Mike D'Antoni says up-tempo play style can work for New York Knicks like it did for Phoenix SunsBY Frank Isola
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Thursday, March 18th 2010, 4:00 AM
BOSTON - Mike D'Antoni remains adamant, almost defiant, that his up-tempo style will win big in the Eastern Conference. But only on one condition.
It helps to have someone like Steve Nash or a certain MVP small forward and future free agent running the offense.
"You need playmakers," D'Antoni said before last night's game against Boston. "You need guys that can shoot the ball and score. You can do it from the point guard, but you can do it from other than that. I played in Europe. We had other guys do it."
When asked if LeBron James could be that playmaker, the Knicks coach smiled.
D'Antoni averaged 58 wins over four full seasons in Phoenix with Nash as his point guard. D'Antoni estimates that Nash had the ball 80% of the time and that the Suns were fortunate enough to have a player of Amar'e Stoudemire's caliber finishing most of Nash's assists.
"That's the common denominator," D'Antoni said. "(They're) the mainstays."
Replicating what D'Antoni had in Phoenix won't be easy. He's been out of Phoenix for two seasons now, but the Suns are still as explosive as ever. Nash, a two-time MVP, is still at the top of his game, and on Tuesday the Suns scored 152 points in a win over Minnesota.
The score brought back good memories for D'Antoni, who believes that with the right personnel in place the Knicks can become that type of free wheeling, run-and-gun team.
"Sure you can," D'Antoni added. "We have to, yeah. I don't know how to phrase it. "Yeah, we can get up and down. I just don't want the misconception that what Phoenix was and what they are, the best thing they do is the offense. They maximize it and they play as hard on defense as they can. And it was good enough to win 62 games when we were there.
"But people think its all offense and that's not the case. But we're not a defensive juggernaut and walk the ball down."
D'Antoni is ultra-sensitive to the criticism that his teams are weak defensively. Former and current players have said that D'Antoni spends little time coaching defense, which is why there is growing sentiment in the organization that D'Antoni needs to add a defensive coach to his staff.
Last week, D'Antoni said he is opposed to adding another coach, and despite his losing record with the Knicks, he remains confident that his system works, even in the East where teams usually play a more traditional style.
"If I'm not mistaken, we set a record, nobody beat us except Philadelphia the last game, we were 14-1 on the road against the East," D'Antoni said of coaching the Suns.
D'Antoni had superior talent in Phoenix, and if the Knicks score big in the free agent market this summer, he will have the horses next year. If not, D'Antoni may have to do what Pat Riley did when he coached the Knicks following his days with the Showtime Lakers: adjust to the talent and not try to make his talent fit in the system.
"It's just a philosophy that you try to maximize your guys and you can do it any way," D'Antoni said. "Obviously the better players you have, the better the system's going to be. And the better defense you play the better defensive players you have."
"I just don't see the correlation between playing bad defense and playing that way. They have more numbers, but there's no correlation."
this article raises questions in my mind as to whether MDA actually thought that by playing the style of ball we've played in the past 2 years he actually thought he was maximizing the talent we had on the roster... i realize the plan is for 2010, but in the meantime doesn't it fall on the head coach to play a style of ball that would benefit the team as currently constructed? i think it's a fair question to ask.
3/18/2010 9:53 PM
