Clyde & The Pearl
Starter
Can Turn what should be a 6ft 10inch, 280 pd inside bruiser into a 3 pt shooter. Is anyone else watching Jorts jack up 3's? Ridiculous...
Coaches dont come into NY to win anymore bro. They just come in demand big $$$. Then Dolan guarantees the $$$ and they then just piss us off until they get fired and walk away with millions. The last one that actually gave a **** and wasnt here for $$$ was JVG. He had enough sense to see where the team was going with Dolan at the helm and rolled the **** out.
Jorts could be an unreal presence in the paint in the coming years but if MDA gets his way he'll be Jared Jeffries II.
Kind of a shame we have to trust this coach to develop a rookie big. Once MDA realizes he cant hit the three well enough he'll be benched and ruined like so many bigs before him...
How'd coach do with rookie big Amare Stoudemire?
How'd coach do with rookie big Amare Stoudemire?
How'd coach do with rookie big Amare Stoudemire?
Defensively?
Is that a trick question?
Look at the 6'10 athletic freak's defense to see what MDA can do to a potential defensive beast.
I was mainly jesting. But he's still a multi-time all star player who was taken out of high-school and considered a pretty raw project of a lotto pick.
But wasn't Marion (to name one) also a young PHO player, too, who excelled at his peak under MDA? Offensively and defensively.
Clearly Amare isn't exactly a naturally born killer on defense by any stretch of the imagination.
But the guy doesn't box out and do the most simple of shit -- shit he *clearly* knows he is supposed to do, and clearly has been told his entire life that he should do, on top of that.
What should MDA (or any coach) instruct the guy to do; there aren't super awesome defensive strategies, outside of that which is already more complex and less essential than the shit Amare needs to do first and foremost....box out, consistent effort, et al.
Anyway, isn't that why you'd bring a good defensive coach to take on such a responsibility -- like we have?
I'll say it again -- players like Gasol, Paul Pierce, even Dirk...all considered some combo of soft and shit on D. Until they happened upon really good complete teams and were surrounded by ultra-competitive, defensive minded players (a la Garnett).
Bringing in those players to that Celtic team (a la Gasol going to that Laker team) is to Doc going from lame duck hack to defensive coach maestro, as not having those players is to MDA's past mystique of offensive wizard and miserable defensive coach.
Well there was an article thrown around here some time ago where Amare stated he was never taught defense in PHX under MDA. You can't just let a young guy play no defense for 5 years.
Yeah that's why we brought in Mike Woodson, it's now 7 years too late for Amare to learn how to play good D in the NBA all we can hope is he starts getting the fundamentals.
I got nothing bad to say about STAT. He is what he is. Thread is about a 6 10, 280 pds of what should be a rebounding beast. All those fundies that STAT lacks JORTS has. Why not use them instead of having him outside beyond the arc? That's how I would coach it...
But this isn't about some special or advanced coaching that is needed, or that has been lacking....
I don't honestly believe that Amare wasn't just copping some bullshit of a cop out, to shift blame from his stank ass defensive performances.
It's just not reasonable to think that Amare was never instructed/told how to box out and shit, and play real basic fundamental D -- by MDA, or any of the other coaches who have coached him in his pro career, and before. And even if he wasn't (which I think is unfathomable), what kind of a man needs their hand held like a little girl to look into what it takes to box out and show some intensity when you're playing d?
And with that said, I personally do not see how *any* coach -- no matter their supposed pedigree and expertise -- could make any difference on Amare, till he shows the inclination and ability to do those most basic yet profound of defensive assignments.
I expect improvement with Amare's D, too, but it will be mainly because of a season with Chandler and an overall improved team. I wouldn't credit MDA, per say, just as I won't directly credit him for any improvement in Melo's D.