Charles Oakley slams Knicks defense

Paul1355

All Star
Charles Oakley slams current Knicks for not trying hard in last year of contract

BY Frank Isola
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER
Sunday, November 15th 2009, 4:00 AM

alg_charles_oakley.jpg
Torrie/News
Former Knicks forward Charles Oakley thinks lack of communication on Knicks' defense has contributed to the team's worst start in franchise history.

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<!-- ARTICLE CONTENT START --> Charles Oakley has only seen the Knicks play two games this season and for him that's two games too many.
"It's not good," Oakley says. "I don't know what's going on there."
The Knicks are off to the worst start in their history and their 1-9 record tells only part of the story. Mike D'Antoni's team has already established itself as a defensive unit that either can't or won't play hard and play together.
The Knicks' defensive woes were a main topic of discussions when Oakley met with team president Donnie Walsh last April. Oakley was critical of the Knicks' defensive philosophies and came away with the understanding that the organization would make a greater commitment to defense in 2009-10.
"There is no communication on defense," Oakley, the former Knicks power forward, said Saturday over the telephone. "They don't dive on the floor for the ball. They should be getting five to six charges a night. But I don't see that.
"I'm going to put this on the players because it's up to them to fight every night. The coach can't fight for you. You can't just let teams get layup after layup."
When Oakley was reminded that most of the Knicks are in the last year of their respective contracts and probably won't be around next season, Oakley said that should give the team more incentive to play hard. "They're getting paid, right?" Oakley said. "My thing is, if they want a contract next season they should start playing for one right now."
Oakley has made it clear that he'd like to coach in the NBA. There were preliminary talks between Oakley and Walsh about a possible position but nothing ever materialized. Oakley is considering running a big man's camp during the offseason because "I feel I can help. It's not for the money."
Last week, Oakley was in Orlando working with the area's Ronald McDonald House. Oakley, an avid chef, cooked meals for the families of sick children staying at the house. He then attended Cleveland's games in Orlando and Miami and spent quality time with another famous Ohio athlete, LeBron James. Oakley, who owns a home in Cleveland, has mixed feelings about LeBron's future. He wants to see the Knicks do well but he also has strong feelings for his home state. "I think it will be hard for him to leave," Oakley said. "But you never know."
Oakley did not feel comfortable addressing Mike D'Antoni's job performance except to say that he feels the Knicks have better talent than a 1-9 team. "Look at Sacramento and Houston," he said. "They don't have much talent but they are winning. Look at Scott Skiles in Milwaukee."
The Knicks are off until Wednesday, when they play at Indiana, and D'Antoni is using the next three days to identify which players he can trust and which combinations of players he can win with. Of course, that is what training camp and preseason are supposed to accomplish, but the Knicks are back to the drawing board in more ways than one. "The next three days," D'Antoni warned, "are going to be important through practice to find a group that I want to go with."
D'Antoni will use the practice time as a minicamp or better yet open auditions to "see who wants to come forward."


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I would love to see Charles Oakley be our defensive assistant coach to teach these players how to play in the paint.
 

Arod2k9

Benchwarmer
That would change the culture to bring in a defensive specialist in Oakley, I think he can help David Lee who desperately needs it. It is an embarrassment to see this team perform offensively and specially defensively. Oak will get into people's faces and demand of the team to protect the basket. I can only imagine Oak ****ing people up if they don't, lol I remember the way he used to cursed at Greg Anthony/Charles Smith when he didn't get the ball or missed an assignment. It was as if during those days losing wasn't tolerable, now a days watching a Knicks telecast is as if losing has become part of it and to see this is a disgrace to the city of New York.
 

nyk_nyk

All Star
This team is suffering bad and Oakley is the vaccine to cure it... at least on the defensive end. Why the Knicks won't extend a had to Oakley for his expertise? I don't know but they need to do something because all this losing will overshadow the awful work Isiah did and that's when you know shit done hit the fan.

Jennings = 55 pt game
Hill = still learning
 
I agree with Oakley, it's a real shame as I'm a life long British fan and this Christmas will be my first chance to see the Knicks and I'm fearing the worst.

Seen them twice and both times it's been awful and hard to watch. i thought the offence is the major problem.

A bit off topic but does anyone know why I can't right a new post? I can just do replies and wanted to ask people some questions about my trip.

Thanks
 

tiger0330

Legend
Oak has a point. The poor D is pure laziness, I watched the Lakers/Rockets game and Houston without Yao and McGrady, using a 6'6" center and having not one all-star on the team managed to beat the world champion Lakers by 10 pts. Did they shoot the lights out, NO, they shot 30% from 3 and 41% overall. They did it by using a trapping defense, stealing the ball, clogging the lane, taking charges and rebounding despite being smaller at every position.

D'Antoni needs to put his priorities in order. The Knicks can score enough points to win but not when they play non-existent D. If D'Ants can't see the need to play better D in the next 20 games or so, he needs to be fired.
 

nyk_nyk

All Star
Oak has a point. The poor D is pure laziness, I watched the Lakers/Rockets game and Houston without Yao and McGrady, using a 6'6" center and having not one all-star on the team managed to beat the world champion Lakers by 10 pts. Did they shoot the lights out, NO, they shot 30% from 3 and 41% overall. They did it by using a trapping defense, stealing the ball, clogging the lane, taking charges and rebounding despite being smaller at every position.

D'Antoni needs to put his priorities in order. The Knicks can score enough points to win but not when they play non-existent D. If D'Ants can't see the need to play better D in the next 20 games or so, he needs to be fired.

I'm sure Dantoni expresses the need for better defense but like Oak said, the coach can't play D for them. They have to actually put the work in on the court to stop people. You can only teach defense to a certain extent and then after that its all hustle and heart. With that said, these guys have no heart plus Dantoni is an offensive specialist so you do the math.
 

CoolClyde

Moderator
Oak has a point. The poor D is pure laziness, I watched the Lakers/Rockets game and Houston without Yao and McGrady, using a 6'6" center and having not one all-star on the team managed to beat the world champion Lakers by 10 pts. Did they shoot the lights out, NO, they shot 30% from 3 and 41% overall. They did it by using a trapping defense, stealing the ball, clogging the lane, taking charges and rebounding despite being smaller at every position.

D'Antoni needs to put his priorities in order. The Knicks can score enough points to win but not when they play non-existent D. If D'Ants can't see the need to play better D in the next 20 games or so, he needs to be fired.
Totally :agreed:

Heed the Oak-man! Other than no-offense Jefferies, and occasionally Al, takings charges has not been taught on this team. I've seen little-to-no trapping defense, very little full court press, and the Knicks are one of the smallest teams out there.
Du-horrible is one of the worst defensive PGs, and DLEE has problems galore trying to be a defensive center.
No-D'antoni should play an all-defensive squad, and let the offense happen, isnt' that what SSOL is all about?
SSOL = LOSS

<< The Knicks are off until Wednesday, when they play at Indiana, and D'Antoni is using the next three days to identify which players he can trust and which combinations of players he can win with. Of course, that is what training camp and preseason are supposed to accomplish, but the Knicks are back to the drawing board in more ways than one. "The next three days," D'Antoni warned, "are going to be important through practice to find a group that I want to go with."
D'Antoni will use the practice time as a minicamp or better yet open auditions to "see who wants to come forward.">>


Damntoni!
 

tiger0330

Legend
I'm sure Dantoni expresses the need for better defense but like Oak said, the coach can't play D for them. They have to actually put the work in on the court to stop people. You can only teach defense to a certain extent and then after that its all hustle and heart. With that said, these guys have no heart plus Dantoni is an offensive specialist so you do the math.
D'Antoni sucks. He is way too much a players coach, I can see him in the huddle when he sees a guy miss a defensive assignment, he'll give him a pat on the back and say "You'll get it". JVG would chew these guys a new a-hole and use a few choice 4 letter words to get his point across.
 

paris401

Starter
That would change the culture to bring in a defensive specialist in Oakley, I think he can help David Lee who desperately needs it.

what you have seen over the years is all the lee has/can give you. he hustles, and has a nose for the ball, but at the end of the day he is a slow white guy who (untypically) has no shot more then 5ft, and can't play a lick of "D"...
 

paris401

Starter
as to oak being the answer to teach "D" to the team, herb has been there for a number of years, and he was a pretty good "Defensive-Player", tho i will agree being a good player does not always mean u will be a good teacher , coach,gm (hello michael jordan)...

as to 'toni, he mite talk "D", doubt he is coaching it, as didn't see any "D" with the high flyin Suns... zero,nada,nil...
 

JayJ44

Starter
I wish Oakley would slam some of our players...like literally...bunch of lazy bastards need to get their ass kicked.
 

Paul1355

All Star
I wish Oakley would slam some of our players...like literally...bunch of lazy bastards need to get their ass kicked.
problem with mike d is that he does not have that mentality to fire up his players...he is too laid back and too much of a players coach...Mike will have to change everything he use to do in order for this team to win...if not then we won't see him next year.
 

Crazy⑧s

Evacuee
I think Oak pressed the red button when he said "They need to play for next years contracts now". It just shows the poor quality of douche bags NY are employing (fact) and the lack of motivation D' Antoni is installing (assumption).

It's gotten to the point where I'm not sure if I'm watching over-achievers under-achieve or complete no hopers tanking the season for no other reason than a lack of ****ing pride & passion.

I'd do some seriously unhygienic shit for some of these fools annual pay packets. I'd play basketball for free any time.
 
To be honest, picking on a D'Antoni team for lack of defense is like joking with someone and calling them retarded, only to find out that they really have a mental handicap.

"Ha, ha, you suck, what are you retarded?"
"Actually I do have a mental disability."
"Oh, my bad. Sorry."

There are two things I have learned by watching D'Antoni teams.
1) They score in bunches and sell tickets.
2) They never play shutdown defense no matter how hard they try, and this makes it hard to win.

Press 1 if you miss Oak

1111111111111111111111
 

donchris

Next season, keep waiting
D'Antoni sucks. He is way too much a players coach, I can see him in the huddle when he sees a guy miss a defensive assignment, he'll give him a pat on the back and say "You'll get it". JVG would chew these guys a new a-hole and use a few choice 4 letter words to get his point across.

This is a brilliant post. But to me change has to start at the top. The only thing that makes sense to me is Walsh told Dolan to forget about the next two seasons and wait for 2010. Many of us actually patted Walsh on the back for trading our two best players. What did we think the outcome would be? Everyone with half a brain knows the Knicks haven't played good defense in years. Thomas created a shitty knock off of the Suns so we got the real thing hoping for a better outcome? Well now we see the outcome and it didn't work. Unless D'Antoni has three all-stars he is completely useless as a coach. I'm calling it now. We won't get any 'real' all star next season other than Amare or Joe Johnson, the team wont be all that competitive and we'll be looking for a new coach come 2012.
 

TunerAddict

Starter
This is a brilliant post. But to me change has to start at the top. The only thing that makes sense to me is Walsh told Dolan to forget about the next two seasons and wait for 2010. Many of us actually patted Walsh on the back for trading our two best players. What did we think the outcome would be? Everyone with half a brain knows the Knicks haven't played good defense in years. Thomas created a shitty knock off of the Suns so we got the real thing hoping for a better outcome? Well now we see the outcome and it didn't work. Unless D'Antoni has three all-stars he is completely useless as a coach. I'm calling it now. We won't get any 'real' all star next season other than Amare or Joe Johnson, the team wont be all that competitive and we'll be looking for a new coach come 2012.

Thomas created a knockoff of the Sun?

REally?

Didn't realize the suns played a half court game that relied on isolation play.
 

Paul1355

All Star
9 player strategy is a bad strategy

This is a brilliant post. But to me change has to start at the top. The only thing that makes sense to me is Walsh told Dolan to forget about the next two seasons and wait for 2010. Many of us actually patted Walsh on the back for trading our two best players. What did we think the outcome would be? Everyone with half a brain knows the Knicks haven't played good defense in years. Thomas created a shitty knock off of the Suns so we got the real thing hoping for a better outcome? Well now we see the outcome and it didn't work. Unless D'Antoni has three all-stars he is completely useless as a coach. I'm calling it now. We won't get any 'real' all star next season other than Amare or Joe Johnson, the team wont be all that competitive and we'll be looking for a new coach come 2012.
I hope your wrong, but I honestly think we are a very good team if we got Amare and Joe Johnson...also take into account that all stars would excel in Mike D's system were bad players don't because they throw up bricks. Players with talent and skill like Johnson/ Amare can take over with their confidence. We don't have talent or skill on this team, none that is an impact atleast.

Mike D has been on my bad side this year because he has made so many questionable moves starting with his rotations. A 9 player team is the wrong strategy with a team were anyone can be a starter. You need to play everybody in every situation so you know exactly who to play. Mike D is playing bums like Duhon/Jeffries too much and not giving Hill and Douglas enough minutes.

I do wish we had a coach with more fire in him and more strategy than just using some old strategy that has not worked since he got here in NY. Seriously he honestly thinks his 7 second offense will eventually get the Knicks to the payoffs, even with these players. It's false hope untill 2010.
 
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