LOL D'Antoni

[BlairForceDejuan]

http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post?id=43774

I played for the Phoenix Suns. 2007. My last season. As were playing against the San Antonio Spurs. And I remember us coming to our first practice before Game 1. And we brought it in. And we were excited about our playoffs getting started. And Coach D'Antoni put in some film. It was Steve behind the back. Amare slam dunk. Shawn Marion with the block. Raja Bell with the charge. It was a highlight film of our team. They have showed me making a shot on there, and I was barely even playing.

So after that he as like all right, we're going to run and down, go through our set plays and whatnot, and we're going to get out of here.

And I looked at Kurt Thomas. I hit him with an elbow. I'm like hold on. I gotta say something.

I'm like "ooh, ooh, ooh, hey coach. I gotta ask a question. Are we going to talk about how we're going to defend Tim Duncan on the post? Are we going to talk about Manu Ginobili in pick and roll? Keeping Tony Parker out of the paint?"

He looked at me in front of the entire team and coaching staff and said: "We're not worried about what they do. If we play to the best of our abilities, and do what we're supposed to do, there is no way they can beat us. We don't mind if Tim goes off. If Tim goes off, that means everybody else is quiet."

[Reck]

Me thinks this is Jalen stretching the truth abit. He's still butthurt for being a bench warmer at Phoenix.

[tesseractive]

Aaaaaaaaand that sums up the D'Antoni era about as well as you ever could.

[tesseractive]

Me thinks this is Jalen stretching the truth abit. He's still butthurt for being a bench warmer at Phoenix.

I always heard that D'Antoni basically didn't coach defense on the theory that his offense was so potent that they could win any shootout. Honestly, I can believe this.

[Goran Dragic]

Me thinks this is Jalen stretching the truth abit. He's still butthurt for being a bench warmer at Phoenix.

Don't think so. Jalen Rose was ring chasing and didn't care too much about PT, I think he was just awestruck at how D'antoni handles things.

[DMX7]

Wouldn't surprise me if that were true, but Jalen is probably exaggerating at least a bit.

[Goran Dragic]

D'antoni answers press conference questions the same way. No matter the question he responds with some version of "We need to shoot better and run faster."

[JMarkJohns]

I have actually heard D'Antoni in a press conference basically say that last line about Duncan about several players. I know he said it of Kobe.

D'Antoni's idea of defense was for the team to swarm the ballhandler late. That was pretty much his system.

Not sure Rose cared enough about defense to site three specific instances in need of furthered approach/study, but the overall gist is dead on.

No fouls because it stops the clock and allows a defense to get set
Swarm the lane if the ball is in it to force kickouts for long, break-aiding rebounds
Always have two defenders break down court to initiate the offensive break

That's the philosophy.

[Jalen Rose]

Me thinks this is Jalen stretching the truth abit. He's still butthurt for being a bench warmer at Phoenix.

I already was at the end of my career I didn't care about playing time. Everything I have said is the truth take it or leave it.

[baseline bum]

Every time I hear a story like that it makes me wonder what if Stoudemire had a real coach. Dude should have been a monster two-way player but instead he's a dunker who doesn't rebound and can't guard anyone.

[Paranoid Pop]

I can actually respect that, the guy just completely believes in his system. On the other hand Jalen Rose sounds like a snitch tbh.

[baseline bum]

It seems more like Rose is pissed he wasted his gravy train year on a team that wasn't serious about winning.

[tesseractive]

It seems more like Rose is pissed he wasted his gravy train year on a team that wasn't serious about winning.

The sad thing is that they thought they were serious, they just weren't good enough at it.

Well, sad for them, anyway. Not sad for us at all.

[Goran Dragic]

I can actually respect that, the guy just completely believes in his system.

There's nothing to respect about a stubborn coach who refuses to recognize weaknesses and adapt.

[lefty]

TheD'Antoni panel sums it up perfectly (3rd from the left)

[LkrFan]

LOL indeed. Meanwhile his replacement got an extension:

"I'm very humbled and honored to continue coaching the franchise where I started my NBA career," Woodson, who was drafted by the Knicks in 1980, said in a statement. "Our goal is to build off the success we had at the end of last season and to continue our quest of bringing an NBA championship to Madison Square Garden."

LINK

[#41 Shoot Em Up]

Any real Suns fans on this board??

[Dex]

"Da fence? No, my place has a gate"

[ducks]

Every time I hear a story like that it makes me wonder what if Stoudemire had a real coach. Dude should have been a monster two-way player but instead he's a dunker who doesn't rebound and can't guard anyone.

knicks coach will make him play more d
not sure his health will help him now though

[Spurs9]

What if the Knicks had Pop as coach at the start of season and the Spurs had D'Antoni, where would each team be right now?

[dbreiden83080]

There was supposedly an SI poll which said he is the coach the players want to play for the most. Of course they do because he runs a fun up and down offense and asks you to play ZERO defense. The players making 10 mil a year with no killer instict want to play for him. the Duncan's of the world want no part of him.. A lot like Paul Westhead. Even in winning a le with the Lakers Magic wanted him out bad enough that he was about to ask for a trade..

[dbreiden83080]

What if the Knicks had Pop as coach at the start of season and the Spurs had D'Antoni, where would each team be right now?

Duncan would have spent more time coaching the team than D'Antoni..

[Goran Dragic]

There was supposedly an SI poll which said he is the coach the players want to play for the most.

This poll was probably in 2005 or 2006 before he was really exposed and the flavor of the month. Even though it might have been their best team during the Nash era, as the 2006-2007 progressed D'antoni's weaknesses were more and more apparent the way he refused to use more than 7 players (some of the players he refused to use being players he brought in i.e. Marcus Banks). The players who've actually played for D'antoni don't love him half as much as people think. Some players might love playing in D'antoni's system but they don't respect D'antoni (Marion and Amare being two examples). Nash even ignored D'antoni on plenty of occasions. D'antoni's one task for Nash on defense was to guard his man and not float around trying to force a turnover, and most of the time Nash could care less about that. In 2008 when D'antoni got butthurt at the Phoenix media and eventually went to New York, he got little to no support from the players when he was fielding offers. Nash even said to Kerr he would be completely behind the decision to let D'antoni leave if he got a contract from another team.

[Latarian Milton]

players who want glories over $ would never want d'antoni to coach them, if you just wanna pump up good stats and earn big $ then d'antoni is a better coach then anyone else. even scrubs like barbosa could get 15pts/game in d'antoni's system and an above-mid contract as a result when he's no better then JJB

[iminol]

Pringles' playoffs face updated.