Felton is a good PG and we had a good team last year. It was tailor made for SSOL. That said it still got us only 2 games above 0.500. Certainly an underachievement considering the talent and depth we had. Without Nash this is where you get off. There are very few players who can run and gun, hit the 3 and aren't a defensive liability to a degree. If there were the 'Decision' wouldn't have been such a big deal. If you did have team of Lebrons you could also run SSOl and it would rock. As it was, he was fortunate to have the best PG in a generation who ran the offense to such perfection that he elevated his coach's status and achieved despite a porous defense.
You give MDA a team configured any differently than SSOL this is what you get. I maintain as I have all season that the offense will improve with Davis. But it's not an accomplishment to have a good offense with a team of Baron Davis, STat and Melo. It just isn't. We aren't even guaranteed that because it's still a team that isn't built around SSOL. A Steve Nash would find a way to make it work even in the halfcourt but if Davis deceides he'd rather work on his movie or sitcom than practice we're done. Other teams can find ways to win with fair or passable PGs. MDA needs a good one to just get to 0.500.
The defense has been fair thus far and it should be with Chandler and Shump. It is not top 10 by any metric I know. But we are getting out rebounded overall despite having a good rebounding front court and with Fields, backcourt.
Bottom line nixluva is that teams under his watch underachieve if they aren't built with a superstar PG and marquee finishers. And then again if you have a superstar PG and permium finishers you will always be tops offensively. The hit you take defensively and rebounding makes it impossible to win a championship with the guy.
Shortened off season happened to all teams and last I checked the average record is still 0.500. It's not a valid excuse.
nixluva wrote:nykshaknbake, I have to disagree with your statements. Nash was the perfect PG to play in D'Antoni's system but let's not act like it was all Nash. JUST LAST YEAR, this team was #2 in scoring and #5 in offensive Efficiency with FELTON as the PG!!! So how is it that you say it was all Nash, when Felton was able to give nearly the same results offensively?The only issue with regard to MDA and Defense has been the players he's had. In PHX where he got this rep for no D, he had Nash and STAT up the middle of his defense. After watching STAT up close don't you think that might have had something to do with the poor D? Still with no real defensive anchor at center and Nash getting beat constantly, his teams were middle of the pack defensively. Now with Tyson and Shump to help the defense is in the top 10.
The only problem we have this year is HORRIBLE offense. I can't blame the coach who has been at or near the top in offense his whole career! Like most things in life it's not a simple answer to why things are this bad. It's a combination of factors all coming together, but it starts with not having a capable PG. Then you can add a very chaotic and short FA period, training camp and preseason. STAT, Melo and TD coming off injury hampered offseason, where they couldn't work on their games all summer. The team lacked depth from the trade and still has no depth.
Now they have to hope to coach up Lin, get better shooting from the perimeter, get STAT the ball in better scoring position, get Melo healthy and back to his best and hope that Baron can get fully healthy and in shape. There's still time to get this thing turned around.
