ibraheim718
Benchwarmer
Yawn... Are we still nit picking how D'antoni handled the most irrelevant Knicks season in history?
Playoff Thread
- Thread starter Kiyaman
- Start date
u call it nit-picking?
do u recall the roster we started out with in training-camp?
If u do recall our training-camp roster, then u would know our roster was better sculptured than the Bulls, Bucks, and Bobcats rosters.
Our headcoach did nothing to motivate the players on our roster to play "team-ball" or show each player equal-confidence in their talents.
Example:
We started the season with a decent guard rotation of Duhon, Nate, Hughes, and Douglas that could've shared 96 minutes of playingtime each game (with Douglas receiving 12 mpg b/c the other 3 guards were playing for their FA $$$ contract year.).
We also started the season with a losing weight Eddy Curry wanting to make an impact on his return in the rotation, plus having 3 bigmen wanting to make a huge splash for their FA $$$ contract year in Lee, Harrington, and Darko, with a rookie F/C-Jordan Hill that showed potential in screening, rebounding, and shotblocking without having another bigman or any SF in the lineup with him in our summer league games.
Sorry! but the Bulls, Bucks, and Bobcats rosters were not better or talented than the Knicks roster however, those teams headcoach relationship and confidence in the players on their roster were 100% better than our headcoach.
And the Suns headcoach Gentry's deep rotation of his bench players are showing u in the playoffs where coach Dantoni went wrong throughout his tour with the Phoenix Suns.
Do u think the Suns couldve been 3-0 vs the Mavs in this playoffs???
lilman_bklyn
Rotation player
D'antoni played a HUGE role in making the last couple of seasons irrelevant. That guy is a failure as a coach. They need to boot his fackin azz out like the Bulls did Del Negro
BringHoopinHome2010
Benchwarmer
Our roster was full of huckers dude. Larry hughes is one of the most overpaid, overrated players of this era. Al Harrington takes 20-30 shots per game, thinks he's melo or something. Duhon couldn't hit a shot to save his life, Duke's current pg Scheyer would have been better to have. Curry is a fatass and never wanted to play, and even if he did, he never would have been effective in D'antoni's system. Darko is the hugest bust ever, he might get a contract next year, but only b/c he ended up with one of the 8 teams in the nba who have a worse record than us.
Do I think Hill and Douglas should have gotten more minutes? yes. But don't try and make a case that we had a good roster b/c that is just not true, plain and simple. That is why we were losing, and that's why we gutted it, not D'antoni.
Actually yes he did, he took them to the western conference finals in 2004-05 and 05-06 and they were beaten by the Spurs and Mavs in those two years.
If you don't think the Knicks roster was bad this year, you need to get off the pipe.
What do you expect a coach to do when he's got one real point guard, who sucks, no real center and a bunch of young players and other guys who shoot les than 40% from the field?
CoolClyde
Moderator
D'amntoni Supporters Unite
it ain't nit-picking to point out D'amntoni's faults as a coach on the whole. It's not the last 2 seasons I have a problem with, per se, it's the way he utilizes the roster, the way he benched Marbury, N8, Douglas, Hill, Hughes, Darko. the way he does not foul when up by 3 with seconds left in the game. the way he treats his players like sh*t, and thinks his sh*t don't stink, the way he plays a short rotation, and thinks offense wins games, and stubbornly denies the team a defensive coach or game plan.
Every winning coach, every winning team, plays the exact opposite tactics, and treats their players with respect. I can't respect D'amntoni because of all these things, and I won't until he takes the Knicks deep into playoffs. Then I will be happy to eat crow.
D'amntoni never got the Suns past the Spurs, that's what I was saying, BringPoopinHome2010, and it looks like it's gonna happen now, thanks to wonderguard Steve Nash, coach Alvin Gentry, and a DEEP BENCH.
case in point:
Why Mike D'Antoni Let The Suns Down
http://www.sbnation.com/2010/5/5/1459367/2010-nba-playoffs-tv-guide-suns-mike-dantoni
...we now see that D'Antoni was probably a bit too stubborn. The Suns are still, fundamentally, the Suns, in that they score a lot and play fast, but that's where the similarities end. The Suns of Mike D'Antoni always had their foot on the accelerator. They conspicuously avoided fouling because they felt it was better to take the ball out of the basket, in hopes that you'd either wear down or get sucked up into their style. They relied on Steve Nash to make every play, frantically running pick and rolls in hopes of getting that shot up in the elusive seven seconds or less. They didn't trust their bench, preferring to go with a short, seven-man rotation for some reason. They rarely ran Amare Stoudemire into the post, preferring instead for him to get his points off Nash.
That strategy worked, sure. But it also wasn't perfect. Disciplined teams like the Spurs didn't get sucked into their style, and bigger teams dominated the glass and on the inside against them. More fundamentally, no draft picks developed, because D'Antoni really wouldn't let them play. Nash always wore down from playing too many minutes, because the system was too reliant on him. Sure, the real problem with the Suns was that they always ran into better teams in the playoffs, but they also didn't quite get the most out of their roster, and a lot of that falls on D'Antoni.
This year's Suns team, on paper, is not as good as any of D'Antoni's teams. Nash is still going strong, but he's not quite what he was in 2006. Grant Hill has been great, but he doesn't come close to bringing them as much as Shawn Marion did in his prime. Amare is still Amare. Jason Richardson is higher-paid and had more of a pedigree, but he's really just a slightly better version of Raja Bell at this point, stylistically at least. Leandro Barbosa isnt close to what he once was, and there's nobody on the roster that brings Boris Diaw's unique skill set. Finally, as much as Suns fans hate to admit it, that bench was paper-thin coming into the season and has only emerged because Alvin Gentry and the player development staff there has done an unbelievable job cultivating it. These aren't diamonds in the rough we're talking about; these are guys who weren't good until this year. Channing Frye hadn't done anything since his rookie year with the Knicks, Goran Dragic was awful last year, Jared Dudley couldn't get minutes on the Bobcats and Robin Lopez and Lou Amundson spent time in the D-League last year. Give Mike D'Antoni that group, and many of them wouldn't have played.
But while this year's team doesn't approach any of D'Antoni's teams on paper, it succeeds because it does everything D'Antoni's teams never did. This year's Suns team sensibly pushes the ball, killing you in transition after getting defensive rebounds instead of just constantly running. They don't just rely on Nash to create scoring for them - Stoudemire, Hill and Richardson get regular post-ups in their half-court sets, and Dragic is equally capable of running things at times. Their offensive efficiency this year is actually higher than any of the D'Antoni teams, because it's easier to score in transition after a defensive stop than in the half court. They use their bench, more than pretty much any team remaining in the playoffs. Their defense is technically ranked lower than any of D'Antoni's teams, but over the last two months, they've defended at a high enough level to rise seven places in the rankings, so that's a bit misleading. They actually start a conventional center, whether it's Lopez or Jarron Collins now that Lopez is hurt. They're making the Spurs go small to beat them, rather than vice versa.
Bottom line: it's really a different Suns team than we've ever seen, and they're winning just as much despite probably having less talent on paper.
For that, Gentry deserves a lot of credit, but D'Antoni also deserves some criticism. If Gentry can find a way to tweak the Suns' core identity like this and succeed with a worse roster on paper, why couldn't D'Antoni do the same with his stronger rosters? He could have, and it would have helped get his teams over the hump, but it also would have meant admitting his system needed some small tweaks. He wasn't willing to admit that, so instead, they spun their wheels until the Shaq trade. It all could have ended so differently.
But it didn't, and now that the Suns have figured out how to tweak the formula, you have to wonder what might have been. Keep this in mind when the Knicks don't get LeBron and D'Antoni's Knicks teams are always underachieving.
it ain't nit-picking to point out D'amntoni's faults as a coach on the whole. It's not the last 2 seasons I have a problem with, per se, it's the way he utilizes the roster, the way he benched Marbury, N8, Douglas, Hill, Hughes, Darko. the way he does not foul when up by 3 with seconds left in the game. the way he treats his players like sh*t, and thinks his sh*t don't stink, the way he plays a short rotation, and thinks offense wins games, and stubbornly denies the team a defensive coach or game plan.
Every winning coach, every winning team, plays the exact opposite tactics, and treats their players with respect. I can't respect D'amntoni because of all these things, and I won't until he takes the Knicks deep into playoffs. Then I will be happy to eat crow.
D'amntoni never got the Suns past the Spurs, that's what I was saying, BringPoopinHome2010, and it looks like it's gonna happen now, thanks to wonderguard Steve Nash, coach Alvin Gentry, and a DEEP BENCH.
case in point:
Why Mike D'Antoni Let The Suns Down
http://www.sbnation.com/2010/5/5/1459367/2010-nba-playoffs-tv-guide-suns-mike-dantoni
...we now see that D'Antoni was probably a bit too stubborn. The Suns are still, fundamentally, the Suns, in that they score a lot and play fast, but that's where the similarities end. The Suns of Mike D'Antoni always had their foot on the accelerator. They conspicuously avoided fouling because they felt it was better to take the ball out of the basket, in hopes that you'd either wear down or get sucked up into their style. They relied on Steve Nash to make every play, frantically running pick and rolls in hopes of getting that shot up in the elusive seven seconds or less. They didn't trust their bench, preferring to go with a short, seven-man rotation for some reason. They rarely ran Amare Stoudemire into the post, preferring instead for him to get his points off Nash.
That strategy worked, sure. But it also wasn't perfect. Disciplined teams like the Spurs didn't get sucked into their style, and bigger teams dominated the glass and on the inside against them. More fundamentally, no draft picks developed, because D'Antoni really wouldn't let them play. Nash always wore down from playing too many minutes, because the system was too reliant on him. Sure, the real problem with the Suns was that they always ran into better teams in the playoffs, but they also didn't quite get the most out of their roster, and a lot of that falls on D'Antoni.
This year's Suns team, on paper, is not as good as any of D'Antoni's teams. Nash is still going strong, but he's not quite what he was in 2006. Grant Hill has been great, but he doesn't come close to bringing them as much as Shawn Marion did in his prime. Amare is still Amare. Jason Richardson is higher-paid and had more of a pedigree, but he's really just a slightly better version of Raja Bell at this point, stylistically at least. Leandro Barbosa isnt close to what he once was, and there's nobody on the roster that brings Boris Diaw's unique skill set. Finally, as much as Suns fans hate to admit it, that bench was paper-thin coming into the season and has only emerged because Alvin Gentry and the player development staff there has done an unbelievable job cultivating it. These aren't diamonds in the rough we're talking about; these are guys who weren't good until this year. Channing Frye hadn't done anything since his rookie year with the Knicks, Goran Dragic was awful last year, Jared Dudley couldn't get minutes on the Bobcats and Robin Lopez and Lou Amundson spent time in the D-League last year. Give Mike D'Antoni that group, and many of them wouldn't have played.
But while this year's team doesn't approach any of D'Antoni's teams on paper, it succeeds because it does everything D'Antoni's teams never did. This year's Suns team sensibly pushes the ball, killing you in transition after getting defensive rebounds instead of just constantly running. They don't just rely on Nash to create scoring for them - Stoudemire, Hill and Richardson get regular post-ups in their half-court sets, and Dragic is equally capable of running things at times. Their offensive efficiency this year is actually higher than any of the D'Antoni teams, because it's easier to score in transition after a defensive stop than in the half court. They use their bench, more than pretty much any team remaining in the playoffs. Their defense is technically ranked lower than any of D'Antoni's teams, but over the last two months, they've defended at a high enough level to rise seven places in the rankings, so that's a bit misleading. They actually start a conventional center, whether it's Lopez or Jarron Collins now that Lopez is hurt. They're making the Spurs go small to beat them, rather than vice versa.
Bottom line: it's really a different Suns team than we've ever seen, and they're winning just as much despite probably having less talent on paper.
For that, Gentry deserves a lot of credit, but D'Antoni also deserves some criticism. If Gentry can find a way to tweak the Suns' core identity like this and succeed with a worse roster on paper, why couldn't D'Antoni do the same with his stronger rosters? He could have, and it would have helped get his teams over the hump, but it also would have meant admitting his system needed some small tweaks. He wasn't willing to admit that, so instead, they spun their wheels until the Shaq trade. It all could have ended so differently.
But it didn't, and now that the Suns have figured out how to tweak the formula, you have to wonder what might have been. Keep this in mind when the Knicks don't get LeBron and D'Antoni's Knicks teams are always underachieving.
it ain't nit-picking to point out D'amntoni's faults as a coach on the whole. It's not the last 2 seasons I have a problem with, per se, it's the way he utilizes the roster, the way he benched Marbury, N8, Douglas, Hill, Hughes, Darko. the way he does not foul when up by 3 with seconds left in the game. the way he treats his players like sh*t, and thinks his sh*t don't stink, the way he plays a short rotation, and thinks offense wins games, and stubbornly denies the team a defensive coach or game plan.
Every winning coach, every winning team, plays the exact opposite tactics, and treats their players with respect. I can't respect D'amntoni because of all these things, and I won't until he takes the Knicks deep into playoffs. Then I will be happy to eat crow.
D'amntoni never got the Suns past the Spurs, that's what I was saying, BringPoopinHome2010, and it looks like it's gonna happen now, thanks to wonderguard Steve Nash, coach Alvin Gentry, and a DEEP BENCH.
case in point:
Why Mike D'Antoni Let The Suns Down
http://www.sbnation.com/2010/5/5/1459367/2010-nba-playoffs-tv-guide-suns-mike-dantoni
...we now see that D'Antoni was probably a bit too stubborn. The Suns are still, fundamentally, the Suns, in that they score a lot and play fast, but that's where the similarities end. The Suns of Mike D'Antoni always had their foot on the accelerator. They conspicuously avoided fouling because they felt it was better to take the ball out of the basket, in hopes that you'd either wear down or get sucked up into their style. They relied on Steve Nash to make every play, frantically running pick and rolls in hopes of getting that shot up in the elusive seven seconds or less. They didn't trust their bench, preferring to go with a short, seven-man rotation for some reason. They rarely ran Amare Stoudemire into the post, preferring instead for him to get his points off Nash.
That strategy worked, sure. But it also wasn't perfect. Disciplined teams like the Spurs didn't get sucked into their style, and bigger teams dominated the glass and on the inside against them. More fundamentally, no draft picks developed, because D'Antoni really wouldn't let them play. Nash always wore down from playing too many minutes, because the system was too reliant on him. Sure, the real problem with the Suns was that they always ran into better teams in the playoffs, but they also didn't quite get the most out of their roster, and a lot of that falls on D'Antoni.
This year's Suns team, on paper, is not as good as any of D'Antoni's teams. Nash is still going strong, but he's not quite what he was in 2006. Grant Hill has been great, but he doesn't come close to bringing them as much as Shawn Marion did in his prime. Amare is still Amare. Jason Richardson is higher-paid and had more of a pedigree, but he's really just a slightly better version of Raja Bell at this point, stylistically at least. Leandro Barbosa isnt close to what he once was, and there's nobody on the roster that brings Boris Diaw's unique skill set. Finally, as much as Suns fans hate to admit it, that bench was paper-thin coming into the season and has only emerged because Alvin Gentry and the player development staff there has done an unbelievable job cultivating it. These aren't diamonds in the rough we're talking about; these are guys who weren't good until this year. Channing Frye hadn't done anything since his rookie year with the Knicks, Goran Dragic was awful last year, Jared Dudley couldn't get minutes on the Bobcats and Robin Lopez and Lou Amundson spent time in the D-League last year. Give Mike D'Antoni that group, and many of them wouldn't have played.
But while this year's team doesn't approach any of D'Antoni's teams on paper, it succeeds because it does everything D'Antoni's teams never did. This year's Suns team sensibly pushes the ball, killing you in transition after getting defensive rebounds instead of just constantly running. They don't just rely on Nash to create scoring for them - Stoudemire, Hill and Richardson get regular post-ups in their half-court sets, and Dragic is equally capable of running things at times. Their offensive efficiency this year is actually higher than any of the D'Antoni teams, because it's easier to score in transition after a defensive stop than in the half court. They use their bench, more than pretty much any team remaining in the playoffs. Their defense is technically ranked lower than any of D'Antoni's teams, but over the last two months, they've defended at a high enough level to rise seven places in the rankings, so that's a bit misleading. They actually start a conventional center, whether it's Lopez or Jarron Collins now that Lopez is hurt. They're making the Spurs go small to beat them, rather than vice versa.
Bottom line: it's really a different Suns team than we've ever seen, and they're winning just as much despite probably having less talent on paper.
For that, Gentry deserves a lot of credit, but D'Antoni also deserves some criticism. If Gentry can find a way to tweak the Suns' core identity like this and succeed with a worse roster on paper, why couldn't D'Antoni do the same with his stronger rosters? He could have, and it would have helped get his teams over the hump, but it also would have meant admitting his system needed some small tweaks. He wasn't willing to admit that, so instead, they spun their wheels until the Shaq trade. It all could have ended so differently.
But it didn't, and now that the Suns have figured out how to tweak the formula, you have to wonder what might have been. Keep this in mind when the Knicks don't get LeBron and D'Antoni's Knicks teams are always underachieving.
Good post. Very scary post. The one counter I can see is the competition that faced D'ants Suns (ie dynasties/spurs), and that the key injury(s) sustained in their deepnplayoff runs. You me tined the former, but if accepted, it's tough to not think d'ants suns wouldn't have achieved glory if they faced the current competition that the suns are now eating up.
That said, if d'ant flops next yr, it's be tough to not think back to a post like this and wonder why the hell you didn't see it coming.
knickzrulezH20
Sexy Stud
it ain't nit-picking to point out D'amntoni's faults as a coach on the whole. It's not the last 2 seasons I have a problem with, per se, it's the way he utilizes the roster, the way he benched Marbury, N8, Douglas, Hill, Hughes, Darko. the way he does not foul when up by 3 with seconds left in the game. the way he treats his players like sh*t, and thinks his sh*t don't stink, the way he plays a short rotation, and thinks offense wins games, and stubbornly denies the team a defensive coach or game plan.
Every winning coach, every winning team, plays the exact opposite tactics, and treats their players with respect. I can't respect D'amntoni because of all these things, and I won't until he takes the Knicks deep into playoffs. Then I will be happy to eat crow.
D'amntoni never got the Suns past the Spurs, that's what I was saying, BringPoopinHome2010, and it looks like it's gonna happen now, thanks to wonderguard Steve Nash, coach Alvin Gentry, and a DEEP BENCH.
case in point:
Why Mike D'Antoni Let The Suns Down
http://www.sbnation.com/2010/5/5/1459367/2010-nba-playoffs-tv-guide-suns-mike-dantoni
...we now see that D'Antoni was probably a bit too stubborn. The Suns are still, fundamentally, the Suns, in that they score a lot and play fast, but that's where the similarities end. The Suns of Mike D'Antoni always had their foot on the accelerator. They conspicuously avoided fouling because they felt it was better to take the ball out of the basket, in hopes that you'd either wear down or get sucked up into their style. They relied on Steve Nash to make every play, frantically running pick and rolls in hopes of getting that shot up in the elusive seven seconds or less. They didn't trust their bench, preferring to go with a short, seven-man rotation for some reason. They rarely ran Amare Stoudemire into the post, preferring instead for him to get his points off Nash.
That strategy worked, sure. But it also wasn't perfect. Disciplined teams like the Spurs didn't get sucked into their style, and bigger teams dominated the glass and on the inside against them. More fundamentally, no draft picks developed, because D'Antoni really wouldn't let them play. Nash always wore down from playing too many minutes, because the system was too reliant on him. Sure, the real problem with the Suns was that they always ran into better teams in the playoffs, but they also didn't quite get the most out of their roster, and a lot of that falls on D'Antoni.
This year's Suns team, on paper, is not as good as any of D'Antoni's teams. Nash is still going strong, but he's not quite what he was in 2006. Grant Hill has been great, but he doesn't come close to bringing them as much as Shawn Marion did in his prime. Amare is still Amare. Jason Richardson is higher-paid and had more of a pedigree, but he's really just a slightly better version of Raja Bell at this point, stylistically at least. Leandro Barbosa isnt close to what he once was, and there's nobody on the roster that brings Boris Diaw's unique skill set. Finally, as much as Suns fans hate to admit it, that bench was paper-thin coming into the season and has only emerged because Alvin Gentry and the player development staff there has done an unbelievable job cultivating it. These aren't diamonds in the rough we're talking about; these are guys who weren't good until this year. Channing Frye hadn't done anything since his rookie year with the Knicks, Goran Dragic was awful last year, Jared Dudley couldn't get minutes on the Bobcats and Robin Lopez and Lou Amundson spent time in the D-League last year. Give Mike D'Antoni that group, and many of them wouldn't have played.
But while this year's team doesn't approach any of D'Antoni's teams on paper, it succeeds because it does everything D'Antoni's teams never did. This year's Suns team sensibly pushes the ball, killing you in transition after getting defensive rebounds instead of just constantly running. They don't just rely on Nash to create scoring for them - Stoudemire, Hill and Richardson get regular post-ups in their half-court sets, and Dragic is equally capable of running things at times. Their offensive efficiency this year is actually higher than any of the D'Antoni teams, because it's easier to score in transition after a defensive stop than in the half court. They use their bench, more than pretty much any team remaining in the playoffs. Their defense is technically ranked lower than any of D'Antoni's teams, but over the last two months, they've defended at a high enough level to rise seven places in the rankings, so that's a bit misleading. They actually start a conventional center, whether it's Lopez or Jarron Collins now that Lopez is hurt. They're making the Spurs go small to beat them, rather than vice versa.
Bottom line: it's really a different Suns team than we've ever seen, and they're winning just as much despite probably having less talent on paper.
For that, Gentry deserves a lot of credit, but D'Antoni also deserves some criticism. If Gentry can find a way to tweak the Suns' core identity like this and succeed with a worse roster on paper, why couldn't D'Antoni do the same with his stronger rosters? He could have, and it would have helped get his teams over the hump, but it also would have meant admitting his system needed some small tweaks. He wasn't willing to admit that, so instead, they spun their wheels until the Shaq trade. It all could have ended so differently.
But it didn't, and now that the Suns have figured out how to tweak the formula, you have to wonder what might have been. Keep this in mind when the Knicks don't get LeBron and D'Antoni's Knicks teams are always underachieving.
Very very nice article. But don't forget that the Spurs D'ant used to play were much better than the Spurs of now. And that Amare suspension really killed them. They definetely would have won the series had he not gotten suspended. But D'ant does fail to cultivate his bench just like the article said. I doubt Dragic, Frye, or Dudley would be doing as good with D'ant. To be honest I doubt they would have done anything at all. But I think D'ant could have turned Richardson into a much better player.
ibraheim718
Benchwarmer
Here are links to the entire Suns Roster the four years they won 50+ games.
For you braniacs can you point out How D'antoni had better reserves than Gentry does this year.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2006.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2006.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2007.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2006.html
95% percent of D"antoni's reserves aren't even in the league anymore.
For you braniacs can you point out How D'antoni had better reserves than Gentry does this year.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2006.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2006.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2007.html
http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/PHO/2006.html
95% percent of D"antoni's reserves aren't even in the league anymore.
NYKnuniversity
Benchwarmer
Lol you posted the same team 3 times after admonishing the "braniacs" on the site. Smfh
I agree though. This is the best/deepest team Phoenix has had.
ibraheim718
Benchwarmer
Are you always going to start in with me?
Are you really that sensitive?
Are you a man with sensitivity?
A link is A link is A link.
I know basketball computers not so much.
The Depth on this Phoenix team is leaps and bounds better than what Mike had.
I would say the Suns and the Magic have the deepest benches left hands down and I predict a Suns-Magic final.
NYKnuniversity
Benchwarmer
Yeah im sensitive in the sense that its irritating to me that you think you know anything...So yeah, im sensitive to condescening people who have no business attempting to elevate their appearance, but do it anyway by belittling everyone else. Keep it in your head.
I agree that this is the best Suns team, but I dont see a team with no inside game getting by the length of the Lakers front court for a long playoff series. Lakers-Cavs or Lakers-Magic looks a lot more likely in my opinion.
ibraheim718
Benchwarmer
I'm gonna be me. Get over it. You can't do a damn thing about it, Partner. So just tummy up and put me on ignore.
ibraheim718
Benchwarmer
Yo... you should take that picture off of your profile it shows how much of a tool you are. Have you ever even played any ball in your life? Are you even from NYC? Seriously bro...button up that shirt and stop looking like such a meathead frat boy.
NYKnuniversity
Benchwarmer
Be yourself man. Not telling you not to be. I just find it hilarious that you're calling out people for being stupid but cant take it return. Someone seems a bit sensitive. I did my undergrad study at NYU, and have split my graduate studies at Columbia and BU. Im originally from California, but spent the best years of my life from NYC. The fact that my profile picture is your evidencr for judging me as a frat boy meathead is hilarious...especially because im 5'10 and weigh 165...Hate all you want, but I'd hate me too if i was at some dead end job working 9 to 5 also.
:boohoo:
And still our roster had better talent than the Bulls, Bucks, and Bobcats at the start of this season.
knickzrulezH20
Sexy Stud
Your absolutely retarted sometimes.
All of those teams completely raped us at the PG and C positions. Not even a close comparison.
SSj4Wingzero
All Star
Damned right. I tried to defend D'Antoni because of his supporting cast, I really did. But I'm having a hard time giving him the time of day because of his idiotic substitutions and how he treats his bench players. D'Antoni wasn't even willing to start Jordan Hill, our LOTTERY PICK. D'Antoni wasn't even willing to start Darko Milicic, a 7 footer who could block shots when we faced D12 and played DAVID LEE at the 5. Really? D'Antoni deserves every bit of criticism for that.
Do you really think D'Antoni would've played Channing Frye if he were coach of the Suns right now? Hell no! D'Antoni would've let him rot on the bench because D'Antoni would've seen him as a failed player who couldn't cut it in the NBA, but no Alvin Gentry gives him a chance and now he's an INTEGRAL PART of a Conference Finals-bound team. Same goes for Dudley, Dragic, Robin Lopez, Collins, and pretty much everybody in the Suns' starting 5.
D'Antoni let valuable talent like Toney Douglas rot on the bench for the first half of the season and he started CHRIS ****ING DUHON instead. D'Antoni started JARED JEFFRIES when our LOTTERY PICK was rotting on the bench, and now our lottery pick has demonstrated exceptional ability with the Rockets. D'Antoni only plays his veterans, and it shows cause even towards the end of the season when we had NOTHING to play for he was STILL playing Chris Duhon over Toney Douglas.
I don't believe we can say D'Antoni is a crap coach because Gentry took the Suns past the Spurs - the Spurs of 2010 are nowhere near as good as the Spurs of 2005 or 2007. They're missing Bowen, for one, not to mention Duncan's lost a step or two (though he's still amazing, he's not NEARLY as dominant as he was). Would D'Antoni's Suns have been able to get by these Spurs? I don't know for sure, and because of that we can't pass judgment on D'Antoni because Gentry took the Suns to the WCF.
That being said Michael Kay said it best on his 1050 ESPN Radio talk show - where's this offensive genius that Mike D'Antoni was claimed to have by all of the pundits who said he was a great coach due to his 60 win seasons? Where are the plays that made Steve Nash into the best PG in the NBA? Where's the motivation that made those Suns teams? D'Antoni did NOT display any of that, he used a short rotation, played only aging washed up veterans with no future on the team, and let valuable talent rot on the bench. Hell, we could've won 3-4 games more this year alone if D'Antoni had just played Darko at the 5 and Lee at the 4 instead of playing Lee at the 5 and expecting him to somehow guard Dwight Howard.
I swear, we need to get a players' coach around here.
Kiyaman is right - you can't possibly convince me that the Bulls, or Bobcats, or the Bucks, or the Heat (they had Dwyane Wade but pretty much nobody else), or the Pacers or the Raptors really have that much more talent than the Knicks. FFS we CRUSHED the Pacers. How the hell did they finish in front of us in the standings? How about the Houston Rockets, who are without their star player that their offense was built around - how the hell are they so much better than us? Don't try to tell me their roster is really that much better - it's not - but they played over .500 ball in the WEST whereas we couldn't even finish in front of the Pacers who were missing Danny Granger for most of the year.
That's just pathetic.
Do you really think D'Antoni would've played Channing Frye if he were coach of the Suns right now? Hell no! D'Antoni would've let him rot on the bench because D'Antoni would've seen him as a failed player who couldn't cut it in the NBA, but no Alvin Gentry gives him a chance and now he's an INTEGRAL PART of a Conference Finals-bound team. Same goes for Dudley, Dragic, Robin Lopez, Collins, and pretty much everybody in the Suns' starting 5.
D'Antoni let valuable talent like Toney Douglas rot on the bench for the first half of the season and he started CHRIS ****ING DUHON instead. D'Antoni started JARED JEFFRIES when our LOTTERY PICK was rotting on the bench, and now our lottery pick has demonstrated exceptional ability with the Rockets. D'Antoni only plays his veterans, and it shows cause even towards the end of the season when we had NOTHING to play for he was STILL playing Chris Duhon over Toney Douglas.
I don't believe we can say D'Antoni is a crap coach because Gentry took the Suns past the Spurs - the Spurs of 2010 are nowhere near as good as the Spurs of 2005 or 2007. They're missing Bowen, for one, not to mention Duncan's lost a step or two (though he's still amazing, he's not NEARLY as dominant as he was). Would D'Antoni's Suns have been able to get by these Spurs? I don't know for sure, and because of that we can't pass judgment on D'Antoni because Gentry took the Suns to the WCF.
That being said Michael Kay said it best on his 1050 ESPN Radio talk show - where's this offensive genius that Mike D'Antoni was claimed to have by all of the pundits who said he was a great coach due to his 60 win seasons? Where are the plays that made Steve Nash into the best PG in the NBA? Where's the motivation that made those Suns teams? D'Antoni did NOT display any of that, he used a short rotation, played only aging washed up veterans with no future on the team, and let valuable talent rot on the bench. Hell, we could've won 3-4 games more this year alone if D'Antoni had just played Darko at the 5 and Lee at the 4 instead of playing Lee at the 5 and expecting him to somehow guard Dwight Howard.
I swear, we need to get a players' coach around here.
Kiyaman is right - you can't possibly convince me that the Bulls, or Bobcats, or the Bucks, or the Heat (they had Dwyane Wade but pretty much nobody else), or the Pacers or the Raptors really have that much more talent than the Knicks. FFS we CRUSHED the Pacers. How the hell did they finish in front of us in the standings? How about the Houston Rockets, who are without their star player that their offense was built around - how the hell are they so much better than us? Don't try to tell me their roster is really that much better - it's not - but they played over .500 ball in the WEST whereas we couldn't even finish in front of the Pacers who were missing Danny Granger for most of the year.
That's just pathetic.