Childs2Dudley wrote:I say we leave it up to LeBron to hire the coach and bring his own guy. If he doesn't want Mike, fire him and hire whoever he wants. Bring back Jeff Van Gundy? Go for it. Avery Johnson? Sounds good. Let him decide who he wants.

All I know is that this season ends on April 14. It's been a long season with enough bitchin'. I'm done with this team and done complaining. I'm preparing for the offseason. Let's insult the coach next year if he's still playing this way. This way meaning with no center, poor sub patters, poor use of fouls, etc. Repeating the same stuff over and over now is fruitless. D'Antoni isn't getting fired until early next season at the earliest if he struggles.

Pharzeone wrote:Ah some things never change......

nixluva wrote:9/28/2008 11:31 PM
I was just reading the words of Mike D'Antoni again and it struck me why i've been happy with his selection. i wasn't initially as happy as I've come to be at this time, since I thought it would be better to try and get a coach who could instill a defensive approach to the game. Now however I feel he's gonna be a great coach for this organization. Part of it has to do with his sheer unflinching confidence in his philosophy on the game. The guy is committed to it and fully believes in it. I think that effects his players positively.

The next thing is his style of coaching. It's all about winning with him. He could care less about a players contract or status or feelings. This excerpt expresses that very well:

So far, D'Antoni believes the players are amped up about this new opportunity.

"Watching Chandler play, or Jeffries or Lee, they've been (working hard at the practice facility) since September, so they're working," he said, "They're foaming at the bit, and they are going. I just used three guys, but those are guys that just jumped off the page and are ready to roll, and I just think there's a lot of things we can build upon and get into there... We're going to try a lot of different combos and see what happens. That's what training camp is all about."

D'Antoni said he'll begin turning the Knicks around by committing himself to players that give him the best chance of winning, and not worry about things such as a players' contract, or making him happy.

"The guys that need to get the minutes will get the minutes," he said. "My job is that every night, we want to be competitive and win. You can't just say to wait until next year. My job is to win every night, and I'm going to play the guys that give me the best shot to win... I'm going to believe in nine or 10 guys, and that is who we are going to battle with. They'll love me, and a few of the other guys will hate me. So that's just how it's going to be."

I love that kind of approach! Regardless of the style of play, if you give playing time to those who earn it you're going to be more successful. We all know it's gonna take time to actually rebuild this team and improve the talent, but in terms of the manner in which this team and it's players go about their jobs, i'm very pleased with what MDA is going to bring to the table.

Who among us isn't confident that he's going to be able to get the most out of our best players and role players? I have no doubt about his ability to do that. In year one just changing the attitudes on this team will mean a lot.

So some can take issue with the selection of MDA and his offensive approach to the game but you can't quibble with his results and his approach to deciding who plays or not.

Pharzeone wrote:9/29/2008 2:08 AM
Nixluva is in denial. He doesn't want to address Mr. Pringles record without Steve Nash.
Nixluva, Steve Nash is not walking through this door. Probably he will but he will be too old by then.

Is this even an I told you so? So much has happened since this was written till now and you can't just ignore all the changes in the roster between then and now. We all know that trading away Zach and Jamal was a major change when it happened and it basically took away the two best players we had at the time. My view is that this year hasn't gone well for MDA and he hasn't dealt with the problems that came up very well, but in the end I still like having him as the coach when we finally get some winning players. Nothing you're saying about him needing Nash means anything since just about every coach needs players to win. It doesn't have to be Nash tho. It's not even about winning games without Nash, it's about winning games with a good TEAM PERIOD.

To argue that MDA was a product of Nash is fine, but how about we see how he does with a good PG period. We haven't even had one yet. Duhon was a stopgap and he failed to sustain any long period of good play. Duhon's early slump put this team in a spot where we had to slim a margin for error. Can we at least see what a D'Antoni coached team that has good, not necessarily all world players, would do? My contention is that we don't have all the pieces right now and more than that, it seems that many of the players aren't giving everything they have. That's not hard to understand given the current situation. This is not about me being all positive. It's being reasonable and recognizing what lies ahead for this team.

All I read is a ton of people loving to see MDA down and struggling and that would be the same if it was Phill Jackson coaching the team. NY fans seem to take special glee from kicking people who were on top when they're down. As i've said before, if MDA fails to win when the roster is built to suit him and has better balance then all is fair. I just fail to see the logic in assuming that he can't win with a better team.

ain't a discussion...

in the end...

COACHING IS NOT OVERRATED....

yet seems to be...

really it's MISUNDERSTOOD in today's NBA.

riddle me this knick fans...

how many teams are title contenders with a so-called "great" coach and no superstar?

mda gets a proper eval when he has a playoff type team.

TMS wrote:usually sharks gather for a feeding frenzy when there is dead fish in the water.

Dead fish? Nay. the mere scent of blood is carried miles away and they will come and gather to finish the wounded. Much as people come from miles away to gather for a basketball game. Has he heard the boobirds yet? Oh yeah. He hears them.

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:After the cent of blood. As usual at the end of another dreadful Knick season we get the predictable chorus of fans who IMO lack understanding or any frame of reference from history. Then you also have the rabid NY Media writing stories that clearly have the intent of seeing if they can cause the fans to turn on the coach & powers that be to consider firing the coach. Coaches are hired to be fired, but in the case of this team, it seems that we keep getting it wrong. The coaches we've had haven't been the source of the problem. It's been poorly conceived rosters that lack a Lead player.

Now that we finally have a chance to try and remake the team it seems that there's no reason for fans to once again scream for the head of yet another coach who came here as a winner and now we've stripped down to the bone and questioned every move.

No matter what happened this year the truth of the matter is that we will be remaking this team. DW will be remaking this team to SUIT the current coach better. I don't think he subjected MDA to the last 2 years, which they knew had a distinct possibility to end up poorly, just to fire him before he gave him the players he said he'd get him in order to win.

If you are going to reference history and defend D'Antoni in the same post you are in trouble. Historically teams that employ a run and gun style without playing defense do not win championships. Two of the coaches who have employed this style, D'Antoni and Doug Moe have been awarded coach of the year awards and have even had some success in the playoffs. That being said historically the style of coaching that the Knicks coach is using does not result in championships.

During the course of the last two 'throw away' seasons D'Antoni has proven to be not just a gimmicky coach but a coach with alot of flaws. Communication issues, game time adjustments, self created drama, devaluing team assets,and preventing the acquisition of talent because of unreasonable character/maturity requirements have all impacted this team in a negative way. Walsh is definitely behind D'Antoni and got rid of guys that he was having trouble with despite their expiring contracts. He also drafted Gallo because he fit D'Antoni's system despite the fact that a franchise center was available. D'Antoni is not working out. Walsh has alot invested in him being successful. He has defended and protected D'Antoni,drafted his guys, and traded away the guys that he struggled to commmunicate with except for Al.

Danphoney exposed again with Entertainment Tonight Re-Runs

The SSOL or "Duck and Chuck" thing obviously hasn't worked - let's switch to that system for the last 20 games.

oohah wrote:

WindsorPl wrote:

I just did a search and ran into the Marbury heated discussions way back when. It's a raw nerve for you. So you believe Coach was wrong and Marbury was not,

Please don't characterize things I wrote without knowing the context. I always want my team to try to win or barring that, to really try to get better. It is not about "Marbury was wrong or coach was wrong" (Coach was wrong by the way), it's about the coach doing stuff because of ego and not with the focus of winning/building.

Marbury is done. But we have seen more of this mess from D'Antoni with Robinson and Hughes, with his comments about "how the players lost this game". Or talking about developing youth but only applying that to Gallinari.

It's his whole routine. It is not about Marbury per se, it is the whole shebang.

I don't like his style.

oohah

Around these parts, they call it changing the culture...

nixluva wrote:All I read is a ton of people loving to see MDA down and struggling and that would be the same if it was Phill Jackson coaching the team. NY fans seem to take special glee from kicking people who were on top when they're down.

believe me, most of us are not taking any joy in saying these things about MDA... we wish we could be sitting here lauding him & saying he's done a great job & be completely confident about his aspects of leading us to a title someday like you are, but based on what we've seen since he's been here, most of us commenting here can't.

Panos wrote:

nixluva wrote:After the cent of blood. As usual at the end of another dreadful Knick season we get the predictable chorus of fans who IMO lack understanding or any frame of reference from history. Then you also have the rabid NY Media writing stories that clearly have the intent of seeing if they can cause the fans to turn on the coach & powers that be to consider firing the coach. Coaches are hired to be fired, but in the case of this team, it seems that we keep getting it wrong. The coaches we've had haven't been the source of the problem. It's been poorly conceived rosters that lack a Lead player.

[/clip]

Thank God we have you who clearly has such a deep understanding of the nuances of the game
in the NBA and who's sunny disposition the last few years has always been right on the mark.

My comment about the lack of understanding stems from the fact that this isn't a normal season and the last 2 years haven't been normal. In a normal season you do what you need to do to bring in the players you need to win. DW refused to take on players that could really help cuz they would likely extend beyond 2010. People bash MDA for wanting Duhon as if he was picking from the entire field of available PG's and instead of taking someone better he chose Duhon. Duhon was the only one willing to do the 2 year deal. To bash the move as some evidence that MDA or DW can't pick players would show a lack of understanding of the circumstances.

Now this doesn't excuse the poor performance. We all wanted to see the team excel and at the same time we knew there was a chance that the team would crash and burn. We also knew that there was a strong likelyhood that DW was gonna make a trade that again changed the makeup of the team. He took a big chance that the use of Jared in a trade to clear more cap space would be worth it and he knew that it would hurt the team right now.

nixluva wrote:

Panos wrote:

nixluva wrote:After the cent of blood. As usual at the end of another dreadful Knick season we get the predictable chorus of fans who IMO lack understanding or any frame of reference from history. Then you also have the rabid NY Media writing stories that clearly have the intent of seeing if they can cause the fans to turn on the coach & powers that be to consider firing the coach. Coaches are hired to be fired, but in the case of this team, it seems that we keep getting it wrong. The coaches we've had haven't been the source of the problem. It's been poorly conceived rosters that lack a Lead player.

[/clip]

Thank God we have you who clearly has such a deep understanding of the nuances of the game
in the NBA and who's sunny disposition the last few years has always been right on the mark.

My comment about the lack of understanding stems from the fact that this isn't a normal season and the last 2 years haven't been normal. In a normal season you do what you need to do to bring in the players you need to win. DW refused to take on players that could really help cuz they would likely extend beyond 2010. People bash MDA for wanting Duhon as if he was picking from the entire field of available PG's and instead of taking someone better he chose Duhon. Duhon was the only one willing to do the 2 year deal. To bash the move as some evidence that MDA or DW can't pick players would show a lack of understanding of the circumstances.

Now this doesn't excuse the poor performance. We all wanted to see the team excel and at the same time we knew there was a chance that the team would crash and burn. We also knew that there was a strong likelyhood that DW was gonna make a trade that again changed the makeup of the team. He took a big chance that the use of Jared in a trade to clear more cap space would be worth it and he knew that it would hurt the team right now.

Nix, no other poster has been wrong more than you on this forum over the past 5 years.
So careful about brandishing about "a lack of understanding"

arkrud wrote:A lot of fans obviously expected from MDA to create a miracle and turn a bunch of scrabs into winners.
Make team collected from castoffs, malcontents, and quitters into winning squad.
Develop Hills and Douglass of NBA into Howards and Pauls.
Fans expected Walsh to trade crap for gold and get some change on top of it.

Hmmm... All above never worked out.
Dolan should fire this losers and bring some people to lead this team who will NOT inspire any kind of expectations from Knicks fans.
For the sake of sanity...