might be nice if folks would check the well documented articles that use hard statistical evidence to show that d'antoni's teams were not bad defensively. also, knickerblogger and others pointed to the fairly large amount of research that shows that simply being a top defensive team does not mean winning titles. in fact, being a better offensive team is usually better, and that the league is just not the same anymore.
the infatuation with the style of play that the knicks used in the 1990's is just not what the nba is at all interested in, no matter how much some fans may enjoy hard nosed kill the guy in the lane defense.
the knicks in the 1970's played a much more similar game to the way d'antoni runs his offense now, from what i understand...hit the open man, and ball movement.
nix, i as much as it pains me to say it, and as much as i often enjoy playa's (and others who rail on d'antoni's defensive coaching or that his style can't win titles...blah blah) posts, no matter how much one tries to use evidence that doesn't fit one's point of view some are just not going to change their minds.
playa, didn't you also call gallo a bust before he even played a game?
please correct me if i'm wrong, but that's what i recall.
okay, that could be considered a cheap shot to discredit you, and not necessarily relevant to this topic, but i feel like it is because it relates to some kind of anti-anything remotely european/d'antoni style association that some fans here use often.
notice how top defensive teams often have their top players, often superstars or star caliber players, committed to defense.
where are those players on this team, and where have they been since spree and camby were here?
basically...
we don't have them, so surprise, surprise....we're not the greatest defensive team.
the suns didn't have the greatest defenders other than bell and marion was decent, so they were basically average as a team, i believe. their offense was just so good, and not really even a run and gun a la old school nuggets/nelson warriors style either, who weren't really efficient. those suns teams were HIGHLY efficient. it wasn't like they struggled to score in half-court either with all of their weapons. and as nix points out, the spurs were a freaking well oiled machine with sick defense and potent offensive talent. i mean, hello, they're still a top team because of those same reasons.
there are SO few teams that do and can win titles that it should NEVER be a given that any team will win against all of the very tough competition year in and year out.
Forum Po Po and #33 for a reason...
11/3/2009 5:14 PM
