Uptown wrote:Paladin55 wrote:Original title of this thread:Most of the UK brotherhood now believe we got the better of the Melo trade- so failure to achieve must mean that MDA should leave.
As in my profession, HS teaching, it is no longer the fault of the players (students) that they cannot perform to certain standards. It must be another person's fault.
I'm a teacher aswell (8th grade) and I must say, if year in and year out the students change but the end result stays the same (state test averages remain low) then you have to point the finger at the teacher at some point, especially if the teachers next door have the same demographic of students and thier test scores increase year in year out. Sometimes the teacher needs to reflect on the lesson he just taught, see what went wrong and make the approriate adjustments (change philosphy) to help the students (players) improve.
Every student is different and cant be taught the same way ( all the players we have are not built for 7 seconds or less)so its up to the teacher to adjust to the students he has. If the teacher has trouble doing this, the administration will usually send the teacher to various workshops for improvement or pair the teacher up with an experienced mentor (MDA could be paired with a defensive minded assistant similar to Thibbs with Doc in Boston). We all have pride, and the hardest thing to do is look into ourselves and admit that we need help. Some of us teachers (coaches) are too stuborn to do that, but if we can be honest with ourselves and admit that its all about the kids (players)and become selfless, embrace the help whether it be help with planning (gameplan), classroom management (practice, player expectations) then it might be able to work itself out.
Perfect example, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen were always known as offensive players until they were put into a system and now they are a part of perhaps the best defensive core in the league. If the students next door averages are blowing my test averages out of the water and these kids are from the same neighborhood, both are on free-and-reduced lunch, as I teacher I'm going to scratch my head and wonder what is the teacher next door doing that I'm not? I suspect that MDA's expectations are different that the norm defensive coach and the culture (classroom management) is different.
I learned a lesson from my teacher friend when I observed her class. Her students came in, grabbed thier folders and got to work on the warmup, started the lesson with no hiccups and robotically, placed the folders back on the shelf just as the bell sounded for next period. I realized that every single minute in her classroom was accounted for. I had to admit to myself that my environment wasn't the same. I would lose a good ten minutes everyday trying to get the kids to settle down and they got used to it. I was losing valuble minutes of teaching time. No I'm not at Knicks practices, but I can guess that the practice environemt is probably similar to how my classroom used to be. Too relaxed, not enough accountability, not enough skill and drill, etc. You cant have a 40 minute emphases when (A) you didnt set the standard before, and (B) and dont continue to follow up and (C)after the test (game) is over your first comment is about missing shots. This tells me the teacher (coach) is not fully embracing the new philosphy that hes trying to get across to the students (players). At some point, the teacher, coach needs to be removed. The state (Dolan) is putting in too much money to allow these students (players) who have just as much potential as some of the students (players) in the same hallway to allow them not to get the proper education deserved to them all because the the teacher(coach)is either inadequate at his job or just too stubborn or not fully committed to change.
As a HS teacher my perspective may be a bit different, and it would be even more so if I was a college professor.
At what point are players to be held accountable, and who should be criticized if they don't measure up to the responsibilities on the court?
George Karl had Anthony for how many years? I consider Karl to be a very good coach, but I don't think Anthony learned much from him about how to play team defense, or offense, for that matter, yet everyone on the present Denver team seems to have bought into the "team" concept, for one reason or another. Why do you think this is the case?
As in the educational system, the NBA is a "society" which is star (student) driven and offense driven. Players rebel against their coaches and sometimes get them fired. Players collude to create the teams THEY want to play on. In my school, assistant principals are discounting the importance of homework- some even telling teachers not to give it- most likely because some teachers have the audacity to fail students for not doing it, and this makes our numbers look bad.
It is always easier to fire the coach- much easier than changing the entire system or attempting to change players who have never really learned the basics of the game.
In the education system students and parents have little accountability, and it is easier for a Mayor like Bloomberg to go after teachers because he cannot go into the homes of students and berate parents for not creating a home environment which fosters learning or reading (which is really the greatest issue of our time as far as education).
Players come into the NBA younger and younger, and many have been coddled and passed through from level to level without holding them accountable for actually learning how to play the game. There is a reason why many cannot play team offense or defense.
We all stand amazed when we see how solid Landry Fields is, yet he played 4 years at an academic university, had a dad who was a player, and is an intelligent kid as well. It doesn't seem amazing to me that he has an idea of how to play the game. Same is true of Gallo, who was around the sport his entire life and was trained in Europe, where there the team concept is still instilled into players at an early age.
Melo and Amare played one year of college ball between them. They have always been basketball royalty and they reflect the best and worst of what the U.S. can offer in the sport. They do the things U.S. fans and the media love to promote, and their flaws are overlooked for the most part. Throw D. Howard in there, too- a guy who has played how many years and looks raw at times, and still has not developed a signature shot for a big man.
Berman had this in today's article:
As an exasperated coach Mike D'Antoni walked out of the Garden, the Knicks coach muttered to a friend, "We can't guard anybody."
In the NYC school system we are being bombarded with all kinds of BS about how to teach, with little or no actual training so that when we are evaluated we will be at a major disadvantage. Styles of teaching which have worked for years and made this country the greatest in the world have to be changed so we can "differentiate" our teaching practices to compensate for the fact that students are being passed up through the ranks without the proper skills to get by academically. I was raised on the Clyde/Willis/DeBusschere Knicks, and Clyde always talks about the fact that playing D is really not that complicated, yet players continue to be unaware of where the ball is or stand like statues as an opponent is coming down the lane, or not get their body on an opponent to box out when a shot is in the air. Red Holtzman's defensive mantra "see the ball" still works after all these years, yet you would never believe it based on what you see on the court from the Knicks.
MDA can come up with all the defensive schemes in the world, but if guys don't play with awareness, nothing is going to work.
At some point individual players have to take responsibility for their actions on the court and take it personally when their man scores. At some point certain players have to decide that making a stop on D is just as important as scoring on O. Until that happens we are not going to go anywhere as a team.
No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities- C.N. Bovee
3/5/2011 11:22 AM