Knicksfan wrote:Martin, do you think D'Antoni is still the right choice for us as a coach? I don't have any agenda pro or con to him, but this does seem like a team that isn't well suited for his offense and the questions on defense seem to never die. I believe he can make this offense run efficiently with our main guys Melo, Amar'e and Billups, but it really seems defense is secondary and like it or not, defense wins championships in the NBA.Personally I don't believe the Knicks, now with Melo and Billups, should keep D'Antoni. This team seems to be moving towards a more traditional contending team, one that will be moved by its stars and by the defensive play of each in the rotation. But what do you think?
I have no idea if MDA is the right coach, but I do know that he has had 2 or more distinct sets of players each and every year he has been in NY. How can anyone be fairly judged on that type of lack-of-continuity?
If Riley had first coached the 90's Knicks would everyone have said that he was a defensive-only coach and probably should never be on a 80's Lakers-like team with Worthy, Magic, Kareem? I mean, those Knicks were INEPT at getting baskets when they needed them; was that Riley's fault or did the Knicks just not have talent within the offense?
I don't understand the argument that MDA can't coach defense. He has never had players that doubled as defensive players, and so to maximize his teams' output with the Suns, he maximized the offense, which kind of makes sense to me. On his PHO teams, he never had a big, defensive, intimidating C; he had Amare at PF and we all know his lack of defensive skills and even effort on that end of the court; and he had Nash, who for all of his wonders on offense is a major league SIV on defense (and when he either goes under a pick, which he does more than Duhon, or when his guy blows past him, it makes the C/PF do double duty and they weren't strong to begin with).
It's like giving Jeff Gordon a Civic Hatchback and asking him to win a NASCAR event. Does it make him a bad NASCAR driver or did he really ever have a chance?