This is a well known characteristic of D’Antoni. The Knicks employed 11 players in the blowout win against Indiana, which is rare for him. The last time D’Antoni went into double digits was December 2nd against Orlando. In between those two games D’Antoni used 8 players every game (including 11 straight) except for two contests where 9 players saw the floor. Factor in that the 8th guy usually doesn’t see a lot of minutes, and it’s essentially a 7 man rotation. For instance Eddy Curry saw “action” in 3 of those games, but he didn’t play more than 7 minutes in any of those games. D’Antoni’s rotation is much like you’d expect from a playoff team. The best guys (according to him) get the lions share of the minutes, a few other guys come in for breathers, and everyone else has front row seats to an NBA game.

You’re either in or your out.

There doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground with D’Antoni. The Knicks coach has stated that he doesn’t like to put veterans in for spot minutes, prefering to keep them on the bench instead of bringing them in cold. He has repeated this frequently, especially when asked about bringing in a non-rotation player for offensive or defensive purposes in a single critical possession (Darko Milicic, Jerome James, etc.). Chances are if a player is seeing minutes, they’ll continue to get court time. And the converse is true as well.

Injuries doesn’t constitute succession

This was apparent last year when the Knicks were short on guards due to the Crawford trade, Mobley injury, and Marbury refusal. Instead of going to the next guy on the bench like most coaches would, D’Antoni ignored Roberson. New York rode Duhon into the hardwood and even went guardless at times, rather than turn to someone on the end of the pine. So if a player thinks that an injury means that coach D will be forced to insert them into the game, then they’re misguided.

If you’re suddenly out of the rotation, don’t expect a greeting card to make you aware of the fact.

Granted this is a leap for yours truly to state, because I’m not omni-present in the team lockerroom. However Larry Hughes was quoted as saying:

“It’s easy to communicate with a grown man,” Hughes said. “It’s a long season and you always want to have dialog and talk things out. I definitely want the dialog. Let guys know where they stand and you can voice opinions on both sides.

“There’s nothing wrong with voicing an opinion because they’re not facts. It’s what you’re thinking and how you’re feeling. Just to have communication, I think, goes a long way in this league.”

This isn’t the first time a player (or Hughes for that matter) has been unhappy with a lack of playing time and went public about it. However in this case it seems that Hughes isn’t just lashing out from spite. Compare this to Darko’s rant on NBA coaches, and Hughes’ request seems downright reasonable. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear that D’Antoni communicates his lineup changes to his players.

From these rules it’s easier to understand D’Antoni’s priorities. He seems to favor continuity & familiarity over strategic match ups. Granted there are deficiencies to D’Antoni’s system, most notably the lack of time for players outside of the rotation. But even this has its benefits as a young player could crack the starting lineup and see lots of playing time (see Wilson Chandler, 2009). Of course the lack of communication is a serious issue as well. However this system has its fair share of positives. Over the life of KnickerBlogger, I’ve criticized Knick coaches for not putting out a lineup that forced the opposition to adjust to New York’s strengths. And this is exactly what D’Antoni does. If you watched the Indiana game, Hibbert looked like a slow plodding dinosaur against the more agile Knicks.

Fortunately for D’Antoni, New York’s roster is conducive to such a set of rules. The Knicks can play the 6-11 Jared Jeffries at any spot, and D’Antoni has put him on both centers and point guards. Chris Duhon and David Lee can always shift over one spot, and the rest of the rotation is filled with forwards that can handle multiple positions like Wilson Chandler (6-8), Danilo Gallinari (6-10), Al Harrington (6-9), and Jonathan Bender (7-0). This roster construction allows D’Antoni to keep the rotation short, and not force him to play someone outside of his comfort zone.

http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=847

how about this surprising quote from the basketball prospectus article:

"I'm willing to accept New York as one of the best three-point defenses in the league, if not the best..."

compare that to the years under isiah and brown where we were basically target practice for teams shooting 3's.

i suspect even last year we defended, at least the 3 ball, better than previous years, where we used to repeatedly get torched.

GodSaveTheKnicks wrote:I totally thought this season would be a completely throw away. Pleasantly surprised. First time in a long time I've felt this good about my Knicks.

Im happy were winning games, but boy o boy how far have we come, were actually consider relevent 6 games under .500..we'd be a crackhead team in the west...Im so looking fwd to the OAK city game for some reason.

nixluva wrote:The original plan that Isiah had to try and make the team longer and more athletic was the right move. He didn't know how to pull it all together, but he was trying to emulate the new direction the league was headed in MOSTLY due to what MDA started in PHX. Smaller teams with guys that can cover more ground and positions. The Hawks seemed to have been trying to do the same thing. All over the league really since MDA started this teams have shifted from the traditional 1 position type of roster to a roster with multi-positional players.

I'm not sure all over the league, but a lot of teams have. Really, the team you have to look to right now is the Lakers. They have skill guys who are 6'7" or taller at every position except the PG.

kobe 6'7"
odom 6'10"
gasol 6'11"
artest 6'7" (ariza before him at 6'8")
bynum 7'0"

i like that right now, we often have four guys who are 6'9" or taller out there with duhon or hughes or nate:

DLee 6'9"
Jeffries 6'11"
Wilson 6'9"
Gallinari 6'11"
Harrington 6'9"

we have good skill at good size throughout the lineup. that is why the zone has been effective for us and why switching on defense is a good strategy that's been paying dividends. i mean, really, you throw lebron in there at 6'9" and a capable point guard and we will be a nightmare to deal with for anyone in the league. we don't have a power center, but we have a bunch of tall guys who can shoot and run the floor. and jeffries, who can at least run and defend.

GodSaveTheKnicks wrote:

nixluva wrote:The original plan that Isiah had to try and make the team longer and more athletic was the right move. He didn't know how to pull it all together, but he was trying to emulate the new direction the league was headed in MOSTLY due to what MDA started in PHX. Smaller teams with guys that can cover more ground and positions. The Hawks seemed to have been trying to do the same thing. All over the league really since MDA started this teams have shifted from the traditional 1 position type of roster to a roster with multi-positional players.

Was he trying to make the team longer and more athletic or smaller to cover more ground and positions? Curry/Randollph don't really seem to fit either and i believe he was interviewed as saying he wanted to pound it inside because lots of teams don't have real centers.

don't want to turn this into yet another he-who-must-not-be-named but am confused as to what you're trying to say.

i think...what you're trying to say is the league is geared towards more KG/Durant types? Guys who are long, agile, and skilled vs traditional back to the basket Ewing/Alonzo Mourning types..?

Dunno what role he-who-must-not-be-named plays in all that?

You have to go back and remember what Isiah ORIGINALLY set out to do. He often brought up MDA's Suns as a model he was shooting for. Isiah knew he couldn't exactly match them, but he thought that the direction MDA was taking things was the way to go. Isiah SWITCHED up when he started going to Curry almost exclusively and then he added Zach. At that point they had no choice but to go ground N pound. But just remember when he took guys like Ariza, Balkman and Frye and T. Thomas and his love affair with Darius Miles.

Now in MDA's case he did in fact start a new wave of teams trying to go in his direction. It makes sense when you think about how few really good traditional Centers there are.