nixluva wrote:

Juice wrote:

Uptown wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Uptown wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Dragic went off tonight and alot of credit was given to Gentry and how he developed him.

What is the point of this post? What are you saying here?

Gentry took the time to develop a second round pick. He didn't stick to a rotation with grizzled vets and the Suns were competing for something. That is something that a coach does. Imagine having a coach in place who develops guys and teaches them how to play rather than a coach who is waiting to get the kind of guys that can play his system.

So MDA gets no credit for developing Diaw who was rotting on the bench in Atlanta and was merely a throw-in in a trade? He gets no credit for Raja Bell, Barbosa and QRich who all had career years under MDA?

Raja Bell was already established in Utah Sloan gets the real credit for developing him, otherwise Phx doesn't offer him an MLE contract when he became a Free Agent. Q-Rich had a better overall season with the Clippers before becoming a Sun otherwise they wouldn't have offered him a full MLE deal. Diaw was under utilized in Atl but it's not like he fell off when going to Charlotte and you could argue LB developed him better his first season there.

You're really taking it too far when u try to argue that Diaw wasn't a huge improvement under MDA. It was MDA that truly established a role for him and maximized his skills. Nash was always a very good guard but trust me if Cuban new he was capable of being a 2X MVP they would NEVER have let him go!!! MDA helped bring that out of him. If a player listen to what MDA teaches a player can maximize what he has. That's been proven over and over with D'Antoni.

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:

Juice wrote:

Uptown wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Uptown wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:Dragic went off tonight and alot of credit was given to Gentry and how he developed him.

What is the point of this post? What are you saying here?

Gentry took the time to develop a second round pick. He didn't stick to a rotation with grizzled vets and the Suns were competing for something. That is something that a coach does. Imagine having a coach in place who develops guys and teaches them how to play rather than a coach who is waiting to get the kind of guys that can play his system.

So MDA gets no credit for developing Diaw who was rotting on the bench in Atlanta and was merely a throw-in in a trade? He gets no credit for Raja Bell, Barbosa and QRich who all had career years under MDA?

Raja Bell was already established in Utah Sloan gets the real credit for developing him, otherwise Phx doesn't offer him an MLE contract when he became a Free Agent. Q-Rich had a better overall season with the Clippers before becoming a Sun otherwise they wouldn't have offered him a full MLE deal. Diaw was under utilized in Atl but it's not like he fell off when going to Charlotte and you could argue LB developed him better his first season there.

You're really taking it too far when u try to argue that Diaw wasn't a huge improvement under MDA. It was MDA that truly established a role for him and maximized his skills. Nash was always a very good guard but trust me if Cuban new he was capable of being a 2X MVP they would NEVER have let him go!!! MDA helped bring that out of him. If a player listen to what MDA teaches a player can maximize what he has. That's been proven over and over with D'Antoni.

Suns coach Alvin Gentry may play an important role in forward Amar'e Stoudemire's decision this summer.

Stoudemire can opt out of his contract and become a free agent after the season. Phoenix hasn't given up on re-signing the All-Star even if he does opt out.

"It's definitely going to be thought about more so than not," Stoudemire said of Gentry's importance.

Gentry has a strong connection with Stoudemire, something a number of other members of Phoenix's staff have struggled with.

"(It's) his character, his aura," Stoudemire said. "It's hard not to get along with him. He's a funny guy. He's smart. He knows the game of basketball. What's most important for me is to really learn the game as much as possible. In my early career, when I started playing organized ball at 14, I never had a consistent high school coach. To finally want to be under a coach who really wants to teach the game, and that has been great for me."

Wait a sec didn't Amar'e learn a great wealth about the game under the offensive wizardry of D'AnToni?

Juice wrote:Amar'e on Gentry's Coaching ability

Suns coach Alvin Gentry may play an important role in forward Amar'e Stoudemire's decision this summer.

Stoudemire can opt out of his contract and become a free agent after the season. Phoenix hasn't given up on re-signing the All-Star even if he does opt out.

"It's definitely going to be thought about more so than not," Stoudemire said of Gentry's importance.

Gentry has a strong connection with Stoudemire, something a number of other members of Phoenix's staff have struggled with.

"(It's) his character, his aura," Stoudemire said. "It's hard not to get along with him. He's a funny guy. He's smart. He knows the game of basketball. What's most important for me is to really learn the game as much as possible. In my early career, when I started playing organized ball at 14, I never had a consistent high school coach. To finally want to be under a coach who really wants to teach the game, and that has been great for me."

Wait a sec didn't Amar'e learn a great wealth about the game under the offensive wizardry of D'AnToni?

Heres the bottom line. Suns are about to advance to the WCF, the same place MDA took them to twice. Once without the wishy-washy Stoudemire. Lets seem them get to the finals, then we'll talk.

Gentry may have re-installed D'Antoni's system right off the bat when he was hired mid-season last year, but this year's Suns team is not "Seven Seconds or Less"!

The Suns 2009-2010 team play uptempo ball, but they way more defense than they ever did under D'Antoni and they execute in the half-court when they need to unlike the D'Antoni Suns teams. One would think that their defense would be worse without Marion but in fact they are currently better defensively than they ever were under D'Antoni. Additionally, unlike D'Antoni, Gentry will play a big man like Lopez even if he can't shoot 3 pointers.

Now, let's try and pretend we can make sense: D'Antoni does not get credit for Alvin Gentry's coaching, see? Trying to transfer this Suns' team success in order to mask D'Antoni's unquestionably horsesh!t coaching with the Knicks this past season is a weak play at best.

Here is the deal: D'Antoni will have better much players next season, or Walsh should be fired. But either way it is time for D'Antoni to put up or shut up. Actually I would prefer he both put up and shut up.

One last time: Gentry is not coaching the Suns the exact same way D'Antoni did. If you believe that you are "delusional".

Gentry's team = Gentry's coaching = Gentry's credit.

oohah

oohah wrote:Man, the length some of you guys got to to validate D'Antoni is unreal!

Gentry may have re-installed D'Antoni's system right off the bat when he was hired mid-season last year, but this year's Suns team is not "Seven Seconds or Less"!

The Suns 2009-2010 team play uptempo ball, but they way more defense than they ever did under D'Antoni and they execute in the half-court when they need to unlike the D'Antoni Suns teams. One would think that their defense would be worse without Marion but in fact they are currently better defensively than they ever were under D'Antoni. Additionally, unlike D'Antoni, Gentry will play a big man like Lopez even if he can't shoot 3 pointers.

Now, let's try and pretend we can make sense: D'Antoni does not get credit for Alvin Gentry's coaching, see? Trying to transfer this Suns' team success in order to mask D'Antoni's unquestionably horsesh!t coaching with the Knicks this past season is a weak play at best.

Here is the deal: D'Antoni will have better much players next season, or Walsh should be fired. But either way it is time for D'Antoni to put up or shut up. Actually I would prefer he both put up and shut up.

One last time: Gentry is not coaching the Suns the exact same way D'Antoni did. If you believe that you are "delusional".

Gentry's team = Gentry's coaching = Gentry's credit.

oohah

except for the fact that you are wrong.

When talking about defensive efficiency, points given up per 100 possessions, which negates tempo, MDA's teams were better defensively than Gentry's.

You also never bring up the fact that MDA never had big men to play versus the bench (and big men) that Gentry has. Frye, Lopez, Dragic, Amundson, Dudley are decent; you theory would hold up so much better if Rookie Early Clark (15th pick?) got some playing time during the playoffs.

So am I trying to validate or just putting out fact?

crzymdups wrote:

nixluva wrote:Oohah you really did miss the point.
1. Porter was right after MDA and was gonna instill More D. The team failed and wanted to go back to what they did under MDA.

2. MDA had already slowed the pace and played a real C in the form of Shaq.

3. Gentry, Nash n even the Knicks noted the plays are the same. The Knicks said the play calls were exactly the same.

4. The 3 point shooting Frye plays a ton under Gentry and is a huge part of their success. That is purely D'Antoni ball.

5. Why didn't Amare play more D under Porter? He wasn't emphasizing Offense like MDA?

6. MDA had Bell and KT as well as others playing hard defensively and they made the WCF. I'm sure KT said a word or two about D to Amare and the rest of the Suns when he was there.

All this talk is a convenient excuse but it's on the players who knew they needed to play hard on D for years. This group Gentry has is more willing.

agree with all this.

also, the Spurs these Suns beat are A LOT older. not the same Duncan. at all.

Yeah this Spurs team is about ready for an infusion of new talent. They're no longer as dominant. Still PHX is playing well and Nash is just a warrior! To bad that guy has to go against the Lakers. He wills his teams to wins but that may not be enough.

I wish people would remember that MDA had Shaq when they say he won't play a real C or run a half court set.

martin wrote:

djsunyc wrote:should gentry get a $5 mil a year contract now?

Kerr. He fubar'ed the Shaq trade, but all his other moves have been very nice. He has been key, not gentry.

Phoenix is finally a BALANCED team. forgot better offensively or defensively. Or Gentry v MDA.

They finally got a big backcourt player to play next to steve. They got big active bodies at C and PF. They got a bench. They got someone who can give minutes at the PG position. They can all run, and none of them is deficient in the half court.

It's too bad Lopez has not been healthy, cause when Gasol, Bynum, Odom strut in, PHO will need him.

NAH Martin, it's none of that stuff. They're better only cuz MDA is gone. It couldn't be that Kerr finally built a team that made sense and got back to playing in the style that best fits his best player, Steve Nash. It can't be that the players finally bought in to doing what they should've always been doing.

I love how Amare wants to talk about not being coached or taught to play D, when we all know he never WANTED to play D all the other years he's been in the league. You would think this is the 1st time the team was ever accused of not playing D and needing to do something about that. Amare is just now hearing what has been mentioned every year since they started winning under MDA. They freaking brought in a coach just to change the culture and still Amare didn't hear any of that until this year. It's all so convenient.

This is what the Suns had to say about the Porter hire - "In addition, it was believed that Kerr felt it was important to find a coach that possesed a balanced view of the game. The Suns desired a coach that put an equal amount of weight on offense as well as defense."

"He's a guy who is committed to uptempo basketball, which was important to us,” Kerr explained. “But he's also very experienced when it comes to defense, both from his time with the Pistons and as a player. He was a tenacious defensive player and he's very tough minded."

So tell me again why it took Amare and friends so many years to suddenly get this concept of playing D? I'm telling you it's all being trumped up to make excuses for them not playing D in the past when they know they should and could've done so. I just think it's lame to try and make it sound like it's the coach that was the problem when in fact Kerr has been tinkering with the roster all this while and finally put together a better and deeper roster with more guys that are willing to hustle on the defensive end.