GoNyGoNyGo wrote:Gallo is not shooting well as he is not getting good looks. Teams are getting up on him. He needs to adjust obviously. But just as the pick and roll is not going well right now, I blame these things on our offensive genius of a coach. He is supposed to make things work like butter. Why is that Utah can take out Boozer and plug in ALJef or Millsap and still get the same results?

Now this morning, I read that they are blaming the lack of space in the paint to Fields cutting to the hoop all the time, so now we can expect him to be standing at the 3 pt line too? I happen to like his cutting and it is smart basketball. I wish Gallo would cut more, but reading this article we realize that he is being coached not to!! Ughhh.

I guess I am a motion offense guy. Must be from my soccer background.

Utah has been running the same system for the past 25 years. And Milsap has been on that team for 4 years with the same PG playing for 5 years. Did you expect Amare and Felton to click the same way after 7 games?

When you read an article like that, also take the time to read what is NOT being said, that's what the Knicks staff and players are probably really talking about. Fields is a rookie and an easy person to talk about the press to.

Gallo is standing for a reason. He is (was) a great shooter. One of the best last year. When he hits them he creates space.

If Fields is moving and he moves his man into Amare it kind of makes it hard to shoot, and to kick it back out.

Like Soccer, you take what the defense gives you and executes. They are giving us the 3 and we are not hitting it. We are built to hit it, its a staple in MDA ball.

We block shots, we rebound pretty well, and we are playing defense. We are not hitting our threes. We have to do better. When it happens the middle opens up.

martin wrote:

GoNyGoNyGo wrote:Gallo is not shooting well as he is not getting good looks. Teams are getting up on him. He needs to adjust obviously. But just as the pick and roll is not going well right now, I blame these things on our offensive genius of a coach. He is supposed to make things work like butter. Why is that Utah can take out Boozer and plug in ALJef or Millsap and still get the same results?

Now this morning, I read that they are blaming the lack of space in the paint to Fields cutting to the hoop all the time, so now we can expect him to be standing at the 3 pt line too? I happen to like his cutting and it is smart basketball. I wish Gallo would cut more, but reading this article we realize that he is being coached not to!! Ughhh.

I guess I am a motion offense guy. Must be from my soccer background.

Utah has been running the same system for the past 25 years. And Milsap has been on that team for 4 years with the same PG playing for 5 years. Did you expect Amare and Felton to click the same way after 7 games?

When you read an article like that, also take the time to read what is NOT being said, that's what the Knicks staff and players are probably really talking about. Fields is a rookie and an easy person to talk about the press to.

As for my reading of the article, I am not into reading what is not there. The simple fact is if Fields, is not playing right, put him on the bench and play Mason. He will stand there and jack 3's all day. INstead he is calling out Fields and putting him under the bus. The problem is that Fields is smart and fans can see it. Fields is cutting in order to provide some motion to a stagnant offense. He is playing on instinct.

I have been a supporter of MDA but the other night, watching this team hoist 0ver 30 3pt shots when they were getting success driving to the basket made no sense. You can spin it any way you want, the fact is the game was lost due to coaching and stubborness to stick to the plan. Like JVG and Riley say, the 3 point shot is fools gold. MDA must be the fool.

My string is getting shorter with him. If they do not make the playoffs, he is to blame, IMO.

GoNyGoNyGo wrote:

As for my reading of the article, I am not into reading what is not there. The simple fact is if Fields, is not playing right, put him on the bench and play Mason. He will stand there and jack 3's all day. INstead he is calling out Fields and putting him under the bus. The problem is that Fields is smart and fans can see it. Fields is cutting in order to provide some motion to a stagnant offense. He is playing on instinct.

I have been a supporter of MDA but the other night, watching this team hoist 0ver 30 3pt shots when they were getting success driving to the basket made no sense. You can spin it any way you want, the fact is the game was lost due to coaching and stubborness to stick to the plan. Like JVG and Riley say, the 3 point shot is fools gold. MDA must be the fool.

My string is getting shorter with him. If they do not make the playoffs, he is to blame, IMO.

I wouldn't call him a fool just yet, but I very much agree with your analysis. There is an old business saying "praise in public, criticize in private." I understand the need to call out players once in a while, but a rookie who might already have the best instincts on this squad when it comes to picking the right moments to make a play is ridiculous. The MSG announcers where saying that D'Antoni told them that he wants them to push the ball more, get more fast break opportunities but they aren't doing it. WTF?

Anyone remember D'Antoni's first few games when he took this job? They went on a win streak, they were sharing the ball, playing smart, hustling, surprising teams. They lost a few and then I can't remember seeing a stretch where they played the same way for the rest of the season. Everyone starting launching threes, playing selfish and coach didn't do a damned thing about it. It bothered me but I knew that this was a work in progress.

Despite my reservations about him I still feel like he deserves a full season with the "improved" roster. But I have to admit, its not looking good. I hope D'Antoni proves me wrong.

GustavBahler wrote:

GoNyGoNyGo wrote:

As for my reading of the article, I am not into reading what is not there. The simple fact is if Fields, is not playing right, put him on the bench and play Mason. He will stand there and jack 3's all day. INstead he is calling out Fields and putting him under the bus. The problem is that Fields is smart and fans can see it. Fields is cutting in order to provide some motion to a stagnant offense. He is playing on instinct.

I have been a supporter of MDA but the other night, watching this team hoist 0ver 30 3pt shots when they were getting success driving to the basket made no sense. You can spin it any way you want, the fact is the game was lost due to coaching and stubborness to stick to the plan. Like JVG and Riley say, the 3 point shot is fools gold. MDA must be the fool.

My string is getting shorter with him. If they do not make the playoffs, he is to blame, IMO.

I wouldn't call him a fool just yet, but I very much agree with your analysis. There is an old business saying "praise in public, criticize in private." I understand the need to call out players once in a while, but a rookie who might already have the best instincts on this squad when it comes to picking the right moments to make a play is ridiculous. The MSG announcers where saying that D'Antoni told them that he wants them to push the ball more, get more fast break opportunities but they aren't doing it. WTF?

Anyone remember D'Antoni's first few games when he took this job? They went on a win streak, they were sharing the ball, playing smart, hustling, surprising teams. They lost a few and then I can't remember seeing a stretch where they played the same way for the rest of the season. Everyone starting launching threes, playing selfish and coach didn't do a damned thing about it. It bothered me but I knew that this was a work in progress.

Despite my reservations about him I still feel like he deserves a full season with the "improved" roster. But I have to admit, its not looking good. I hope D'Antoni proves me wrong.

last year the knicks had a nice little stretch. it looked like they were running MUCH more movement toward the basket and downplaying the 3. i crunched a few numbers - they shot significantly fewer 3's during the streak when they won i think 4 of 5 than the losses preceding and following the streak. no explanation was given for why it started or stopped. it was visible on the court and it was verified through the numbers.

i see absolutely no justification for mike 3-ball with this squad. it's a self-destructive move.

GustavBahler wrote:I really don't know what to make of D'Antoni, he has coaches who are seeing the same thing he is, are they saying anything to him? Is he listening?

GoNyGoNyGo wrote:

martin wrote:

GoNyGoNyGo wrote:Gallo is not shooting well as he is not getting good looks. Teams are getting up on him. He needs to adjust obviously. But just as the pick and roll is not going well right now, I blame these things on our offensive genius of a coach. He is supposed to make things work like butter. Why is that Utah can take out Boozer and plug in ALJef or Millsap and still get the same results?

Now this morning, I read that they are blaming the lack of space in the paint to Fields cutting to the hoop all the time, so now we can expect him to be standing at the 3 pt line too? I happen to like his cutting and it is smart basketball. I wish Gallo would cut more, but reading this article we realize that he is being coached not to!! Ughhh.

I guess I am a motion offense guy. Must be from my soccer background.

Utah has been running the same system for the past 25 years. And Milsap has been on that team for 4 years with the same PG playing for 5 years. Did you expect Amare and Felton to click the same way after 7 games?

When you read an article like that, also take the time to read what is NOT being said, that's what the Knicks staff and players are probably really talking about. Fields is a rookie and an easy person to talk about the press to.

That is my point, I thought MDA was a genius. He has been running his offense for at least 10 years. The problem is though, without Nash it does not work. Sloan has had great PG's no doubt, but he has also made the system and taught it to them. MDA so far has not. If Felton is not running the PnR correct, teach him how to do it. Maybe a trade for Nash is in the works?

I dont know how to be clearer. You are expecting Felton and Amare to look like they have been playing together for years and years... only after 7 games?

GustavBahler wrote:

Marv wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:I really don't know what to make of D'Antoni, he has coaches who are seeing the same thing he is, are they saying anything to him? Is he listening?

LMAO! it sure feels that way Marv.

We could really use a quality assistant on the bench, someone who does a lot of the game prep/advance scouting of other teams. Someone who can get our players more disciplined about shot selection, cause I don't think D'Antoni stresses that (his mantra when mic'd up has been, "if you're open, don't hesitate to shoot."

Big Apple could take big bite out of D’Antoni

The genesis of the New York Knicks president’s infatuation with Mike D’Antoni rewinds to an ironic and failed courtship eight years ago. As an old friend of the past Pacers general manager tells it, Donnie Walsh wanted D’Antoni for an assistant coaching job. They met, talked for hours and Walsh was mesmerized by a journeyman’s vision of bringing Euro offensive principles to the NBA.

Yes, Walsh wanted to hire D’Antoni as the Pacers offensive coordinator, but there was one problem.

Isiah Thomas didn’t want him on his Indiana coaching staff.

More From Adrian WojnarowskiHeat folding under weight of season Nov 12, 2010 Bench duty doesn't suit Riley – for now Nov 11, 2010 As usual, Thomas was misguided. D’Antoni would’ve been a terrific offensive mind on the Pacers bench. Yet this time, it is Walsh making the mistake. For a lot of teams, D’Antoni would be a wise hiring. For a franchise on a run of success, stocked with talent and self-motivators, the new Knicks coach would’ve made sense.

For New York, this is a mistake.

Wrong coach, wrong time.

The Knicks need toughness.

Discipline.

Accountability.

On his best day on the job, D’Antoni brings none of these elements to Madison Square Garden. Basketball doesn’t need to be fun in New York. It doesn’t need to be entertaining. Most of all, New York wants tough, relentless teams. In the Western Conference, you need to win with style. It sells tickets. It gets people out of warm weather into an arena. This isn’t necessary in New York. It takes the perfect personnel to run, and that isn’t there today, tomorrow – maybe never.

Walsh wooed D’Antoni on the premise that he wanted the coach to be himself, play his way and this comes as such a surprise to several executives and coaches in the league. No mandates for defensive assistants, no directives to become a more complete coach.

When these Knicks are unable to outscore people, it’ll be a layup line on the Garden’s visiting basket. There’s no faster way to competence, respectability, than creating resistance on the defensive end. At the least, the hiring of D’Antoni sends the Knicks on the longer path back to prominence.

“As soon as D’Antoni was available, Mark Jackson was in trouble,” an Eastern Conference executive said.

Jackson was Walsh’s original choice until D’Antoni felt unloved and unappreciated in Phoenix, until the Suns GM, Steve Kerr, wanted him to coach both ends of the floor. D’Antoni has gone running into Walsh’s waiting arms, where the two of them inherit a 23-victory team and a dysfunctional, delirious Madison Square Garden culture.

The Knicks needed a tough guy to restore credibility here, to get the most out of this flawed roster. The trouble is, D’Antoni is a coddler. He loathes confrontation. This doesn’t give him much chance to reach Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph, to get these Knicks to play hard and play together. They didn’t defend under Isiah, and they won’t under D’Antoni. He hated coaching Stephon Marbury for several weeks with the Suns in 2003, and he’ll hate it as long as it has be done in New York.

Nobody is going to win with these Knicks players. It’s Walsh’s job to turn over the roster and get D’Antoni his kind of guys, a point guard for his system. New York has the resources to make Marbury disappear with a contract buyout, but it still doesn’t give D’Antoni the man who made his system go, Steve Nash.

Pat Riley didn’t have Magic Johnson when he reemerged as Knicks coach, yet he was able to recreate himself in New York. He left behind his fast and furious Showtime Laker persona and incorporated a rugged, nasty defensive approach into his Knicks. He didn’t just adapt to the talent, but the city, the surroundings. Perhaps no coach had ever been so successfully transformative.

This isn’t so suggest that nothing short of smash-mouth basketball works in New York. Not at all. The Knicks have been the slowest NBA franchise to respond to the global change in the game. Scott Layden recruited Knicks out of his Utah roots and Thomas out of Chicago. D’Antoni offers a functional vision of passing and shooting and spacing, yes, but it’s as much of an extreme as the bullyboy style that Riley and Jeff Van Gundy’s used to reach the NBA Finals.

No one has mined the international game with as much success as the San Antonio Spurs, with R.C. Buford and Gregg Popovich discovering the best balance of blending Euro and South American skills with traditional American defensive tenacity. Steve Kerr had grown tired of watching the Spurs make stops and make smart choices (remember, it wasn’t Popovich’s players leaving the bench in the 2007 playoffs) to beat the Suns.

Everyone is ripping the Chicago Bulls for failing to go harder at D’Antoni, but as one GM who considers Chicago GM John Paxson and Kerr friends said, “To me, Pax is even an even more hardcore defensive guy. He loved the way (Scott) Skiles did it.” Paxson insists the Bulls wanted to make an offer on Saturday, but D’Antoni never gave him the chance. If Paxson ends up with Celtics assistant coach Tom Thibodeau, he’ll never regret it.

As for Donnie Walsh, he’s thrown himself into the line of fire. Most of D’Antoni’s peers watched an easy-going, self-deprecating man grow too full of himself, too sensitive to criticism. Perhaps this was a response to his belief that Suns management was undermining him, and maybe that goes away with a GM who hired him, who’s invested in his success.

Lately, the more his system would get questioned, the more irritated D’Antoni showed himself. It spoke to a sensitivity, an insecurity, that could get him torn apart in New York. He’s never been to the NBA Finals, but he always left you thinking that his system was beyond reproach. Popovich has four titles and acts less sure he has it figured out.

Nevertheless, D’Antoni has his guaranteed $24 million, his GM’s faith and the biggest stage in basketball. Eight years later, Isiah Thomas could no longer keep them apart. Truth be told, he finally got them together.

For Donnie Walsh and Mike D’Antoni, there’s just this as they start out together in the bright lights, big city: Be careful what you wish for.

Adrian Wojnarowski is the NBA columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter. Send Adrian a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.

http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-dantonijoinsknicks051108

VCoug wrote:Since people today are saying that the Knicks suck and can't win and we never should've made the Carmelo trade, I thought it would be interesting to see what people were saying last season.

The same people say the same things each season. Opinions are formed from half assed conclusions based on extremely biased interpretation of circumstantial evidence and the treated like they are gospel. Results and reality have no impact on anything. If MDA sits Jorts for 3 straight games there will be legions of fans ranting about how he never plays Rookies. somehow they never acknowledge Landry Fields getting vote second on the ROY list could even possibly have anything to do with coaching. has been an extremely polarizing figure but the people who hate him hated him from day 1.

Same Shit Different Season.