MDA's intentions? No. MDA's carefully worded rhetoric when asked questions about some of the mind boggling shit he's perpetrating? No. MDA's results...or lack thereof? Yes.
LOL, mind-boggling shit he is perpetrating? Like what? Not playing a Russian rookie project when he was not ready? Not play AR who has yet to crack an NBA rotation? Come on now!
If we're getting out rebounded in virtually every game we play...and you have confidence in the abilities of our 7' center...play him. Let him make mistakes, learn from them, and grow...that is the absolute worst case scenario for playing a young, 20 year old, foreign center...mistakes, learning experiences on the court, growth.
Totally different subject to what you quoted. That said, Moz was given the starting center job and LOST IT DUE TO EARLY STUPID FOULS AND MOVING BEFORE HE HAD CONTROL OF THE BALL. One can be
confident that a player has skill and will eventually be a good player while not thinking they are CURRENTLY ready to get major minutes on a team fighting to stay above .500. So yes, it took injuries in order to give Moz a second chance and so far he has played well. Lets remember that he played well for a long stretch during the pre-season before looking absolutely lost on the court. I say the jury is still out on whether he is ready to grind at center for major minutes nightly.
It is an absolutely terrible idea to gamble winnable games for the sake of experience and growth. We are competing for our first playoff birth in years and need every win this INCOMPLETE roster can muster. You act as if a player cannot gain valuable skill or growth from practices and scrimmages against other NBA teammates.
And if you're really stressing defense, then there should be some tangible results along with intangible things that you would only know about from watching the game. We don't play the passing lanes well, we switch too much, we double too much, we let bigs get superior position down low, we don't give enough effort for 4 quarters on that side of the ball. Effort can most definitely be altered thru coaching. We may never have an all defensive team out there, but anyone can play good team defense if coached up. You can say MDA and his staff does it...but unless our players are retarded...I don't see it.
TD plays the passing lane quite well which would highlight the ultimate truth that it is the player and not coach MOSTLY responsible. As my quote from JJ states, you cannot expect players who are weak at defense to be great defenders through coaching anymore than you can make someone who is not offensively gifted into a top tier scorer. (paraphrasing)
We let bigs get superior position because Amare and Chandler for the majority of the season have played out of position. Amare has never been a good defender and certainly can't contain elite scorers while playing out of position. Neither can Chandler, so again, more to do with roster than coaching. If you disagree please tell me why you think a defensive coach can outweigh poor defensive players playing out of position. Again, Larry Brown, a HOF coach known for his defense had the Knicks 27th in the league in defense. Larry Brown...27th in the league!
I don't want to hear what MDA has to say in front of a mic/camera, I want to see the results on the court. Don't confuse that with wins and losses, but the results of the "coaching" that the players are receiving.
You are seeing the results, we are the 6th seed. 6th seed and winning record in a league dominated by teams with multiple stars. 6th seed with max money wasted on Curry. 6th seed with our best potential defender (Azbuikie) yet to play a game. 6th seed with our second best defender (Turiaf) injured for most of the season.
Again, are you asserting we should be 5th, 4th or even 3rd seed? I see us right where we are supposed to be and ahead of where many predicted at the start.
I guess you can kinda call me a big picture type of person. While I'm happy that we're in the playoff hunt, I'm not happy that we beat the Nets by really less than 10 points if you take out the free throws to stop the clock, with 16 of 34 three pointers...what the **** is that? When I was sitting in the Garden during the Clippers game, why did I look up at the scoreboard and see us shooting 8% from 3 not even half way thru the second Q? That's 1/12 in less than 20 mins.
I missed the game but wasn't Amare injured?
And don't talk to me about the roster, because back in the day he had a 2-time MVP Steve Nash and Amar'e and he also had other players around them that "fit" his "system" (really Euroball with more 3's...but ok...I guess he's a "creative genius") and all that led to was getting handled in the playoffs. Not one-off games during the regular season, but a 7 game series where the other organization is focused on you and only you....the system didn't hold up.
And Pat Riley and JVG never won titles with the Knicks yet I'm confident you would have either back as coach. The Suns ran up against a superior team in the Spurs and the one year they were up 2-1 (i believe) Amare and Barbosa each got suspended for leaving the bench. The Spurs ended winning the series and sweeping the Cavs.
I will stay talking about the roster since it the most important facet of defense...period. Again, we have players playing out of position, 1.5 stars in a league dominated by teams with 2+, poor defensive players and max money sitting on the sideline.