fact he might not be in the championship cookbook being that he doesn't presently own any of the coveted gold rings to date.

The idea and the plan was to get under the cap for flexibility and the ability to sign freeagents or make a big trade where we can absorb a big contract. Signing a FA is a luxury good teams have practiced to improve and a luxury we haven't practiced since 96. For those who still seem to have a problem with with clearing cap space, what is the alternative? We can alwasy go back to the Isiah method of aquiring assets or other teams unwanted cast offs and continue to reshuffle the deck and hope we come out with black jack.

LASTLY "Why was MDA hired if we are rebulding?"

Walsh said when he hired MDA that he wanted a partner, someone who was a good talent evaluator. Kind of his eyes on the floor, in the practice gym, and in the locker room while Donnie watches from the purple seats. I think I trust the eyes of a man who guided his teams to 64 and 61 wins over....IDK...Mark Jackson.







[Edited by - uptown on 01-11-2009 11:37 PM]

Who are these people? We want names!

Do not forget Isiah's and Stephan's people are among up!!!
Watch behind your shoulders!!! They are hiding everywhere...

Posted by Uptown:

Posted by TMS:

Uptown, the complainers just like to hear themselves talk at this point & pretend like they've been calling this all along when in actuality it was the realistic ones who never expected any miracles in Walsh & MDA's 1st season that knew rebuilding would be a lengthy process... it seems the majority of disappointed ones here are those that were ragging on the Walsh & MDA hires from the very beginning... the fact this team is not winning yet fuels their desire to play the "I Told You So" game after 2 months, u had to expect they wouldn't pass up the opportunity.

You nailed it here. I remember the debates when MDA was hired. Some were upset because MDA was just an "Offensive" coach, adn everyone knows you can only win championships with a defensive minded coach (Jeff Van Gundy and his bare hands wave hi) while others were angling for Mark Jackson to get the job.


[Edited by - uptown on 01-11-2009 11:53 PM]

What would this team win with Jeff or Mark... Like 5 games?
Jeff will be already out with mental meltdown... And Mike will kill somebody.

No, you can rebuild in NY. What you can't do is waste 2 years of the rebuilding process. Players need to be coached and draft picks, especially lottery picks, can't be busts.

The only unrealistic people here are those who talk about wins, as if they have anything to do with this process.

I was very much behind Walsh's hiring and against D'Antoni's. Walsh has failed miserably at adding young players but has done a great job getting rid of contracts so he gets a partial pass. D'Antoni on the other hand has done nothing to make me thing I was wrong about him from the beginning. In fact, he's been worse than advertised.

Posted by islesfan:

No, you can rebuild in NY. What you can't do is waste 2 years of the rebuilding process. Players need to be coached and draft picks, especially lottery picks, can't be busts.

The only unrealistic people here are those who talk about wins, as if they have anything to do with this process.

I was very much behind Walsh's hiring and against D'Antoni's. Walsh has failed miserably at adding young players but has done a great job getting rid of contracts so he gets a partial pass. D'Antoni on the other hand has done nothing to make me thing I was wrong about him from the beginning. In fact, he's been worse than advertised.

Do you have some personal problems with Mike? Wrong type?

Posted by islesfan:
The only unrealistic people here are those who talk about wins, as if they have anything to do with this process.

i completely agree w/that... everyone that has a conniption everytime this team loses a game needs a severe reality check... this team still stinks & will continue to stink until some major moves are made to improve the roster... which means more than likely we'll be witness to more of the usual bad basketball for another year & a half at the very least.

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Solace:

Posted by islesfan:

No, you can rebuild in NY. What you can't do is waste 2 years of the rebuilding process. Players need to be coached and draft picks, especially lottery picks, can't be busts.

The only unrealistic people here are those who talk about wins, as if they have anything to do with this process.

I was very much behind Walsh's hiring and against D'Antoni's. Walsh has failed miserably at adding young players but has done a great job getting rid of contracts so he gets a partial pass. D'Antoni on the other hand has done nothing to make me thing I was wrong about him from the beginning. In fact, he's been worse than advertised.

I don't see how D'Antoni's been worse than advertised? How are you grading D'Antoni? Additionally, I don't think that we're wasting two years right now. We have some young players... perhaps no young studs, but those are very hard to acquire if you're trying to shed cap at the same time.

There is no discernible coaching being done. After training camp and almost half a season, players still have no clue about how to play in D'Antoni's system. It's chucking 3's, going one on one with no movement or spacing on offense. That's pretty pathetic for an alleged offensive genius, don't you think? And the defense is still atrocious but I guess that was to be expected under D'Antoni and his gimmick system.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but I don't feel that's an accurate or fair portrayal. Our offense isn't nearly that bad. D'Antoni at least runs plays -- we've seen worse. The problem with our offense is that we have a crappy roster. Our defense is below average, but atrocious is a bit strong. I actually think both our offense and defense are being handled better than when Isiah was coaching.

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Solace:

Posted by islesfan:

No, you can rebuild in NY. What you can't do is waste 2 years of the rebuilding process. Players need to be coached and draft picks, especially lottery picks, can't be busts.

The only unrealistic people here are those who talk about wins, as if they have anything to do with this process.

I was very much behind Walsh's hiring and against D'Antoni's. Walsh has failed miserably at adding young players but has done a great job getting rid of contracts so he gets a partial pass. D'Antoni on the other hand has done nothing to make me thing I was wrong about him from the beginning. In fact, he's been worse than advertised.

I don't see how D'Antoni's been worse than advertised? How are you grading D'Antoni? Additionally, I don't think that we're wasting two years right now. We have some young players... perhaps no young studs, but those are very hard to acquire if you're trying to shed cap at the same time.

There is no discernible coaching being done. After training camp and almost half a season, players still have no clue about how to play in D'Antoni's system. It's chucking 3's, going one on one with no movement or spacing on offense. That's pretty pathetic for an alleged offensive genius, don't you think? And the defense is still atrocious but I guess that was to be expected under D'Antoni and his gimmick system.

how are you calibrating your opinion after the team traded their best 2 players and have had injuries? We are also in month 2, right?

Seems to me Duhon/Lee pick-n-roll have been a pretty good addition since the beginning of the year. Chandler's game is coming alone nicely.

JJ2 is what he is and so is Q. You expect wine out of water from those guys?

Harrington came in as a chucker and so far he has lived up to expectations. Nate came on strong in the beginning and is now struggling.

Who am I missing?

Posted by martin:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Solace:

Posted by islesfan:

No, you can rebuild in NY. What you can't do is waste 2 years of the rebuilding process. Players need to be coached and draft picks, especially lottery picks, can't be busts.

The only unrealistic people here are those who talk about wins, as if they have anything to do with this process.

I was very much behind Walsh's hiring and against D'Antoni's. Walsh has failed miserably at adding young players but has done a great job getting rid of contracts so he gets a partial pass. D'Antoni on the other hand has done nothing to make me thing I was wrong about him from the beginning. In fact, he's been worse than advertised.

I don't see how D'Antoni's been worse than advertised? How are you grading D'Antoni? Additionally, I don't think that we're wasting two years right now. We have some young players... perhaps no young studs, but those are very hard to acquire if you're trying to shed cap at the same time.

There is no discernible coaching being done. After training camp and almost half a season, players still have no clue about how to play in D'Antoni's system. It's chucking 3's, going one on one with no movement or spacing on offense. That's pretty pathetic for an alleged offensive genius, don't you think? And the defense is still atrocious but I guess that was to be expected under D'Antoni and his gimmick system.

how are you calibrating your opinion after the team traded their best 2 players and have had injuries? We are also in month 2, right?

Seems to me Duhon/Lee pick-n-roll have been a pretty good addition since the beginning of the year. Chandler's game is coming alone nicely.

JJ2 is what he is and so is Q. You expect wine out of water from those guys?

Harrington came in as a chucker and so far he has lived up to expectations. Nate came on strong in the beginning and is now struggling.

Who am I missing?

now coaching for the NY Knicks

Posted by martin:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Solace:

Posted by islesfan:

No, you can rebuild in NY. What you can't do is waste 2 years of the rebuilding process. Players need to be coached and draft picks, especially lottery picks, can't be busts.

The only unrealistic people here are those who talk about wins, as if they have anything to do with this process.

I was very much behind Walsh's hiring and against D'Antoni's. Walsh has failed miserably at adding young players but has done a great job getting rid of contracts so he gets a partial pass. D'Antoni on the other hand has done nothing to make me thing I was wrong about him from the beginning. In fact, he's been worse than advertised.

I don't see how D'Antoni's been worse than advertised? How are you grading D'Antoni? Additionally, I don't think that we're wasting two years right now. We have some young players... perhaps no young studs, but those are very hard to acquire if you're trying to shed cap at the same time.

There is no discernible coaching being done. After training camp and almost half a season, players still have no clue about how to play in D'Antoni's system. It's chucking 3's, going one on one with no movement or spacing on offense. That's pretty pathetic for an alleged offensive genius, don't you think? And the defense is still atrocious but I guess that was to be expected under D'Antoni and his gimmick system.

how are you calibrating your opinion after the team traded their best 2 players and have had injuries? We are also in month 2, right?

Seems to me Duhon/Lee pick-n-roll have been a pretty good addition since the beginning of the year. Chandler's game is coming alone nicely.

JJ2 is what he is and so is Q. You expect wine out of water from those guys?

Harrington came in as a chucker and so far he has lived up to expectations. Nate came on strong in the beginning and is now struggling.

Who am I missing?

After trading 2 of their biggest ball hogs and freeing up all those minutes, I would expect a little more development from the remaining players. This isn't month 2. A month of training camp plus 2 and a half months of the season (about 2 weeks from the halfway point of the season) is more than enough time to start seeing some improvement instead of the same old crap.