I just thought I'd share this thread from another forum with some of you who feel that any negative criticism thrown at MDA is a sign that you hate the man or think he's a horrible coach... that's not the case for many of us, we make these criticisms out of legitimate concerns over how other teams have fared over the course of recent history that haven't ranked in the top 10 defensively... we now have the 2 offensive studs to anchor the offense, the initial stage of Donnie's rebuild putting the star core together is now in place... we should now be focusing on getting this team to take the next step & become a more balanced roster that can play top 10 level defense... otherwise it's a stretch think they'll ever have any realistic shot at winning a championship... some scoff at the old cliche that "Defense wins championships" but it's a cliche for a reason... if our main goal is to win a championship someday then these facts cannot be overlooked:
I think some people on here think I and others are hating on D'Antoni because we just like to.I am posting this thread not to debate about it more, but to show that our concerns on his defensive ratings and his lack of attention to it are almost certainly going to cost us a championship.
Please find below the offensive and defensive ratings for the championship teams for the past 15 years. You will find only one occasion where the defensive rating was outside the top ten during the regular seasons (That team's defensive rating (Lakers) was top ten during the playoffs).
Let us be clear about this.
Defensively:
* Only 1 out of the last 15 teams who won a championship had a defensive rating outside the top 10 (6%)
* 14 out of the 15 teams were rated a top 10 defensive team (93%)
* 11 out of the 15 teams were top 5 in defensive ratings (73%)
* 13 out of the 15 teams were top 7 in defensive ratings (87%)
* 5 out of the 15 teams were number 1 in the league in defensive rating (33%)
Combined
* 11 out of the 15 teams were BOTH top ten in offense and defense.
* 3 of the 4 who were not top ten in both offense and defense, were a top ten defensive team.
Moral of the story is that only one team in the last 15 years was not in top 10 in defense. ONE. Of course that was the 2001 Lakers (never show up during the regular season). I checked their defensive ratings in the regular season compared to the playoffs. They raised their defensive rating to top of the league during the playoffs (only lost one game during the entire playoffs).
Stats:
2010:
Lakers: Off Rtg: 108.8 (11th of 30) ▪ Def Rtg: 103.7 (4th of 30)
2009:
Lakers: Off Rtg: 112.8 (3rd of 30) ▪ Def Rtg: 104.7 (6th of 30)
2008:
Celtics: Off Rtg: 110.2 (10th of 30) ▪ Def Rtg: 98.9 (1st of 30)
2007:
Spurs: Off Rtg: 109.2 (5th of 30) ▪ Def Rtg: 99.9 (2nd of 30)
2006:
Heat: Off Rtg: 108.7 (7th of 30) ▪ Def Rtg: 104.5 (9th of 30)
2005:
Spurs: Off Rtg: 107.5 (8th of 30) ▪ Def Rtg: 98.8 (1st of 30)
2004:
Pistons: Off Rtg: 102.0 (18th of 29) ▪ Def Rtg: 95.4 (2nd of 29)
2003:
Spurs: Off Rtg: 105.6 (7th of 29) ▪ Def Rtg: 99.7 (3rd of 29)
2002:
Lakers: Off Rtg: 109.4 (2nd of 29) ▪ Def Rtg: 101.7 (7th of 29)
2001:
Lakers: Off Rtg: 108.4 (2nd of 29) ▪ Def Rtg: 104.8 (21st of 29)
2000:
Lakers: Off Rtg: 107.3 (5th of 29) ▪ Def Rtg: 98.2 (1st of 29)
1999:
Spurs: Off Rtg: 104.0 (11th of 29) ▪ Def Rtg: 95.0 (1st of 29)
1998:
Bulls: Off Rtg: 107.7 (9th of 29) ▪ Def Rtg: 99.8 (3rd of 29)
1997:
Bulls: Off Rtg: 114.4 (1st of 29) ▪ Def Rtg: 102.4 (4th of 29)
1996:
Bulls: Off Rtg: 115.2 (1st of 29) ▪ Def Rtg: 101.8 (1st of 29)
As you can see from the post above, only 1 out of the previous 15 championship teams have not been a top 10 defensively ranked squad, the '01 Lakers, & that team was able to crank up their defense in the playoffs when it mattered most... for the Knicks to take the next step towards becoming a legitimate title contender, we need to have our role players be able to play the type of defense that can add the necessary balance to the elite offense this team now has... we have the stud bigman, the stud wingman, & the stud PG who will provide the offensive punch & close-out ability in big games now, & I honestly believe we already have the role players necessary to play the roles that guys like Horace Grant, Ron Harper, Robert Horry & Brian Shaw played for that Lakers team... the only remaining question for me is will this coach ever be able to get them to play the elite level team defense when it matters in the postseason? the fact that MDA's teams have never ranked in the top 10 of the league in team defense has to be worrysome regardless if you're a fan of his or not.
After 7 years & 40K+ posts, banned by martin for calling Nalod a 'moron'. Awesome.