holfresh wrote:Seems like it was Melo being blamed for everything two weeks ago..Towel on the head, Not playing on both ends, Melobury threads...How quickly we forget...

Two weeks ago the star gets the blame, and now the glory! Thats how it works.

SlimChin wrote:guys like Shawne Williams, Sheldon Williams, Douglas, Walker and Carter have proven that the knicks can go deep. I want to see MDA utilize his bench.

This is what I'll give MDA because it seems like he has gone deeper with his bench, certainly deeper than years where we had a lottery slot locked up by January.

nixluva wrote:The whole team gets the credit in my book. D'Antoni, Melo, AC, TD, CB etc. Everyone has stepped up and played harder. Walker, Shelden and Shawne have stepped up too. I mean really this team is playing some good ball. For as bad as the team looked during the losing, they've completely done a 180 and have looked in synch and confident. Could we possibly give Mike some credit for helping Melo to improve his game? People have bashed Mike for turning players into better 3pt shooters, but just look at how much more confident Melo is now that he truly believes in his shooting from 3. Even a scrub like Jeffries has the confidence to take and make a 3 if he has to.

IMO this is the most dangerous team in the East cuz no one knows just how good this team can be. Forget everything that happened in the regular season, the postseason is a completely separate season onto itself. This team is going into the playoffs with full confidence and that has to be a positive endorsement for the coach.

The whole team wasn't getting the blame two weeks ago...

nixluva wrote:

JrZyHuStLa wrote:

nixluva wrote:

JrZyHuStLa wrote:

nixluva wrote:The Defense thing is always a combination of factors. You have to have the right roster makeup in terms of size and athletic ability, a couple of naturally gifted defensive players, hopefully your star players, good coaching and holding players accountable. We haven't had all of the right components but I think the effort from the coaching staff has been there.

Funny how much better the defense is when the team leaders actually step up and give max effort. We didn't change emphasis or schemes, the only change was a guy like melo stepping up and the team looks a lot better on D. If we can get STAT to be more aware and in position that would also make a big difference. Once the players are on the court it's up to them to execute. Personal accountability is more important than coaching IMO. You can stand there and coach till you're blue in the face, but if the players don't care what's it gonna mean? Also if you have a guy in the middle that has the physical ability and the desire to defend like Howard, don't you think that makes any coach look better defensively?

The amount of free passes you give D'antoni time after time is just getting old. D'antoni doesn't care to get defensive type of players, because his focus is always on offensive playmakers and shotmakers. I've never heard him push for a defensive type of player, whether it was in Phoenix or NY. And I'm not sure what effort you're talking about, but I've never seen defensive effort on any D'antoni team.

We all know that this coach is more about offense than D

Which is why he needs to be fired.

If he was all about D with this roster it wouldn't mean that we'd be in a better position to win in the playoffs. There are a lot of teams that statistically play better D than we do that aren't in the playoffs. The Bucks, Bobcats & Nets are statistically better than us on D and where has that gotten them? There's more to the game than just defense.

If he cared just a little about defense, we certainly would be in a much better position to win in the playoffs. Boston and Miami already know that we can easily beat if our shots don't fall, because D'antoni just has this team putting all of its effort and focus on just one end of the floor, which is offense.

And Milwaukee, Charlotte, and NJ are all worse because they lack the talent that the 16 playoff teams have.

There's more to the game than offense.

martin wrote:

JrZyHuStLa wrote:If he cared just a little about defense, we certainly would be in a much better position to win in the playoffs. Boston and Miami already know that we can easily beat if our shots don't fall, because D'antoni just has this team putting all of its effort and focus on just one end of the floor, which is offense.

And Milwaukee, Charlotte, and NJ are all worse because they lack the talent that the 16 playoff teams have.

would you care to share with me and the rest how much the coaching staff has worked on offense versus defense over the course of the last 2-3 months with the Knicks?

This surely would let us know how much the staff cares about one or the other. Thanks.

Otherwise bring an argument that you can put some substance behind instead of just talking bull****.

Why does the "staff" always have to be mentioned, as if D'antoni cannot be held accountable himself for his lack of defensive emphasis? Like Barkley said, D'antoni is hell bent on proving that his system works, but we have all yet to see the proof. Yea of course I've seen some improvement in the last few weeks with the Knicks defense, but I just don't see it as a staple as long as this man is our head coach. It's not in his DNA, it never was.

Its always just "bullshyt" when you post something that somebody doesn't want to hear, right?

JrZyHuStLa wrote:

martin wrote:

JrZyHuStLa wrote:If he cared just a little about defense, we certainly would be in a much better position to win in the playoffs. Boston and Miami already know that we can easily beat if our shots don't fall, because D'antoni just has this team putting all of its effort and focus on just one end of the floor, which is offense.

And Milwaukee, Charlotte, and NJ are all worse because they lack the talent that the 16 playoff teams have.

would you care to share with me and the rest how much the coaching staff has worked on offense versus defense over the course of the last 2-3 months with the Knicks?

This surely would let us know how much the staff cares about one or the other. Thanks.

Otherwise bring an argument that you can put some substance behind instead of just talking bull****.

Why does the "staff" always have to be mentioned, as if D'antoni cannot be held accountable himself for his lack of defensive emphasis? Like Barkley said, D'antoni is hell bent on proving that his system works, but we have all yet to see the proof. Yea of course I've seen some improvement in the last few weeks with the Knicks defense, but I just don't see it as a staple as long as this man is our head coach. It's not in his DNA, it never was.

Its always just "bullshyt" when you post something that somebody doesn't want to hear, right?

What I see is more case of people who hate MDA are hell bent on proving that his sytem doesn't work, and that includes you and Barkley. MDA is basically adjusting to the team's strengths and most of the offense is flowing through Melo, but people see what their agenda makes them see,

JrZyHuStLa wrote:

martin wrote:

JrZyHuStLa wrote:If he cared just a little about defense, we certainly would be in a much better position to win in the playoffs. Boston and Miami already know that we can easily beat if our shots don't fall, because D'antoni just has this team putting all of its effort and focus on just one end of the floor, which is offense.

And Milwaukee, Charlotte, and NJ are all worse because they lack the talent that the 16 playoff teams have.

would you care to share with me and the rest how much the coaching staff has worked on offense versus defense over the course of the last 2-3 months with the Knicks?

This surely would let us know how much the staff cares about one or the other. Thanks.

Otherwise bring an argument that you can put some substance behind instead of just talking bull****.

Why does the "staff" always have to be mentioned, as if D'antoni cannot be held accountable himself for his lack of defensive emphasis? Like Barkley said, D'antoni is hell bent on proving that his system works, but we have all yet to see the proof. Yea of course I've seen some improvement in the last few weeks with the Knicks defense, but I just don't see it as a staple as long as this man is our head coach. It's not in his DNA, it never was.

Its always just "bullshyt" when you post something that somebody doesn't want to hear, right?

*Ab Ripper X break * ok, back.

Staff, MDA, same thing to me.

MDA sucks, MDA sucks. That's the substance of what I read when you post the above. Got anything more? if not, save it, we've heard it before.

Tell us what you see game to game. Tell me about all the players who are playing stellar D after they left MDA's roster, something new. Not that bland posting.

CrushAlot wrote:The Knicks were 1-9 prior to their 7 game winning streak. The guy just won his 100th game at the end of his third year. If he has righted the ship great but there has been too much wrong done during his time here.

the plan year 1 and year 2 was to lose. Why keep counting those 2 years as worth anything?

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:The Knicks were 1-9 prior to their 7 game winning streak. The guy just won his 100th game at the end of his third year. If he has righted the ship great but there has been too much wrong done during his time here.

the plan year 1 and year 2 was to lose. Why keep counting those 2 years as worth anything?

CrushAlot wrote:

martin wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:The Knicks were 1-9 prior to their 7 game winning streak. The guy just won his 100th game at the end of his third year. If he has righted the ship great but there has been too much wrong done during his time here.

the plan year 1 and year 2 was to lose. Why keep counting those 2 years as worth anything?

If the plan was to lose how come last year the coach wouldn't play the rookies all year and kept talking about trying to make the playoffs long after it was a possibility. The plan succeeded in devaluing assets and costing a pick and a lottery selection to get cap space. The coach was not open to using guys brought in by the gm and when his lack of communicating with some of his players boiled over the gm had to give away assets for marginal returns or higher costs than they should have been. I think the appreciation thread should be to Walsh and I think D'Antoni should join the forum and start it. He is lucky to work for one of the best basketball guys around and definitely the most loyal.

which guys would have sat all year and what guys would you have played? It's a balancing act. If you don't play some of the vets, it could well extinguish your team and lockerroom cause no player who puts in the time and effort in practice and has some good stuff on the court and sits will take it well.

Note that through January+ the Knicks were still in the playoff hunt.

Perhaps my statement "plan to lose" is a little bit too strict, but "plan to not be very good" would be better.