There will be no morning shootarounds in New York this season, continuing an experiment that Coach Mike D’Antoni started last fall. But D’Antoni is tweaking the game-day schedule again, admitting that some parts of the routine did not work out so well.

Last season the Knicks dropped the shootaround in favor of a late-afternoon walk-through, followed by a team meal. It reduced the commute time and ensured that players ate a healthy pregame dinner — a main goal of the medical staff.

The drawback was that players had to arrive by 4 p.m., three and a half hours before a typical 7:30 p.m. game. While some took advantage of the extra time to shoot or warm up, most of them merely loitered, or napped. The feedback was generally negative.

“You have that hour and a half, and instead of just sitting around, you could see them dozing off,” D’Antoni said. “It just wasn’t good. I don’t think it was perfect. But it’s better than having them come here in the morning.”

This season the Knicks are dropping the pregame meal and requiring players to be at Madison Square Garden by 6 p.m., or 90 minutes before tipoff, which is the typical reporting time.

The Knicks hold practices and shootarounds at their training center in Westchester County. Most of the players live close by, but some are in Manhattan (or, in past years, New Jersey), which makes for a difficult commute on game days.

Coaches and trainers will still be at the training center in the mornings for players who need to practice or work out. But game strategy will be covered the day before, at practice.

The Knicks will still hold morning shootarounds on the road, D’Antoni said, because the team is already together and often just a short drive from the arena.

A half-dozen N.B.A. teams have eliminated the traditional morning shootaround in recent years, preferring that players get proper rest and maintain a consistent sleep schedule.

As always, D’Antoni said the new schedule was subject to change.

“I could go back to having shootarounds in the morning here,” he said. “But right now the plan is not to do that at home.”

CrushAlot wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:Stop making a mountain out of a mole hill......

The Knicks have been a lottery team for the last 6 years. I would think as a coach you would any opportunity to help prepare your team and make them end this awful streak. I haven't been happy watching D'Antoni's pained facial expressions while his team has gone 61-99 over the past two years. I maybe in the minority but I believe a coach does play a role in his teams success and I believe that a coach can help his team by preparing for opponents. I would like to see D'Antoni do a bit more to show he is more committed than he has been the last two years.

The Knicks are following the same routine as every other team in the NBA now. It's not a big deal.

crzymdups wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:Stop making a mountain out of a mole hill......

The Knicks have been a lottery team for the last 6 years. I would think as a coach you would any opportunity to help prepare your team and make them end this awful streak. I haven't been happy watching D'Antoni's pained facial expressions while his team has gone 61-99 over the past two years. I maybe in the minority but I believe a coach does play a role in his teams success and I believe that a coach can help his team by preparing for opponents. I would like to see D'Antoni do a bit more to show he is more committed than he has been the last two years.

The Knicks are following the same routine as every other team in the NBA now. It's not a big deal.

Agreed....Not a big deal at all....

CrushAlot wrote:

crzymdups wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:Stop making a mountain out of a mole hill......

The Knicks have been a lottery team for the last 6 years. I would think as a coach you would any opportunity to help prepare your team and make them end this awful streak. I haven't been happy watching D'Antoni's pained facial expressions while his team has gone 61-99 over the past two years. I maybe in the minority but I believe a coach does play a role in his teams success and I believe that a coach can help his team by preparing for opponents. I would like to see D'Antoni do a bit more to show he is more committed than he has been the last two years.

The Knicks are following the same routine as every other team in the NBA now. It's not a big deal.

The article said about half a dozen teams do this. Not every team. It would be interesting to see where those other 5-6 teams records are and who their coach is. If Jerry Sloan does this I will leave this subject alone.

honestly, this is a pretty poor piece of op-ed writing that distorts the truth of the matter.

you could have done a quick google search rather than assume that this is based in this seemingly fictional sense that d'antoni is lazy or not committed...

the knicks got rid of the morning shoot around last year joining...

The Celtics, Spurs, Wizards, Nuggets and Trailblazers...

and the notion of getting rid of it is based in...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/20/sports/basketball/20sleep.html

A growing interest in sleep science — and a recognition that players need more time to recharge — is fueling the trend. Simply speaking, N.B.A. players often fail to get enough sleep.

The typical night game ends at about 10 p.m. By the time players shower, dress and speak with the news media, it is close to 11 p.m. They are usually famished, so everyone eats a late dinner. Even the most conservative players — those who do not frequent nightclubs — will not get to sleep until at least 2 a.m. If the team is traveling, players may not reach their hotel until 3 a.m.

For a shoot-around or practice that starts at 10 a.m., players have to arrive as early as 9 a.m. to lift weights, receive treatment or be taped.

“You’re talking about our players functioning on five or six hours of sleep a day,” Rivers said, “and that’s just not good enough.”

Rivers was once a skeptic on the topic. He now speaks like a sleep evangelist.

“If you go three, four, five days in a row with less than six hours of sleep, your reaction time is comparable to that of someone legally drunk,” Rivers said. “You’re trying to play a basketball game where just a 10th of second, a degree off, throws your whole game off.”

So this isn't some silly "let's be lazy" and not prepare the team idea at all. It's based in scientific research about sleep.

Secondly, the article/blog you cite does in fact say that the Knicks are joining the rest of the NBA in terms of having their evening shoot around start at a more commonly used time.

This season the Knicks are dropping the pregame meal and requiring players to be at Madison Square Garden by 6 p.m., or 90 minutes before tipoff, which is the typical reporting time.

Why did players have to come early last year?

Last season the Knicks dropped the shootaround in favor of a late-afternoon walk-through, followed by a team meal. It reduced the commute time and ensured that players ate a healthy pregame dinner — a main goal of the medical staff.

so, it wasn't like mda dropped the shootaround and left the players with only free time. the coaching staff experimented with a different routine that they hoped would be more helpful in maximizing player performance. how exactly is that a sign of someone not committed to being a good manager?

PresIke wrote:Simply speaking, N.B.A. players often fail to get enough sleep.

But the Knicks got more than enough sleep during the game - especially on the defensive end.