dk7th wrote:riley didn't have a system he had a collection of players who were highly skilled and very very smart. his system such as it was was to push the ball as often as possible. you don't need a system when the skill level and bbiq is that high. same goes with the celtics-- we are talking the golden age of basketball here not the bloated and diluted mess that is the modern nba.when they loosened the rules for palming and traveling to promote jordan, daly instituted a philosophy of punishing jordan and those series were brutal. that said, again the collective bbiq and skill level was very high on those pistons squads, and their philosophy was defense first.
what i am driving at is that when you have a squad whose skill level, collective iq, and commitment to defense is high then systems are not as necessary. let us remind ourselves that the suns should have beaten the spurs that year of the nash nose gash and then the ridiculous suspensions given out for the horry hip check.
when i see the knicks of the last 10 years i see low skill level, low bbiq, and low desire to defend.
hence, if we are going to undergo a culture change, a system will help cement these three traits. as jackson said, top scorers can score in any system, but the triangle in particular is meant to help lesser players get opportunites that they otherwise wouldn't if scorers were left to their own devices. take westbrook last night for example. a guy like that needs a system. very bryant-like approach that hurts his team. rose comes to mind. iverson. i think you get the idea.
Good post. I thought Phil bended to Kobe as much as possible as you have an extreme talent you don't just ignore. PHil and Kobe did bang heads and PHil wanted him traded. My take is Kobe eventually softend to the Zen.
Riles Showtime was already in place having the core already winning a chip under Westhead. When he took knicks job he had Ewing as his cornerstone and my take is Riles was not a systems guy, he was a methodical type discipline guy whose teams are in shape and play hard every day. "SHO", or
Sustained
High
Output
He was about players not coasting until the playoffs and then flip a switch. This I got from his book years ago.
In time he had to soften the approach as the Mourning led teams would burn out in the playoffs.
Pop has his system and overer the years it gets tweeked to adapt to the players and league. I think most coaches do it, even MDA!
But they have a core scheme they believe in. I like the reference to Pop and hip check to Nash. That was some hard core competitive dirty stuff but thats what winners do. Not to bash Melo here, but in contrast to the Smiling when the team fails vs. doing what it takes to win. IN a culture of winning Melo would be asked to not smile and at the same time Melo would have support and guys to watch his back. Thats what winning cultures do. They don't do gushy "coming home starphuch Mooby worship", they make sure the guy has the tools and support. Otherwise why bring in a guy like Melo? To win or sell tickets?
What it appears in NY is the cleaning of house is needed as there are not many assets in place worth keeping. One day Phil will tell his tale and write this chapter but he has a clean slate. Who stays and who goes we can only speculate but its obvious if you have a plan, a goal, a templete then every decision made will eventually reflect that goal.
I wouldn't worry about CAA with or without Warkentien or H20.
If Melo wants to be a part of the new Knicks Im ok with that. If he wants to smile and be a celebrity then maybe its time to go.
4/22/2014 7:17 AM