Posted by technomaster:

Misterearl,

I think you want to hear this answer: The coach.
But beyond that, the GM and the team owner.

I get the impression that Brown and the GM/Owner weren't on the same page about how to work with the team's personalities and how to impress upon the young players a solid work ethic.

Brown used the tried and true "veteran leadership" method (playing the vets over the young guys). He instituted rigid play calling to create a framework for decision making on the court. Probably the idea was that at least in the short term, the players would have to think through plays. A painful process, but ultimately, he hoped the players would take it in as second nature then build up from there.

The long term goal was to teach how to play "the right way". I'm guessing that with so many young guys, he felt it was necessary to teach them this way.

As we know, it didn't work... Marbury was a big problem. He imported Francis probably thinking, "Francis is a veteran all-nba guy--- he knows how to play the right way." Brown then realized that Francis was more or less the same player as Marb's. Both of them tend to bail out of the structure and freelance using their awesome 1-on-5 skills.

With Brown gone and IT installed as coach, Marbury has no more excuses. Maybe after having like 11 coaches in 10 years (and a talk from Magic Johnson), he's finally starting to understand that maybe the previous coaches maybe weren't all wrong. :)

It wasn't all Brown's fault that he failed in his 1 year. But with so many young players, his veteran leadership feuding w/ him openly, and several players hampered w/ injuries throughout the year, his words of wisdom were lost on the team.

I think Crawford clearly is a better player after a year of Brown-- While he's still a streaky chucker, he makes better decisions on the court and gets his teammates involved in the action. It's also possible that IT is preaching the same things as Brown... only now, they're starting to get it.

Great post and I agree with every word

Posted by Bippity10:

Posted by Silverfuel:

Posted by Bippity10:

Last year they mailed it in and used the coach as an excuse. Early this year they used the fans as an excuse.

Thats BS. They went on a 6 game winning streak in Jan 2006. Then Marbury went down and Lee went to the bench. That was the difference. Coach as an excuse? Did you know there were close 40 different starting lineups? You want to talk about the difference between the two years, at least be consistent. They weren't blaming anything on the fans this year. thats just you misreading it.

I would wait till the end of the season before comparing the two. I had decided to give this team until January and thats what I plan on doing but its best to wait until the end of the season.

Okay so they didn't blame the coach, maybe they just blamed the 40 different lineups.

I'm with you that shiot can be tough and really contributed to a tough season and a poor record. But it should not have contributed to quitting. Which it did.

IMO the difference between this year and last are three things:

1) we have a coach that believes in the team and is defending the team to the media, which has earned trust from the players. The players have more confidence and are not worrying about watching their back because they know the coach is not going to sell them out after every loss.

2) Curry is in better shape and the coaching staff has worked with him to improve his overall game (but mostly his offensive game).

3) The additions of Jeffries and Balkman and the improvement of Lee, Frye, and Nate have given this team a deeper and stronger bench and supporting players than last year.

I agree man, it's so much more fun watching and talking basketball instead of talking about who's fault it is.

This team was given a mental focal point from day one. Isiah wanted to bring this team together and circle the wagons and he has. There's no question that his approach has worked better than LB's divide and conquer approach. And let's not lie here, LB was DIVISIVE!!! Isiah hasn't looked to separate. He's shown these players how to be tougher and in the case of Curry he's really done a great job. The thing is that this still isn't the best this team can play. There's still room for growth.

Isiah has also recently been more willing to adjust to what he's seeing. Now that he's seen how effective this team can be when we play big, he's using it more often. Early in the year he went with a lot of small lineups in order to get more offense, but then we couldn't stop anyone. Now lately he's been going big and it's been effective. He's actually slowed the offense down to a halfcourt post up offense and that was a good move. It brings Curry, Steph and Frye into the equation and It fits our team a little better than running. We can still run, but clearly we're a halfcourt team. The only time last year that we looked like a team is when Steph took over and just ignored LB and as soon as he got hurt and wasn't able to play, LB never returned to that, even tho it worked. He never gave Lee any respect and he also didn't really commit to Frye. We all know he messed up Steph and now he's finally got his swagger back.

On the Steph note, i've been bashed for years when i've supported this guys game and that he could play his game and if the other players supported him that this team could win with him playing his style. He did it last year during the streak and he's doing it again now. This is what he does and i'm glad to see him back to doing what he's good at. If we can get more games like last night from jamal we're gonna really be a good team. He's an X Factor for this team. We know he can be a BIG weapon but he's inconsistent with it. If he get's it going more often we'll be in great shape.

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Bippity10:

That's because this year they are actually trying, as opposed to last year where they quit.

ding ding ding

They, also includes the coach. (adds another Ding!)

Posted by nixluva:

On the Steph note, i've been bashed for years when i've supported this guys game and that he could play his game and if the other players supported him that this team could win with him playing his style. He did it last year during the streak and he's doing it again now. This is what he does and i'm glad to see him back to doing what he's good at.

u really think that was all unwarranted when you consider how well Marbury was playing under Don Chaney & Lenny Wilkens but was unable to get the rest of his teammates to raise the level of their play? isn't a PG's job to make his teammates better? he's done that this week & during that short stretch last season, i'll give u that (& i've pointed that out in other threads), but how much better did he get his teammates to play in that 1st round sweep embarassment at the hands of the Nets in his first season, or the subsequent seasons following? the team's W-L record dipped progressively every year since he's been here... are u saying that was all on his teammates & not on the player w/the most talent & ability on the team? if you really believe that to be true, then you definitely deserved all the bashing you got for defending the guy in my view.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by islesfan:

Posted by Bippity10:

That's because this year they are actually trying, as opposed to last year where they quit.

ding ding ding

... but obviously the head coach deserves no credit for that. (just figured isles woulda wanted to say that anyway, so saving him the trouble)

The new head coach is inadvertantly responsible for it. Last year he was obviously enabling the players to revolt and inevitably quit on last year's coach. This year the players can't run to the Team President and GM if they don't like what the coach is doing or saying because it's the same person. So there are no excuses for them and nothing else to do but to suck it up and do what he says. It's too bad Isiah has never backed up any of his 4 previous head coaches the way he is this new one.

Posted by TMS:

Posted by nixluva:

On the Steph note, i've been bashed for years when i've supported this guys game and that he could play his game and if the other players supported him that this team could win with him playing his style. He did it last year during the streak and he's doing it again now. This is what he does and i'm glad to see him back to doing what he's good at.

u really think that was all unwarranted when you consider how well Marbury was playing under Don Chaney & Lenny Wilkens but was unable to get the rest of his teammates to raise the level of their play? isn't a PG's job to make his teammates better? he's done that this week & during that short stretch last season, i'll give u that (& i've pointed that out in other threads), but how much better did he get his teammates to play in that 1st round sweep embarassment at the hands of the Nets in his first season, or the subsequent seasons following? the team's W-L record dipped progressively every year since he's been here... are u saying that was all on his teammates & not on the player w/the most talent & ability on the team? if you really believe that to be true, then you definitely deserved all the bashing you got for defending the guy in my view.

I see what your saying, but to be fair, that team Marbury was dragging (against the Nets in the playoffs) was pathetic. A few players were injured and Shamdon Anderson was starting. Its alot easier to maks good players better ( Magic making Worthy, Scott etc better) as opposed to asking Marbury to make a average to below average players like Shamdon Anderson not only better, but doing things they are not accustomed to doing.

This is the most talent Marbury has been surrounded by since he put on a Knicks uniform. Last yr was a mess and shouldn't be counted. But lets see what Marbury can do with this team from here on out. He has the post scorer now. Frye and Lee are a yr older. Not saying that this is a championship ready team, but its the best he had thus far since being in NY.

players are having fun

and the difference between last year and this year is night and day

does the mud slinging ever stop ?