I was just reading the words of Mike D'Antoni again and it struck me why i've been happy with his selection. i wasn't initially as happy as I've come to be at this time, since I thought it would be better to try and get a coach who could instill a defensive approach to the game. Now however I feel he's gonna be a great coach for this organization. Part of it has to do with his sheer unflinching confidence in his philosophy on the game. The guy is committed to it and fully believes in it. I think that effects his players positively.

The next thing is his style of coaching. It's all about winning with him. He could care less about a players contract or status or feelings. This excerpt expresses that very well:

So far, D'Antoni believes the players are amped up about this new opportunity.

"Watching Chandler play, or Jeffries or Lee, they've been (working hard at the practice facility) since September, so they're working," he said, "They're foaming at the bit, and they are going. I just used three guys, but those are guys that just jumped off the page and are ready to roll, and I just think there's a lot of things we can build upon and get into there... We're going to try a lot of different combos and see what happens. That's what training camp is all about."

D'Antoni said he'll begin turning the Knicks around by committing himself to players that give him the best chance of winning, and not worry about things such as a players' contract, or making him happy.

"The guys that need to get the minutes will get the minutes," he said. "My job is that every night, we want to be competitive and win. You can't just say to wait until next year. My job is to win every night, and I'm going to play the guys that give me the best shot to win... I'm going to believe in nine or 10 guys, and that is who we are going to battle with. They'll love me, and a few of the other guys will hate me. So that's just how it's going to be."


I love that kind of approach! Regardless of the style of play, if you give playing time to those who earn it you're going to be more successful. We all know it's gonna take time to actually rebuild this team and improve the talent, but in terms of the manner in which this team and it's players go about their jobs, i'm very pleased with what MDA is going to bring to the table.

Who among us isn't confident that he's going to be able to get the most out of our best players and role players? I have no doubt about his ability to do that. In year one just changing the attitudes on this team will mean a lot.

So some can take issue with the selection of MDA and his offensive approach to the game but you can't quibble with his results and his approach to deciding who plays or not.

My question is, what team doesn't love that approach? You think there is a coach in sports history that doesn't say that to every team before the start of the season. Sure it sounds great to say but outside of a coaching change and a basketball operations change along with the addition of Duhon and the subtraction of Fred Jones, we're the same team through and through.

Nixluva as always bro......I'm with you all the way.

great, another one. i'm witcha Nixluva. i like the fact that he says he'll actually have a set rotation...imagine that. i would'nt have a problem at all if curry got p1ssed off and opted out 'cause he got no playing time.

Posted by nixluva:


D'Antoni said he'll begin turning the Knicks around by committing himself to players that give him the best chance of winning, and not worry about things such as a players' contract, or making him happy.

"The guys that need to get the minutes will get the minutes," he said. "My job is that every night, we want to be competitive and win. You can't just say to wait until next year. My job is to win every night, and I'm going to play the guys that give me the best shot to win... I'm going to believe in nine or 10 guys, and that is who we are going to battle with. They'll love me, and a few of the other guys will hate me. So that's just how it's going to be."
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Larry and Isiah both said the same stuff this time of year.

It's when they throw the ball away, get off to a 5-10 start, point fingers at one another other, fight in the showers, threaten each other with "dirt", etc, that the lofty ideals begin to break down.

Posted by ramtour420:

Wasn't MDA the last coach to get something substantial out of Marb? They did put a scare into Spurs that one series. Now Marbs is in even better shape, although older and maybe :starting to sweat now: um well , we did get Duhon so we'll be airite at least.

No, that was the coach before D'A. The coach took the hit for broken team chemistry but when even the D'A hiring didn't help they dumped Toxicbury too.

what teams' had the most rotations in one season? my point is, most teams that are at least competitive have a set rotation. just because the "72-73 sixers" sucked does'nt mean any team w/a set rotation will.

Just because you have a set rotation it doesn't mean you wont suck. Larry Brown's knicks were going to suck rotation or no rotation. If you look at Brown's track record he basically picks the team apart in his first season, Knicks were going to be no different.

call it what you want but i'd rather loose knowing we had a game plan than looking like barnum & bailey, and continue the trend.

Posted by fimslim3:

You guys think MDA is a reason for hope, that's all fine and dandy. You can add Jerry West, Phil Jackson, and all the great coaches in NBA history. If the team isn't good, they wont succeed. The players on the floor have to know what they are doing and have the talent to be on the court. For anyone who thinks MDA gives them hope, would you rather have an all-star coaching staff with the current brass of knick players? Or would you rather have an all-star team with rich kotite operating from the coaching booth?

I don't get why you are only judging the team on this coming year. The New York Knicks are in a rebuilding situation and they have a fine coach who has had some pretty decent success in this league. I think most of the people who are happy about D'Antoni aren't looking at this year, but looking towards the future knowing that we have a coach set in place now all we gotta do is weed out the players.

What's the crime in that?

Posted by nyk4ever:

Posted by fimslim3:

You guys think MDA is a reason for hope, that's all fine and dandy. You can add Jerry West, Phil Jackson, and all the great coaches in NBA history. If the team isn't good, they wont succeed. The players on the floor have to know what they are doing and have the talent to be on the court. For anyone who thinks MDA gives them hope, would you rather have an all-star coaching staff with the current brass of knick players? Or would you rather have an all-star team with rich kotite operating from the coaching booth?

I don't get why you are only judging the team on this coming year. The New York Knicks are in a rebuilding situation and they have a fine coach who has had some pretty decent success in this league. I think most of the people who are happy about D'Antoni aren't looking at this year, but looking towards the future knowing that we have a coach set in place now all we gotta do is weed out the players.

What's the crime in that?

It's great looking at the future. Sure anything can happen in 20 years. But I take it one year at a time. Looking that far away is attempting to get false sense of optimism. Every team can say they have something to look forward to in X amount of seasons, not just the knicks.



[Edited by - fimslim3 on 09-29-2008 01:10 AM]