I've seen coaches do better with a lot less talent.Like I said before, if the reason behind D'antoni being hired was to make the Knicks appealing to superstar free agents then that is a dumb reason to hire a coach.The Knicks have basketball games to win and fans to please, they shouldn't be wasting their time basing all of their moves on a pipe dream that might not come true.And to compare Mike D'antoni (when he couldn't win a championship while he was in Phoenix) to coaches that won championships with superstar players seems a bit absurd.
This thread is retarted
Do you honestly think that with a different coach that this team would be a 40 win team? Seriously? Our roster is worse then the NETS! Our PG situation is the worst I think I've ever seen on any team ever. We have a squad of YOUNG guys with little to know playoff experience or embedded culture of winning. Our best player doesn't know how to play D and is playing out of position.
You think that Pops in San An would be able to take this team to the promised land? If you took Parker, Ginnobli and Duncan off of that team they are STILL better then our current Knicks. I know New Yorkers are impatient and want results but NO ONE would win with this squad. It is impossible.
You can polish a turd as much as you like, but in the end it's still a turd. Sure maybe the coach has been hard on some guys and been trying to give major minutes to Chandler and Gallo, but that's part of the vision for the FUTURE of the team. This year was a throw away season. Everyone knew it, Walsh even told you so. The only people that thought they could win with this team were a) Al harrington and b) D'antoni. And that's only because D'antoni is such a positive guy, trying to uplift the spirits of the guys stuck there and al harrington needed to focus on something or would end up going crazy.
Anyone that thinks our pre-trade deadline roster was a 40 win team is out of their friggin mind.
This thread is retarted
Are you implying that Mike D'antoni is as good a coach as Gregg Popovich? Did you not watch the playoffs the last few years? Did you not see how Popovich out coached D'antoni in every playoff series in which they faced eachother? I'm not saying that coach Popovich would make this Knick team a playoff team but there is no way the Knicks would be 15 games under five hundred if he were coaching them.
You make the Knicks out to be worse than the '73 Sixers and you completely take the responsibility off of the coach.Tell me why the Knicks were playing good basketball in December if their roster is so horrible? As short handed as this team is they are a better team than what they're showing you right now.They just don't have the coach that could come up with the right strategies for them.
Mike D'antoni specifically said that he was going to make the Knicks competitve, during his first press conference.He never said that he was going to wait 2 years in order to do it.There shouldn't be any excuses for why his Knicks played the worst basketball during their easiest stretch of the season.If it was going to take Mike D'antoni 2 years to be the hall of fame coach that he is then Walsh should have hired somebody else to throw away these 2 seasons.These games shouldn't be taken as exhibition games in hope of finally landing the big prize at the end of the tunnel.Mike D'antoni's job is to find ways to improve the way that this team plays.I'm tired of Knick fans defending D'antoni based on what he did in Phoenix.Some of these fans act like D'antoni won 5 championships with the Suns and that one major roster improvement will have him go from looking like Roy Rubin to looking like Red Auerbach.The truth is that D'antoni never has won a championship with a good team and has had two seasons to make the Knicks competitive, but hasn't done it.I am never sold on a coach until that coach can prove that he is a winner.So far, Mike D'antoni hasn't proven that.
P.S. Did you know Quentin Richardson credited having slimmed down to Patrick Ewing calling him fat? Significance: Q was fat, throughout his time with D'Antoni. Where was D'Antoni then??? On a cylinder of stacked potato chips, perhaps?
When people judge Mike based on the record i feel like stabbing myself with a rusty knife. Didn't we do much worse with a HOF coach in Larry Brown because we had basically the same worthless bunch? Brawn had actually a much better roster than D'antoni has and he is still able to keep them in the game.
We knew all along that these 2 years were going to be difficult. Mike said it tonite too in his show but he said that we knew that all along, he also mentioned that it is extremely hard on him to swallow the type of performance the team has been showing but how much can he do with those bums?
Criticizing D'antoni is plain dumb and stupid. Give him a decent team and than sing the obituaries if he is no good.
First of all Larry Brown never really got a fair chance in NY. Also he was stuck with Isaiah and his dumb moves..
I never liked the hiring of Dantoni in the first place. He is a one sided coach and his method is not what wins big games in the nba..
His system you almost certainly need a point guard like Jkidd or Nash or even a CP3 or else it wont work.. With the players we will be getting in the summer his system will not work because guys like Cbosh and Lebron its not all about run and gun.
Mark my words Dantoni will never give us a chance here..
Just think about all the successful coaches in NY. Its all about defense and half court sets which are 2 things Dantoni cannot handle
When people judge Mike based on the record i feel like stabbing myself with a rusty knife. Didn't we do much worse with a HOF coach in Larry Brown because we had basically the same worthless bunch? Brawn had actually a much better roster than D'antoni has and he is still able to keep them in the game.
We knew all along that these 2 years were going to be difficult. Mike said it tonite too in his show but he said that we knew that all along, he also mentioned that it is extremely hard on him to swallow the type of performance the team has been showing but how much can he do with those bums?
Criticizing D'antoni is plain dumb and stupid. Give him a decent team and than sing the obituaries if he is no good.
Larry Brown had already won a championship and had a resume of taking a number of mediocre teams to the playoffs, before he came to the Knicks.And the reason why he was fired by Isiah Thomas was because of his fall out with Stephon Marbury.Mike D'antoni on the other hand, has never proven that he could coach a group of undertalented players to mediocrity and has never proven that he could get a playoff team passed the conference finals.Comparing Larry Brown's situation to D'antoni's situation with the Knicks is comparing apples to oranges.
So by saying that Mike D'antoni was the best coach available at the time, are you implying that he is better than Avery Johnson, Scott Skiles and Jeff Van Gundy? D'antoni might have seemed like a good coach 2 years ago but he wasn't the best coach available.When Walsh went out and lured D'antoni into coming to the Knicks he knew that D'antoni's relationship with players on the U.S. Olympic team could play a major role in attracting free agents in 2010.I don't think it was because D'antoni was this great coach who was going to eventually transform the Knicks into the '96 Bulls.
When D'antoni made his debut for the Knicks, didn't he say that he was going to bring back competitive basketball to MSG? Was he just saying those things because his large pay check required him to fill Knick fans with false hope? Or did he actually believe that he was going to make the Knicks a better team? So far, he's been Knick coach for almost 2 years and the Knicks still haven't learned how to play defense and are regressing as the clock moves forward.
You don't have to be a great head coach to get a group of undertalented players to compete every night.Look at Rick Adelman, he isn't a great coach but he manages to get the best out of his Houston Rockets team in a conference that is a lot tougher than the one that the Knicks play in.Mike Fratello, when he coached in the NBA was far from a great coach but he took mediocre Cavalier teams to the playoffs every year.And he was doing this during a period in which players like Michael Jordan, Patrick Ewing and Karl Malone were dominating the league.Don't tell me that the reason why D'antoni is about to lose 50 games, once again for the Knicks, is because the Knicks are completely uncoachable.If that is the only reason why the Knicks are so bad then they shouldn't even be competing in the NBA.The fact that they have players who are talented enough to play in the NBA should be enough for a good coach not to lose 50 games with them every year.You're telling me that a man who can coach an Olympic team to a gold medal can't coach a group of NBA players to win a mere 40 games in a weak division because his players aren't good enough to play for him? Something has to be wrong with this picture.
Even if the Knicks acquired McGrady,Thomas or House it won't make much of a difference for them.Mike D'antoni has proven that if you're not his favorite player you aren't going to be used to your full potential and could be in danger of being put on the inactive roster.I know a coach is suppose to set certain standards for his team, but how have the Knicks benefited from D'antoni benching Larry Hughes? When he was in the lineup, the Knicks were playing defense and looked like they were going to be serious contenders for the last playoff spot in the East.But then the inevitable took place: Mike D'antoni decided to go with his pride rather than his common sense and the Knicks suffered as a result of it.
I don't think Mike D'antoni is a bad person.He seems like a guy with a wonderful personality, but when he doesn't do his job correctly, he will be criticized for it.
So fans should drink the D'antoni Kool-aid and not be allowed to express an opinion that isn't pro D'antoni?
When you look at Larry Brown's career coaching stats you will see that it usually takes him more than one season for a team to improve under him.
In his first season coaching the Nets he won 44 games, in his second year with them he won 47 games.
In his first season coaching the Spurs he won a pathetic 21 games with, in his second season with them he won 56 games.
In his first season with the Pacers he won 47 games, in his second season with them he won 52 games.
In his first season with the Sixers he finished 20 games below five hundred and in his second season with them he finished six games above five hundred.
In his first season with the Bobcats he won 35 games, so far this season the Bobcats have won 27 games and have a good chance of making the playoffs.
In is first seasons coaching NBA teams he has a winning percentage of .486, in his second seasons he has a winning percentage of .594.
In his second season with the Knicks, Mike D'antoni is on pace to lose more games than he did in his first season with the Knicks.
Had Larry Brown been given another season with the Knicks, they would have improved.
This is why it is pretty meaningless to use Larry Brown's one season with the Knicks as an excuse to dismiss the 100 games that D'antoni will be losing with the Knicks.
Anybody who says no other NBA coach could coach the Knicks to a better record is basically implying that Mike D'antoni is just as good as the best coach in the NBA.
You need players. Oh and we need a shot blocker. A legitimate center that can stablize this defense. Its very hard to guard anybody in this league. But if you got some height back there, players will feel more comfortable about defending tighter.
Players first, then the coaches. You dont expect Phil Jackson to get to the playoffs with the Wizards do you?
For some reason, I am not convinced that even with a great team, D'antoni would win a championship.He had multiple chances in Phoenix to take a good Suns teams to the promised land but failed at it.I get tired of hearing how the Suns would have eliminated the Spurs a few years ago had Shawn Marion not been suspended in that playoff brawl.There was no way the Suns would have beaten the Spurs in a seven game series with D'antoni as their head coach.
I never had a problem with the D'antoni hiring at the beginning, but after nearly 2 seasons of this team not improving under him I am starting to have my doubts about his coaching ability.
I wouldn't know if Phil Jackson could take a team like the Wizards to the playoffs because I've never seen him coach a bad team.I know that he is capable of winning championships with good teams because he has done it in the past.I also know that Mike D'antoni cannot coach an already bad team to be a sub five hundred team and hasn't been able to coach a good team to the NBA finals.