nyk4ever wrote:

TMS wrote:nyk, are u happy with the job MDA has done as the coach this year? (& i ask this cuz it seems like u don't believe people have a legitimate reason to criticize him, not cuz i want him run out of town)

personally, i could care less about the coaching job that d'antoni does this year or last year, these years really don't matter and if they don't matter then theres no reason to get up in arms about them. i knew full well when d'antoni was hired that 1. he was hired for 2010 and 2. he'd been successful while only having good players.

i don't think he's done a very poor job this year and i dont think he's done a great job this year, but i expected this because the team really isn't that good. sure we have lee, but we don't have much else besides gallo and nate and in the big scheme of things theres about 50 players in the NBA better than our best player (lee). i also know full well that when/if he gets the players that he needs this team will be good and he will look a whole lot better because that's what he's done in phoenix.

do i care that he can only coach good players? not really because i fully expect good players to be here next year and he's shown full well that he can do a very good job coaching top players, which is really all im concerned with because that's where i expect to be next year.

i don't think people are wrong in criticizing a coach for the way this team has played this season regardless if this season matters or not... we're losing games we should be winning... our rookies are getting zero burn & yet the vets that MDA is playing are not helping this team win games... there has been zero progress from last season other than D Lee developing a midrange J & Gallo remaining healthy... i didn't have many expectations either, but i'll tell u this, going into this year i fully expected our rookies to get max burn because i knew this team would be a bad team, but that hasn't happened... we're a crappy team & the vets that are playing aren't doing much to increase their trade values at all... i can't say MDA has done a good job at all this season or last, so anyone who wants to criticize i think are justified in doing so.

OldFan wrote:
But Nash wasn't even in the running for MVP before he played for MDA. Good players make coaches look better and good players coaches make coaches players look better.

I think this is what you meant..

...and I agree.

OldFan wrote:

TMS wrote:

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:OH Please, just keep MDA and get winning talent in here. Even if you have a lousy coach you can win if you have top talent, just ask the Cavs. It's not very complicated. Nearly all the top coaches had bigtime talent when they won their Titles. Riley was winning with a mostly offensive team in LA and no one complained. 1st get great talent! Ewing could win if we're loaded with talent, so why not him down the line. It's not like he and Oakley are a lock to be great coaches just cuz they were tough NBA players.

I think you could make an argument that MDA was Mike Brown in Phoenix if you consider that his record without Nash is 84-151.

Really? Then why do many of the greatest basketball minds in coaching hold MDA in such high regard? I think in this case MDA was no Mike Brown. PHX all but conceded that MDA's system was better for their team this year. Thing is that under MDA the Suns were a MUCH better defensive team!!! This year their point Diff is only 2.60 when under MDA they were ALWAYS one of the best in the league in Point Diff. In 2006-07 PHX was a +7.3 right behind S.A. +8.4. The Spurs as you remember beat PHX in that controversial series. MDA and the Suns could've won that series if things hadn't gone crazy.

Both have been coaches of the year. One has made it to the finals. One has always had a star the other has failed miserably when he doesn't have Steve Nash. I think it is a fair comparison. Brown also was a part of one of the most successful runs of a professional team as an assistant with the Spurs.

Dude just say that MDA hasn't done well when he has had bad teams, cuz really it's not about Nash. He's one component to having a good team, but he also had Amare & Marion on that team. What kind of team has he had here and in that short stint in Denver, with another record level bad team, you keep wanting to include? How about MDA lost those games cuz he had really bad teams period.

he did have Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson & Leandro Barbosa for much of the '03 season, his 1st season in Phoenix... Amare missed about 30 games that year, but they still had enough talent to be more than a 21W - 40L team under him that season IMO... right now there's nothing to judge MDA's success on other than when he's had an MVP calibre PG running his system along w/2-3 other Allstar calibre players.

But Nash wasn't even in the running for MVP before he played for MDA. Good players make coaches look better and good players make coaches look better.

like i said u could argue it either way... bottomline is that MDA hasn't proven he can win w/o an MVP calibre PG like i said... to assume he could succeed in NY w/any good PG is just grasping at straws... IMO he needs a certain type of PG that plays a certain type of game to lead his offense & be successful... a guy like Brandon Jennings, IMHO, would not have been an ideal fit, & i've been saying that was 1 of the main reasons why the Knicks weren't all that high on drafting him to begin with.

Nash was playing with more athletic talent in Phoenix to fit his run and gun style. Who did Nash have in Dallas? Nowitski and thats about it. Nash had Amare(Prime), Johnson, and Marion(Prime) to feed. Come on now.

AnubisADL wrote:LOL at D'Antoni making Nash better. D'Antoni preaches SSOL yet I frequently recall Nash doing ALOT of dribbling. D'Antoni's system is theoretical at best since it has never been actually implemented with success.

Nash was playing with more athletic talent in Phoenix to fit his run and gun style. Who did Nash have in Dallas? Nowitski and thats about it. Nash had Amare(Prime), Johnson, and Marion(Prime) to feed. Come on now.

finley was a 20ppg guy in dallas then as well. nash was quite good in dal so its not like he came out of nowhere to become elite. i think the style of play did help his stats (doesnt mean overall play was that much better), as it has for other guys who have gone through that system.

CrushAlot wrote:Nash was an all star and made the all NBA team in Dallas. He had his mvp years in Phoenix but he was an established star when he got there.

I think people forget that. The way some talk you would swear Nash was a scrub in Dallas.