Solace wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Solace wrote:This is MDA's first real year of coaching, IMHO, because before that we had terrible teams. Anything less than 36 wins, barring it being due to a major injury to Amare, and I think you have to consider firing him. My expectation this year is playoffs (at least 40-41 wins), and I think the Knicks front office is thinking the same way.

He wasn't askdd to do much the first two years and he still messed things up pretty bad. He also got paid very well.

Ok, what is so messed up? I wasn't in love what with he did, but he didn't exactly have a lot to work with, either.

I also think he hasn't prepared his team to play. Coming out of training camp 1-9 with the same core of players you had the year before is inexcusable. Not game planning for opponents or making game to game adjustments for opponents are all faults I have seen. I could go on but I am hoping he recognizes that he has to coach this group and will be held accountable for how his team does this year.

franco12 wrote:

fishmike wrote:

Solace wrote:

fishmike wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:ya think..he didn't curb it when he metion gallo was the best shooter he ever saw..

did he say that in the interview?

No.

Good interview, though. MDA is clearly excited.

I have defended his coaching because of the player movement and lack of talent.

Not this year. He was picked as the best available and needs to produce. He's got a veteran point man and froncourt player. He's got long athletic skilled guys. He needs to get this group playing well in camp and having a solid preseason.

I have high expectations for this group. I think there is a lot of growth that can happen as AR/Gallo/Douglas mature but there is enough here to win games. This is a playoff roster IMO. MDA needs to produce

fish - when would you fire him?

Hey - I loved when we got the guy, but really soured on him last year.

There are no more excuses.

He's going to have to get his hands dirty, and he may need to change his philosophy and go deeper- maybe even plug in a guy there like the Russian or Turiaf at the five to give Amare a break.

If we're 10 under in December with many of the same signs from years past - early blow outs, no defense - does he get his walking papers?

The season is long. If we start slow he (and the team) deserves a chance to fight their way out of whatever hole they were in. No different than the 8th seeded Knicks in that shortened season. Unless these guys quit on him but who is going to do that? Amare has played for him before and had great years. Felton will finally be free in the uptemp system and if MDA stuck w/ Duhon for a season and a half I would say Felton is sitting pretty. We know he loves Gallo and Chandler. Only AR is the wild card IMO. He must be developed and have a roll.

CrushAlot wrote:

Solace wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Solace wrote:This is MDA's first real year of coaching, IMHO, because before that we had terrible teams. Anything less than 36 wins, barring it being due to a major injury to Amare, and I think you have to consider firing him. My expectation this year is playoffs (at least 40-41 wins), and I think the Knicks front office is thinking the same way.

He wasn't askdd to do much the first two years and he still messed things up pretty bad. He also got paid very well.

Ok, what is so messed up? I wasn't in love what with he did, but he didn't exactly have a lot to work with, either.

I think playing marginal vets with expiring contracts that weren't going to be around like Jeffries, Bender and Duhon over the teams lottery pick and other first round pick was a biggy. The fact that he kept talking about the playoffs after his team started 1-9 and continued this practice until the March road trip when Walsh traveled with team. The team won 29 games last year there is no logical explanation for not playing the young guys. The drama with Nate, Darko, Hughes, Curry and Harrington. Devaluing Hill to the point where two other first round picks had to be included to move salary. The treatment of Marbury and the turning of his expiring contract into a buyout for the team instead of a tradeable asset.

I also think he hasn't prepared his team to play. Coming out of training camp 1-9 with the same core of players you had the year before is inexcusable. Not game planning for opponents or making game to game adjustments for opponents are all faults I have seen. I could go on but I am hoping he recognizes that he has to coach this group and will be held accountable for how his team does this year.

Are you talking about Jordan Hill?

I think it was obvious there was hope the Knicks might be able to get some assets for the vets, the problem was they just didnt play well. The one guy that did play well was Lee and look what happened. He ended up getting us a bunch of assets

fishmike wrote:

Solace wrote:

fishmike wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:ya think..he didn't curb it when he metion gallo was the best shooter he ever saw..

did he say that in the interview?

No.

Good interview, though. MDA is clearly excited.

I have defended his coaching because of the player movement and lack of talent.

Not this year. He was picked as the best available and needs to produce. He's got a veteran point man and froncourt player. He's got long athletic skilled guys. He needs to get this group playing well in camp and having a solid preseason.

I have high expectations for this group. I think there is a lot of growth that can happen as AR/Gallo/Douglas mature but there is enough here to win games. This is a playoff roster IMO. MDA needs to produce

I'll sign on to this.

waly01 wrote:My two cents:

A. I think people are getting way to excited about this team. I like some of the moves they made and I like how they are being smart about the cap but let's be serious for a second here. Jerome Jordan is not ready to play minutes and judging from the youtube videos (which, i agree, aren't enough of a sample size) the russian isn't either. That only leaves us with Amare, AR and Turiaf who can play the 5. I love AR and his potential but people keep talking about him on this board as if he's already reached that potential. I think he'll have those nights where he Wows you but he's going to have those nights where he's doesn't show up...the biggest knock on him in GS was his inconsistancy. Still very thin on the interior. With the other additions, I like Felton and Azabuke too but again our biggest holes are still there. I think this team is better than last year and should def. fight for a playoff spot (7th/8th seed) but I don't see this team getting anywhere near 45+ wins or being a lock for the playoffs. I have no more anticipation this year than I did going into last year.

B. As for D'antoni...This is a players league and it takes players to win. There's only so much a coach can really do. It's not like highschool or college. I didn'tlike the Danotni signing but it was becuase i didn't believe a running team could win it all and I was sad to change the culture away from D and rebounding to running, finesse and offense. However, I think people are starting to sour on him very quickly and unfairly. I think if you put any coach in the league in his seat, they don't win more than 5-7 games and the majority would've won fewer. He is a good coach becuase he seems to communicate well with his players and they don't seem to quit on him (Compare with a Byron Scott or Avery Johnson who seem to excel at first and then eventually players tune him out). He get's their respect and they always seem to be responding to him. The knicks are still one real perimeter player away from being seriously back. (let's hope thats caremllo) but until then, I'm not going to sit here and call for his head and think that a Mark Jackson could come in here and do a significantly better job.

Mike was hired to be a coach after 2 years of braking the crup.
Lets say we stay with Herb and were looking for coach now.
Who is around to get on the task with this team?
Give me some no-nonsence name?
And if Herb was the coach how many games this team would win - 15 per?

fishmike wrote:I have defended his coaching because of the player movement and lack of talent.

Not this year. He was picked as the best available and needs to produce. He's got a veteran point man and froncourt player. He's got long athletic skilled guys. He needs to get this group playing well in camp and having a solid preseason.

I have high expectations for this group. I think there is a lot of growth that can happen as AR/Gallo/Douglas mature but there is enough here to win games. This is a playoff roster IMO. MDA needs to produce

I'm in agreement with this. Though I'm not sure if I'm optimistic about him given the things we have seen for 2 years.

martin wrote:

buddapaw wrote:

Solace wrote:

buddapaw wrote:

Solace wrote:This is MDA's first real year of coaching, IMHO, because before that we had terrible teams. Anything less than 36 wins, barring it being due to a major injury to Amare, and I think you have to consider firing him. My expectation this year is playoffs (at least 40-41 wins), and I think the Knicks front office is thinking the same way.

A coach gets paid to coach regardless of the team he has, let me go into a board meeting to make a crappy presentation with half assed materials then blame the said half assed materials for my crappy presentation and see how quickly i would be looking for another job. HE GOT A TON O' CASH TO COACH, IT'S ABOUT TIME HE STARTS EARNING HIS MONEY.

Nice. I'm just saying this is the first time we can really make a judgment. It's not giving him a pass. It was saying that there is no pass this time. How did you twist that around?

Why? He coached like he had a pass for the past two years, I lost all faith in this guy since the Bender deal and the constant jacking up of three point shots. His style is not Knicks basketball nor championship basketball.

if I handed you a pile of **** and some eggs and asked you to make brownies, what would they taste like?

Scott Skiles got good mileage out of his pile of **** last year... unless you think Jennings, Bogut & a buncha role players was a vastly superior roster than the one we had?

sidsanders wrote:

martin wrote:

buddapaw wrote:

Solace wrote:

buddapaw wrote:

Solace wrote:This is MDA's first real year of coaching, IMHO, because before that we had terrible teams. Anything less than 36 wins, barring it being due to a major injury to Amare, and I think you have to consider firing him. My expectation this year is playoffs (at least 40-41 wins), and I think the Knicks front office is thinking the same way.

A coach gets paid to coach regardless of the team he has, let me go into a board meeting to make a crappy presentation with half assed materials then blame the said half assed materials for my crappy presentation and see how quickly i would be looking for another job. HE GOT A TON O' CASH TO COACH, IT'S ABOUT TIME HE STARTS EARNING HIS MONEY.

Nice. I'm just saying this is the first time we can really make a judgment. It's not giving him a pass. It was saying that there is no pass this time. How did you twist that around?

Why? He coached like he had a pass for the past two years, I lost all faith in this guy since the Bender deal and the constant jacking up of three point shots. His style is not Knicks basketball nor championship basketball.

if I handed you a pile of **** and some eggs and asked you to make brownies, what would they taste like?

many folks are in bad situations and will not be given any pass for not meeting goals. the question perhaps should be, during the past 2 years, did mike reach the goals setup by the FO? if so, mike didnt get a "pass", if not, then he may be more under the gun than we think.

Looking back, I don't get a sense of goals and planning other than to reach this point. He was highly paid and we knew the plan was to tear down the existing squad. Get ready for some B'ball!

martin wrote:

TMS wrote:

martin wrote:

buddapaw wrote:

Solace wrote:

buddapaw wrote:

Solace wrote:This is MDA's first real year of coaching, IMHO, because before that we had terrible teams. Anything less than 36 wins, barring it being due to a major injury to Amare, and I think you have to consider firing him. My expectation this year is playoffs (at least 40-41 wins), and I think the Knicks front office is thinking the same way.

A coach gets paid to coach regardless of the team he has, let me go into a board meeting to make a crappy presentation with half assed materials then blame the said half assed materials for my crappy presentation and see how quickly i would be looking for another job. HE GOT A TON O' CASH TO COACH, IT'S ABOUT TIME HE STARTS EARNING HIS MONEY.

Nice. I'm just saying this is the first time we can really make a judgment. It's not giving him a pass. It was saying that there is no pass this time. How did you twist that around?

Why? He coached like he had a pass for the past two years, I lost all faith in this guy since the Bender deal and the constant jacking up of three point shots. His style is not Knicks basketball nor championship basketball.

if I handed you a pile of **** and some eggs and asked you to make brownies, what would they taste like?

Scott Skiles got good mileage out of his pile of **** last year... unless you think Jennings, Bogut & a buncha role players was a vastly superior roster than the one we had?

I do. Throw in Salmons who tore it up for 30 games for them, KThomas who is super solid off bench. Bogut a true All-star C, and their PG tandom was more than solid.

You think Bogut and Jennings is a pile of ****? I thought towards the end MIL def did overachieve, but in a good way. They deserved to make the playoffs.

no, i don't think they're a pile of ****, just using your colorful reference to state a point... IMO the Bucks were no more talented a roster than the one MDA had to work with last year... KThomas is a super solid off the bench guy but Al Harrington who puts up 19pg is crap? come on dude... David Lee put up better numbers than Bogut last year... then there's Gallo, Wilson & TD, all 3 who showed they could play at a high level last year... is John Salmons that much better than Wilson Chandler?... yes, MIL has a bonafide star PG in Jennings, but Gallo isn't exactly chopped liver either... you just admitted the Bucks overachieved under Scott Skiles... my point was he did a much better job than MDA did in getting his guys to play to their potential & beyond... do you disagree w/that assessment?

fishmike wrote:

Solace wrote:

fishmike wrote:

knicks1248 wrote:ya think..he didn't curb it when he metion gallo was the best shooter he ever saw..

did he say that in the interview?

No.

Good interview, though. MDA is clearly excited.

I have defended his coaching because of the player movement and lack of talent.

Not this year. He was picked as the best available and needs to produce. He's got a veteran point man and froncourt player. He's got long athletic skilled guys. He needs to get this group playing well in camp and having a solid preseason.

I have high expectations for this group. I think there is a lot of growth that can happen as AR/Gallo/Douglas mature but there is enough here to win games. This is a playoff roster IMO. MDA needs to produce