He should have been more to the point and said KO Fans.
Sorry, but whether he is even the right coach for us,
Mike D'antoni > D'antoni Haters
Larry Brown, Isiah, and all the rest before....Now D'antoni.
What are the chances that if we had Phil Jackson, his name would replace D'antoni and "defense" switches place with "can't be elite without juggernaut greats".
NBA champion, HOF coach Larry Brown -- "can't coach offense, or NY egos" Epic fail. As those before him.
NBA modern day legend and perennial Top Coach list Mike D'antoni -- "doesn't know defense, isn't smart enough to improve"
Yet, D'antoni is the only coach of this decade who has met -- and exceeded -- fan and analyst expectations for the team. During roster upheavals and Walsh finally beginning to give us, and our given coach, a legit NBA starting 5 roster. We've had a Frankenstein of a team for years.....
Yet, as some are finally beginning to admit...we could lead the league in wins, get to the conference finals, or even the NBA finals, but if we don't win,
"D'antoni sucks. D'antoni doesn't know defense. Fire MDA"
Will be identical rhetoric to if we had a 20win season.
Thus threads pining for us to miss the playoffs to satisfy a personal speculation and desire to have a personally disliked coach get fired. And the sundry of other inanity that gets heaved at MDA, and our team's, way.
Not sure what all of that was, but you can see the Knicks lack of defense on the court. Not the stats, but the fundamentals of defense aren't there...and if the players aren't coming thru and doing what was implemented in the game plan, then we need some of this:
The only problem is...I've never seen D'Antoni hold Nash, STAT, Melo, or any other big name or "the best on the team" player, accountable when it matters. I've missed 3 home games this year, seen all the road games on tv, and I've seen the majority of the Knicks games under MDA the past 2 seasons. Bench players and role players **** up, and MDA is mad, big name guys **** up and MDA is:
I honestly don't know whether or not he can coach defense for the simple fact that you can't jump to the conclusion that someone can't do something because they don't do it. But you can't dispute the fact that the Knicks have never played solid, consistent, playoff caliber defense under MDA. Talent on the roster has nothing to do with weak side help, or keeping your hands up to create tougher passing angles...that's all awareness and effort and both can bee coached by a leader who will under no circumstances accept your feeble bullshit as championship caliber basketball. If you give it your all, stay mentally engaged, but just don't have the talent needed to take the team over the top...that's one thing...then not going after loose balls, keeping your hands shackled to your sides and giving up easy passing lanes, not denying forays into the paint, playing D solely with your hands while your legs and feet are barely moving, only to see your coach looking like:
...that's a totally different situation. Trying but not being good enough is one thing (and team defense can be achieved with 5 decent defenders, not sure where your notion of "lock-down" defenders are needed comes from,) and then giving weak feeble ass attempts that's an excuse for defense at the professional level...solely because it seems ok because no one is saying anything.............NO. Coach...please coach 'em up.
When Jarrett Jack and Julian Wright complains about the lack of total accountability from the coaching staff in Toronto as being a part of their defensive deficiencies up there last season...I tend to believe them, examine my team, and draw some parallels.
Once again...I don't know whether or not MDA has the capacity to teach teach team defense, concoct a defensive strategy based on the roster we're going against, instal his plan, and make sure
EVERYONE does their ****ing job. I'm not saying he can't do it, but anyone with two braincells can see that's it's not happening. Whether it's because he isn't doing it at all, or the players are not listening to him...he needs a change of scenery because he's either incompetent on the defensive end, or ineffective. We're not talking about 3/4 of a season...the defensive issues that the 2010-11 Knicks have, are the same exact issues that the 09-10 Knicks had, and 08-09 Knicks did as well...and with all the turnover in the roster and the coaching staff staying pretty much intact...that's where the blame goes.
And before you start talking about blocks and how we lead the league, the Wizards are #2 in blocks and Utah is tied with them, Chicago at #4, and OKC and Indy are tied at 5. The only consistently solid defensive team in there is Chicago...OKC had a lapse with Ron Adams leaving, but Ibaka is a blocking machine. Washington at #2 with Javale, and also a team that was 0-21 or 22 on the road until they beat the Cavs, so there is no correlation between good defense and blocks, because you can amass a lot of blocks with tall, athletic bigs with long arms, and perimeter players letting everyone get the basket at will and get an attempt up that's fair game for the big. Problem is..when that big isn't in, or finally gets in foul trouble because there's always someone in his chest...those shots start to go, and the opposing team starts to get some and-1s.
Blocks=/= good defense. And the only teams below the Knicks in terms of defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100, a stat I know you love) are: Houston, Phoenix,
Utah,
Washington, Minny, Golden State, Detroit, Toronto, and Cleveland.
Three of the top five teams in terms or blocks are all in the bottom 9 in terms of defensive efficiency.
The Knicks are not playing good defense. Whether that's on the coach who's not teaching team D, or on the coach who is so ineffective that his players are willing to ignore his imploring of a vital strategy that he's going over ad nauseum with them about....it still points to a coach who simply ain't getting it done. He can call me a MDA hater, toss a couple of Prozac my way, and get the **** out.
Getty Images From the second they gave up a lot of depth to bring in Carmelo Anthony, the Knicks past Spider-man the Musical as the thing with the most unrealistic expectations in New York.
