CrushAlot wrote:

Vmart wrote:Any way you look at it MDA has to emphasis defense from day one of next year to the end more so than the offense. If MDA is the genius offensive coach that everyone says he is then he shouldn't have to worry about getting his offense to perform. Defense, defense, and more defense is what is required from the beginning to end. With that said MDA should go to Walsh and ask for a defensive guru assistant to be a part of the staff he needs to turn the defense aspects of the game over to his defensive assistant.

I agree. However, the last time he was asked to take on a defensive assistant he hired his brother and then left because he was offended the following season. I don't know if he will do this willingly.

Willingly or not, its not his team. He works for Walsh and in the end Walsh has the final say on who to hire. If he doesn't like it tough shyt because his defense sucks balls and everyone knows it.

Billups looked like **** most of his time here. If he wants to coach then he can retire and put his name into the hat. Until that time, he needs to get in shape, learn the damn plays, stop chucking and make a few assists. I hope that's not asking too much.

nixluva wrote:It's funny but when the coach won 60 games and his team got to the WCF's he didn't have a defensive assistant or anything and that's as far as Thibs got with the Bulls. Neither coach had a perfect team but both approaches got results. Mike HAS started off preaching defense!!! How soon we forget that this year the teams defense was ahead of the offense!!! Don't you remember that? GEEZ. It was a young team and a new team, but they worked hard on defense and tried to get better.

Also how soon we forget how hard the team played against the C's. Obviously with both STAT and CB hurt we didn't have a chance but the team was clearly more prepared for the series than many thought we'd be. The Knicks matched the C's blow for blow until attrition took over. Fully healthy we might have done much better.

IMO I think Mike can and will have this team winning and ready for a playoff run. If Donnie can find a way to fillout the roster Mike will get them ready to win.

Your first point is excellent. Coaches like Thibs and Mike Brown are just as one-end as D'Antoni is, and their teams falter as a result. I know that the defensive side of the ball takes a lot of effort and needs to be emphasized, but defense is a matter of getting the team to play with effort and hustle. The Knicks did that in the playoffs last year, but they got swept because the talent went down to injuries. Post-trade the Knicks played well and brought it against the good teams in league. They also lost some games they shouldn't have lost, but some of that's a product of adjustment and some of it's a product of effort.

CrushAlot wrote:

VDesai wrote:I don't know what this means and I also don't believe it (who's consequential and who's not- I don't think Chauncey or Melo are good gauges at this point.) D'Antoni clearly can coach, but you need a PG who can clearly execute that vision on the floor and the only one we've had here who could do that was Felton. Chauncey has no motivation to be a gym rat, so I don't we're gonna get it from him. He's a very good player but his style doesn't mesh with this O.

I think what it means is that a system that doesn't emphasize defense, doesn't have set plays, has a preference for smaller offensive players on the court rather than bigger defender/rebounders, isn't going to win unless you have the absolute perfect point guard to play free lance and players talented enough on offense and defense to do this including overcoming the shortcomings of the coach. I don't think the Knicks have that personnel and I don't think it would be successful enough to win a championship if they did. I also think that guys coming in that might be surprised at the short practices, days off and lack of emphasis on defense. You are talking about vets that have won in the past and know what it takes to be successful as a team.

Exactly, MDA's system works when he has the perfect set of players to run it, but in an age with FAs and a salary cap, it is hard to get any coach the perfect set of players for the system he perfers. That is why all the really great coaches are able to adapt their system to their players. Until MDA shows that he can do that, he is not a good coach IMO. He has one more year to do something more than get swept out of the playoffs, or he needs to be fired at the end of the season.

Pringles has more than one real piece to play with now, hopefully with more on the way. Let's see what a full season looks like.

he's a lame duck coach. we need vision at the top (walsh) to make the best move for the team.

franco12 wrote:

jrodmc wrote:We've got two legit stars in their twenties. We have a throwback 2/3-type rook who has incredible upside. We have a coach who can win as much as any one else we've ever had, given the caliber of team we have now. Is a Van Gundy-type really going to get us to the Finals? How long would it take for the "consequential" concensus to be that he can't coach either?

Pringles has more than one real piece to play with now, hopefully with more on the way. Let's see what a full season looks like.

how many throw away years does MDA get?

4 or 5, i don't think he'll get more.

nixluva wrote:What exactly did Mike do wrong to warrant these negative opinions? The team made improvements even with all the so called excuses. The team made the playoffs but broke down physically. I think things are looking up for this team. It's evident that with some good moves this should be a very competitive playoff team.

Guys are still sore from the trade.

ramtour420 wrote:

franco12 wrote:

jrodmc wrote:We've got two legit stars in their twenties. We have a throwback 2/3-type rook who has incredible upside. We have a coach who can win as much as any one else we've ever had, given the caliber of team we have now. Is a Van Gundy-type really going to get us to the Finals? How long would it take for the "consequential" concensus to be that he can't coach either?

Pringles has more than one real piece to play with now, hopefully with more on the way. Let's see what a full season looks like.

how many throw away years does MDA get?

4 or 5, i don't think he'll get more.

What other coach with any other franchise has gotten this much?

And that isn't even talking about the Knicks - this is a record at this point.