Jeremy Lin: D'antoni Saved My Career

iSaYughh

Starter
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7576223/nba-jeremy-lin-success-system

Figure a thread about D'antoni that's based off NBA players, scouts, and professionals would be good for a change.

Agree, disagree, or simply soak it in. Meat and potatoes in quotes below, some at the end are especially interesting:

"What happened?"

In other words, how did this guy from a school that has produced twice as many United States presidents as NBA players, a guy who was jettisoned to the D-League last month, take the league by storm?

The answer was as honest as the question.

"It's a combination of the system, being able to fit into the system, being comfortable, being able to play through some mistakes, and then building confidence," Lin said
.

Notice the only noun that appeared twice in Lin's statement was "system." This story might serve as the ultimate testament to how a coach and his system can make all the difference in a player's effectiveness. We talk all the time of the importance of chemistry in the NBA, but usually in regard to the personalities in the locker room. We underestimate how the alchemy of a coach's system and a player can elicit results we couldn't have imagined.

"In any other system in the world he wouldn't flourish," said an NBA scout. "In a Mike D'Antoni system, he flourishes."

"I think about 75 percent of the players in the league are dependent on circumstance, whether it's the coach, the system, teammates," said Steve Kerr, the sharpshooter turned TNT analyst. "For the majority of the league, there's a lot of luck involved and a lot of circumstance. Sometimes it's just a matter of finding the right spot

In Lin's case, the Knicks' offense suits him because it spreads the players around the perimeter in a setup scout calls "an open donut." Defenders must stay outside the lane, within arm's reach of an offensive player, to avoid a defensive three-seconds violation, creating plenty of driving avenues once Lin comes off one of the innumerable screens set by Tyson Chandler.

Lin calls D'Antoni "an absolute offensive genius."

"The way that he creates a system and, every single game, during walkthrough he does something different, and he'll do it to adjust to that specific team's defense," Lin said. "He makes us look good"

"Just to know when I missed a few shots, he told me to continue to shoot. When your coach has your back like that, as long as you're playing smart there's nothing you can do wrong. I definitely see that's what's going on [in New York], with D'Antoni having confidence in him and his teammates believing in him.", Lakers forward Matt Barnes

San Antonio's Gregg Popovich would be the first to tell you that he wouldn't be the longest-tenured coach in the NBA if it weren't for Tim Duncan. But Popovich maximized his status to create a culture, one that wound up being perfect for Bruce Bowen.
 
"Just to know when I missed a few shots, he told me to continue to shoot.

I dont mean any harm, but MDA tells everyone to continue to shoot. Hence the problem...
 

pat

Starter
"Just to know when I missed a few shots, he told me to continue to shoot.

I dont mean any harm, but MDA tells everyone to continue to shoot. Hence the problem...

... if you haven't got a point guard who deciding who should shoot or can light it up himself. Like MDA or hate him, I think it is save to say that his style of coaching works with a pointguard who can keep his dribble alive and doesn't work without a pg. Just like triangle offense does not work without a dominant shooting guard.
 

Forrest17

Rotation player
Yeah, while I think Lin is very talented, and I don't think he is just a product of the system, but I don't think what he has done would have happened with any other coach in the league. He may be the best PG coach in the league. I know we all like to hate on him for numerous reasons, but if he knows one thing its how to develop a PG imo...

Though even he couldn't get douglas to do it.
 

nuckles2k2

Superstar
... if you haven't got a point guard who deciding who should shoot or can light it up himself. Like MDA or hate him, I think it is save to say that his style of coaching works with a pointguard who can keep his dribble alive and doesn't work without a pg. Just like triangle offense does not work without a dominant shooting guard.

The triangle needs a dominant wing, I don't think it necessarily has to be a shooting guard, but that's whatever.

I agree that MDA's "system" fits for a heady PG like Lin, the problem was trying to fit square pegs in a round hole with TD and Shump playing the "Nash role" in his system. Gregg Pops is able to adjust to his roster, Carlisle was able to adjust to his roster, Adleman has done a FANTASTIC job at that throughout his coaching career and is continuing that in Minny. I look at what Collins is doing with Jrue Holiday (a man who is a tried and true 2-guard playing the 1) and Iggy in Philly, and it's working. Melo and Iggy were averaging damn near the same assists per game, while Jrue is at 5. That's 9 assists between your 1 and 3....why was MDA pigeonholing TD and Shump into a system that doesn't work for them?

That's concerning when I see a coach not recognizing what he has, or even worsen, recognizes what he has....but doesn't give a ****, because it wouldn't work in his system.

All of that being said, if he can work on his roster usage and rotations (where the F*CK is Jerome Jordan?!?!?) and some in game strategies (timeout usage, switching on the PnR, when to go over the screen, when to go under, etc) we'll be fine.
 

nyk_nyk

All Star
I don't know about this. Lin is out there doing his own thing so I'm not sure how that's attributable to the "system". As far as I can see, its 80% pick and rolls and the rest is just moving the ball to an open shooter. Driving to the basket, which is what Lin is very good at, translates well in any system.

Whichever NBA scout said Lin wouldn't flourish in any other system should never reveal who he is. That comment is so stupid and sounds like someone who doesn't know the game.

I don't know what to make of that "absolute offensive genious" comment. I've played plenty of organized and regular street ball and depending who we were playing, we'd move players to the perimeter and take advantage of guys willing to cheat on defense when the pg attacked the lane. It is because of this why I have a problem with the "offensive genius" moniker. Thes things are done all the time by ballers in NYC. What's the difference??
 

CoolClyde

Moderator
iSayUghh loves Macaroni!

"In Lin's case, the Knicks' offense suits him because it spreads the players
around the perimeter in a setup scout calls "an open donut.""

why does Eddy Curry spring to mind...? :eek:hboy:
fatboys_smeddy.jpg
 

fender0577

Rotation player
Yeah, while I think Lin is very talented, and I don't think he is just a product of the system, but I don't think what he has done would have happened with any other coach in the league. He may be the best PG coach in the league. I know we all like to hate on him for numerous reasons, but if he knows one thing its how to develop a PG imo...

Though even he couldn't get douglas to do it.
Or with Nate, Duhon, and Marybury...well maybe not Marbury, but you get the point.I don't think antoni has ever developed any one, LIN has always been the same player, i think it works against him, that he didn't recognize LINS talents earlier.
 

NYk_Reloaded718

★KNICKS-TAPE★
in a way they saved each others career.

Most likey Lin would of still been overlooked by teams

and

Dantoni was on the verge of being fired.
 

NYk_Reloaded718

★KNICKS-TAPE★
nope. logical thought is not allowed. when given information you must MAKE INFERENCES CUZ LOGICZ
all 30 teams passed on him in the draft, some of them twice. He got waived by golden state twice one time including training camp, got waived by the rockets, the Lakers passed on Lin etc. The offense Lin is currently in gives him the free will to shine on the court and show what he can do. What other team was honestly going to give Lin this chance Dantoni gave him, the teams that Were interested in Lin were already Guard loaded. Nobody new what he was capable of and Nobody was willing to find out. He would be playing in the D-league right now if Dantoni did not play him, if not the D-league he would be routing on someones bench just waiting to be waived.
 

amazinz5

Benchwarmer
all 30 teams passed on him in the draft, some of them twice. He got waived by golden state twice one time including training camp, got waived by the rockets, the Lakers passed on Lin etc. The offense Lin is currently in gives him the free will to shine on the court and show what he can do. What other team was honestly going to give Lin this chance Dantoni gave him, the teams that Were interested in Lin were already Guard loaded. Nobody new what he was capable of and Nobody was willing to find out. He would be playing in the D-league right now if Dantoni did not play him, if not the D-league he would be routing on someones bench just waiting to be waived.

I am of the opinion (almost fact) that it's both. They're a match. Nobody can say Nash would have put up the exact same numbers he did on every single other team. Nobody can say with certainly that either is as much as an iota more responsible for our success than the other.
 

iSaYughh

Starter
I am of the opinion (almost fact) that it's both. They're a match. Nobody can say Nash would have put up the exact same numbers he did on every single other team. Nobody can say with certainly that either is as much as an iota more responsible for our success than the other.

Exactly. And of course (except if one where to go down the argumentative road of placing a premium on one side of the equation, it's clear which side has more bullets in it's gun).

You (should) put a premium on what actually is, and what clearly is not. And any tangental postulations (ie, could Lin have started a week earlier and had the same success), should pay logical respect to those realities (ie it is absurd and inane to connect any negativity to D'antoni with any theoretical talk about if Lin could have started sooner and had the same success).

The gist of the dialogue around Lin clearly should be the utterly astounding success he has under D'antoni, and under D'antoni's system. Which, if you did want to bring in outside circumstance to fortify an argument about how much

*it is D'antoni

vs

*Lin himself

would favor the former, since the success of Lin specifically under D'antoni isn't quite as tremendous of an outlier as it otherwise is, when considering the other outliers of player performance who specifically (and surprisingly) flourished under D'antoni.

And of course, what Lin has done defies anything he has done with any other team; and defies the expectations of what he would have done with any other team, even if they theoretically gave him the chance.

Conjuring up arguments about whether or not Lin could have started a day or a week or a second sooner just completely misses the point.

The irony, is that nobody "pro-MDA" rushed to flood the forums with how Lin was such a product of D'antoni's genius -- despite that argument carrying far more substance, and having more bullets in its chamber than the other side of that argument, which incidentally has flooded the forum at every opportunity to quickly spin Lin's success as being a *negative* against D'antoni.

7d520d99-30a9-4bad-ae83-f050322b20b2.jpg
 
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