nixluva wrote:I would like to publicly apologize to TMS for saying that he shouldn't voice his opinion on this topic and also for my other strongly worded statements. I disagree with his position but that doesn't justify the extent to which I took my comments to him.

My take is that MDA went a long time with Nate and gave more than a season to get his act together. With the horrid start this year there was no more rope to extend to Nate or anyone else. MDA had to take drastic action to right the ship and he was successful. We can question the length of time, but in the end it's a Coach's call.

From my view nothing in his entire career suggests anything but a desire to win is what motivates MDA. People knock him for not winning a title but we all know sometimes you've gotta be a bit lucky too. My personal view is he's getting a lot out of a flawed roster right now. Nate's back in the mix now so all the drama should be let go.

i accept your apology... i'm sorry i called you ugly.

TMS wrote:

loweyecue wrote:The case has been made over and over in multiple threads that MDA didn't have to prolong the benching and a two game suspension would have sufficed to get the point across. This argument flies in the face of reality because everyone here knows at some level that Nate has not gotten the point. He is immature and actually takes pride in his preening and mockery of the coach, opponents etc. And to sya Nate will be Nate doesn't somehow make it alright for him to behave this way.

as soon as Nate got benched i stressed the point that Nate would never learn any lesson from it... so why do u somehow think 14 games as opposed to a 2 game benching made any sort of difference? Nate even said himself he had no idea why he was benched to begin with but would stay ready til MDA calls his # again... during the time he was riding pine, reporters asked him if he would do anything different if he ever got the chance to play again & he replied by telling them he'd go on doing what he's been doing & that was trying to help his teammates win ballgames... this is what u got with Nate Robinson, he is not apologizing to anyone for how he is, you either love him or you hate him, those were his own words... telling the press he was humbled by the whole experience? did he look humble the other night when he was flexing & staring down the Hawks' bench, screaming at the crowd & attracting attention to himself? please.

there were people defending his behavior last year when i brought up the concerns about Nate's behavior saying it was no big deal, & now they're on the direct opposite side of the fence on the issue... i dunno how anyone couldn't have known this would eventually come to a head the way it did personally... u could see it coming a mile away... Nate is Nate, he's not gonna change... u either live with it & take the bad with the good, or you figure out a way to trade him & get back an asset that you CAN live with.

Yes you did and I agree with you that he will not change. Where we differ I think is I have more faith in the system and the coach to make the decision that is best for the long trem picture of the team of which Menrob is not a part. To me the issue is not just immaturity but the fact that he goes out of his way to show up MDA in front of everyone during the games. Does he do it unknowingly? I can't buy that. So yes it has to be personal at some level for MDA but do you expect him or any other coach to go out and tell the media "yeah I benched him becuase I hate his guts"? Especially in NY?

Its not like Nate has consistently won games for us in fact a look at the recent past will show more losses than wins while he was oblivious to the result and only focused in being the human highlight reel.

If MDA played him after two games he(MDA) would have lost the respect of the rest of the team and he rightly decicded that he needed that respect more than Nate's once every 10 games winning punch. Could the Lakers play Nate and absorb his mindless meanderings? YES!! They are a solid team that is set in its way and has a strong sense of identity and leadership, I have not seen the Pistons play Vinnie Johnson but I would bet so were they. This Knicks team is in very fragile developmental stage and yes distraction like Nate can have far greater neagtive impact on us that they would on a team like the Lakers.

MDA is not the problem here, Nate is. If he chooses to grow up and do things differently nothing will stop him from getting minutes he seems to crave. But if he can't take that much responsibility on himself why should this coach or anyone else count on him to close games out for us in crunch time?

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:Uh TMS, isn't the idea of sending a message to a losing team ultimately about winning? I mean wasn't the crux of the problem about not playing with discipline, which is a staple of winning BB? SO if the coach sits a guy cuz he's repeatedly playing without discipline and even his pre-game approach shows he's not serious enough and acting like a pro, isn't that about WINNING? If MDA wanted all of the guys to realize this and play with more focus and determination on DEFENSE, which Nate wasn't doing, isn't that about winning?

Man i'm so tired of your B.S.! You don't have a valid point and yet you continue to spout this nonsense that has no basis in fact. What the hell are you talking about anyway? Cuz if i'm gonna judge a guy surely someone with a resume like MDA is gonna get the benefit of the doubt over the players on this team who've never won anything. DO yourself a favor and sit this one out, cuz you're starting to embarrass yourself.

I know what frustrated me was the way MDA's entire team came out of training camp undisciplined, unprofessional, unmotivated and unprepared to play the system they had worked on for the entire training camp. The fact that MDA is known as a loose coach who expects his veterans to police the locker room and that his uncommunicated expectation is that guys behave like professionals will not work with every player. MDA leans hard on his character guys and that is why Duhon and Jeffries get the minutes they do and have the roles they have. The fact that MDA doesn't communicate his expectations effectively but then banishes players to the point where a trade or buyout might be neccessary indicates a communication problem to me. Nate is one of the most talented players on the roster but he does not appear to be a guy that MDA can coach. Unfortunately alot of talented guys don't have perfect character or are robotic in their compliance. There is alot of speculation about guys not being on this team because the coach can't handle them despite their talent. I think it is concerning that the banished players keep reporting that nothing has been communicated to them but then in the press MDA says not giving them bit minutes is about respecting them. I also am not sure of any coaching success for MDA in the NBA other when he coached Steve Nash and Alvin Gentry is experiencing the same success right now. I think he is in a situation where he can now show that he is a winner as a coach but I am not convinced yet and I certainly question his ability to be a communicator, an authority figure, and to communicate as an authority figure.

Crushalot, these points you just made will be overlooked by many. Why? Because nobody wants to hear about flaws in coach when the team is the newyork knicks. After chaney, Lenny, isiah etc.... fans want to give danphoney a long string to hang himself, he will get the benefit of the doubt for awaile here in NY.