But before anyone has a serious discussion about this move you need to understand that no matter who the coach was, this team is not going to be any good for at least 2 years.
People who are criticizing the move presumably expect D'Antoni to come to the Knicks and try to implement his same style of play to an inferior roster. I don't think he'll do that, but if he does he will fail.
That said I don't expect him to abandon his philosophy that the best scoring chances are available in the first 7 seconds of the shot clock.
Speaking of that, if you really want to understand D'Antoni you should read ":07 Second Or Less". You'd understand that he's less concerned with Xs and Os than he is with the mental side of the game.
And as a matter of fact, D'Antoni may be the perfect coach for a team that is full of guys who only want to score and can't or won't play any defense. Crawford, Curry and Randolph are all scorers who don't defend well. So wouldn't they be better off in a system that stressed offense, instead of trying to force them to become great defenders?
Why do so many people think Mark Jackson was such a good choice for this job? What's the evidence that he would be able to do something with this group of guys.
My final verdict is that I don't love D'Antoni but I don't think there were better options available. And I think the Knicks are in an impossible situation and we should give D'Antoni 3 years to work through this mess and not begin judging him until year 4.
3 comments:
If nothing else, all that running should cause Eddy Curry and Zach Randolph to drop a few pounds.
I agree about Mark Jackson... where is the body of evidence to support that he would be a good coach other than "he was like a coach on the floor when he played?"
Doc Rivers panned out, but Isiah sure as hell didn't.
Your point about Marc Jackson is well taken, but what did they have to lose. Maybe he would have become a good coach, with some OJT.
As for D'antoni, what makes him sucha good coach? He never won anything, and he had supreme talent.
I don't think it matters, cause the team will suck, but I just don't see why he was such a good choice.
This team is going to be bad unless they make drastic moves, which will be tough because who wants these guys on the team. So why pay D'antoni (or D'antonio as Walsh called him during the press conference) $6 million, when you can pay someone else (Herb Williams) much less and work on getting under the cap for when guys like LeBron, Chris Paul, Chris Bosh, Wade are free agents.
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