Treadmill
Marv - you have just started a thread for other basketball PhDs.
Is it the coaching system or is it the player, who must ultimately assume responsibility for maximizing individual assets?
I was reading about how New Orleans Saints offensive players may be difficult to measure in value... because the sum of their parts may be distorted by playing in a perfectly conceived system that produces unusually high stats. No matter what is said about them, they won the trophy, nothing else matters.
meanwhile, back in Atlanta...
You look at Josh Smith, Al Horford and Marvin Williams for that matter, or even Joe Johnson to a certain extent.. and wonder how can these guys lose THREE times to the Knicks?
What is their playing signature? The Hawks are unpredictable, inconsistent, immature and leaderless. But they can catch fire. Nah, I doubt it. The Hawks are actually LESS than the sum of their parts.
meanwhile, back in The Garden...
You flip it, and look at the Knicks, and wonder, how can these guys lose to the freakin' Nets by 20, miss EVERY three they attempt... and turn around less than a week later look like they actually enjoy running the floor?
Mike D'Antoni struggled with Donnie Walsh changing the groceries. In this post-audition, pre win-now season, he has vacillated between SSOL and Mike Fratello snail ball. Now that the season is over, guys playing for 2010-11 jobs are simply left to play with passion. Some rare nights it will cohere and take on a positive personality.
Most others it will fall on its collective face, due to lack bonding (which takes years) and lack of trust (which takes at least 5 west coast swings).
The challenge for the Knicks is to stabilize a dependable core of four men D'Antoni can trust to produce on a relative-consistent basis every night, especially on the road. 21 assists. shoot 47 per cent from the field. Box out. Talk on defense until your throat hurts.
The other three will follow.
That's seven.
