The Official: Who Do You Want to Coach Next Year?

[Chris_Sanders]

Fans need to ask themselves what coach that is better than D'Antoni who is going to come in and take this:

A meddlesome owner who is notoriously cheap.

A puppet GM who at any time will rob your team of talent in an effort to save money

A roster that is the second oldest in the NBA and is rife with injury prone players.

No appreciable young talent to speak of. Tucker is a complete bust. Strawberry may someday have a legit future of a five minute roleplayer.

No draft picks to speak of because our rookie GM traded away multiple unprotected picks.

A very one dimensional big man who frustrates his teammates and coaches with his lack of dedication and effort. However, he does talk a big game and score so the fans blame everyone but him for the team's struggles.

No expiring contracts to rebuild with for two more years. And even if we had them the GM has already shown he will trade away those assets and draft picks for cash.

A roster made of piss poor defenders.

4-5 years away is the minimum for this mess.

 

[nowagimp]

Fans need to ask themselves what coach that is better than D'Antoni who is going to come in and take this:

A meddlesome owner who is notoriously cheap.

A puppet GM who at any time will rob your team of talent in an effort to save money

A roster that is the second oldest in the NBA and is rife with injury prone players.

No appreciable young talent to speak of. Tucker is a complete bust. Strawberry may someday have a legit future of a five minute roleplayer.

No draft picks to speak of because our rookie GM traded away multiple unprotected picks.

A very one dimensional big man who frustrates his teammates and coaches with his lack of dedication and effort. However, he does talk a big game and score so the fans blame everyone but him for the team's struggles.

No expiring contracts to rebuild with for two more years. And even if we had them the GM has already shown he will trade away those assets and draft picks for cash.

A roster made of piss poor defenders.

4-5 years away is the minimum for this mess.

Add to that no salary cap room and few tradeable nonexpiring contracts. Scott skiles would have to be on drugs to take the job. maybe isiah thomas or frank johnson will get back into coaching. Its a safe bet that no coach worth his a__ will take this job.

 

[mjb21aztd]

Larry Brown sure he didn't do a great job with the knicks but bring him in here with the suns already pretty good on talent and I think he would do a great job with this team

 

[Covert Rain]

Larry Brown sure he didn't do a great job with the knicks but bring him in here with the suns already pretty good on talent and I think he would do a great job with this team

At least until he decides he want to retire or work for another team. That should take all but about 1 season. The guys is as transient as a hooker without a street corner.

 

[cobbler]

A very one dimensional big man who frustrates his teammates and coaches with his lack of dedication and effort. However, he does talk a big game and score so the fans blame everyone but him for the team's struggles.

I realy dont know much of Sarver, but from the posts of the people i respect here it seems he is a cheapskate. So with that in mind, regardless of the above ACCURATE description, I would bet the owner loves the trade because Shaq does talk a big game which for some reason people are still buying. (seats, merchandise, sponsorships etc)

They knew basketball wise it was a gamble. Revenue wise it was a good bet.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I realy dont know much of Sarver, but from the posts of the people i respect here it seems he is a cheapskate. So with that in mind, regardless of the above ACCURATE description, I would bet the owner loves the trade because Shaq does talk a big game which for some reason people are still buying. (seats, merchandise, sponsorships etc)

They knew basketball wise it was a gamble. Revenue wise it was a good bet.

LOL that was actually Amare I was talking about. In Shaq's heyday he played bad ass defense and rebounded. Maybe not all the time but at least some of the time. Amare...not so much.

 

[cobbler]

LOL that was actually Amare I was talking about. In Shaq's heyday he played bad ass defense and rebounded. Maybe not all the time but at least some of the time. Amare...not so much.

Dooooooooooooh!! My bad.

If it wasn't so sad, it would be funny. Kinda fits them both.

Shaq in his day did rebound and score. His defense was primarily set up for him. Stand in the paint and we will funnel any misques towards you.

 

[Irish]

I haven't checked lately, but aren't the Suns still in the top five from a salary standpoint and added an extra year of Shaq? I'm not convinced that they spend their money wisely, but it's not like they are like the old Clippers either.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I haven't checked lately, but aren't the Suns still in the top five from a salary standpoint and added an extra year of Shaq? I'm not convinced that they spend their money wisely, but it's not like they are like the old Clippers either.

The Suns are below the Luxury tax. The Shaq trade didn't change that.

 

[hsandhu]

Fans need to ask themselves what coach that is better than D'Antoni who is going to come in and take this:

A meddlesome owner who is notoriously cheap.

A puppet GM who at any time will rob your team of talent in an effort to save money

A roster that is the second oldest in the NBA and is rife with injury prone players.

No appreciable young talent to speak of. Tucker is a complete bust. Strawberry may someday have a legit future of a five minute roleplayer.

No draft picks to speak of because our rookie GM traded away multiple unprotected picks.

A very one dimensional big man who frustrates his teammates and coaches with his lack of dedication and effort. However, he does talk a big game and score so the fans blame everyone but him for the team's struggles.

No expiring contracts to rebuild with for two more years. And even if we had them the GM has already shown he will trade away those assets and draft picks for cash.

A roster made of piss poor defenders.

4-5 years away is the minimum for this mess.

Let me ask you a few questions:

1. Do you think mike is a coach who values defense and rebounding and holds players accountable for not performing in these areas?

2. Don't you think a coach who holds players responsible in these areas could improve the team's defense and rebounding?

3. Do you think d'antoni is flexible and willing to change things that he sees are not working? (e.g. playing amare at the 5 for a year and a half when it was clearly something he so didn't want to do it was dragging his entire game down)?

4. Don't you think d'antoni is an enabler for a guy like diaw and his passive play? Even having the audacity to say after yesterday's game diaw has been good quite often but we can't see these magical things he's doing.

5. Do you think you need start player as your 9th and 10th guys off the bench? You're telling me d.j. strawberry and his defense are worse than the likes of matt bonner, devin george, etc.... I mean the celts are giving minutes to rookies leon powe and glen davis.


because they don't have these guys on such a short rope (i.e. have to do thinks mike's way) they are afraid to do anything (see Banks, Marcus).

I'm not saying you're wrong about sarver but that doesn't mean you're right about D'Antoni.

 

[Cheesebeef]

the trio's (Foamy, Pringles and Clueless) combined stupidity/stubborness/frugality are the problem. taking away one of them isn't gonna help all that much in my opinion (that being said, DA holding on to his job just appears to be rewarding failure and that makes zero sense to me). i think we're pretty screwed until Foamy sells the team after feeling like he's gotten as much financial return as he possibly could have on his investment.

 

[Irish]

The Suns are below the Luxury tax. The Shaq trade didn't change that.

Not immediately, but Shaq's contract is a year longer than Marion's.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Let me ask you a few questions:

Sure thing.

1. Do you think mike is a coach who values defense and rebounding and holds players accountable for not performing in these areas?

According to 7 seconds or less, he apparently does. He preaches defense and rebounding to his team. Rather than guess, which is what most do on here, I am going to go with what was written by someone who spent a season with the coaches.

2. Don't you think a coach who holds players responsible in these areas could improve the team's defense and rebounding?

There is no "holding players accountable" in the NBA. This isn't the NFL where you can just cut someone for underperforming. The NBA is about managing the psychology of these players as much as it is anything else. There is definitely teaching that happens with younger teams, but that isn't us. Amare is in his 6th season. He isn't going to suddenly become a great defender and rebounder until he really wants to be.

3. Do you think d'antoni is flexible and willing to change things that he sees are not working? (e.g. playing amare at the 5 for a year and a half when it was clearly something he so didn't want to do it was dragging his entire game down)?

Hmm, I believe Amare made All NBA Second team playing the 5. This "D'Antoni doesn't adjust" is one of the dumbest statements on the board right now. He has adjusted this team repeatedly this season due to extreme player turnover. He tossed his entire system out the door after the trade. He tried tinkering with a zone defense because there are so many bad defenders on this team now. Of course when he tried the zone people bitched about that.

4. Don't you think d'antoni is an enabler for a guy like diaw and his passive play? Even having the audacity to say after yesterday's game diaw has been good quite often but we can't see these magical things he's doing.

Would you like him to say "Diaw has sucked a lot for us this year"? How would that work for you if your boss said that at your work? How would that work out for you if you were already a passive kind of guy. Likely you would lose more confidence or simply care less. He is trying to build the guy up and hope he performs again at that level. Again go read 7 seconds or less and get some insight into what coaching in the NBA really is. Or go read any of Phil Jackson's books and he tells you the same thing.

5. Do you think you need start player as your 9th and 10th guys off the bench? You're telling me d.j. strawberry and his defense are worse than the likes of matt bonner, devin george, etc.... I mean the celts are giving minutes to rookies leon powe and glen davis.

DJ Strawberry doesn't belong on a NBA roster. His defense is grossly overrated on this board and doesn't account for his inability to run an offense or hit a 10 foot jump shot. As I have said, someday he might be as good as Jacque Vaughn, maybe. Right now he sucks. Everyone is yelling for Jeff Van Gundy and he just was laughing about playing this guy "Who is he going to play off that bench"

Clearly D'Antoni would love to have real bench players. Giricek has had no problem getting minutes from the moment he walked on the court.

I'm not saying you're wrong about sarver but that doesn't mean you're right about D'Antoni.

You are grossly overstating the impact a coach has on a NBA team. Hold your players accountable for their mistakes and quit blaming the coach.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

Not immediately, but Shaq's contract is a year longer than Marion's.

Yes but your question was if the Suns were in the top 5 in salary. They are not. I believe they are #10.

They are #1 in profits. Sarver does this a lot.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I can't even get the keyboard coaches on this board to understand why Micheal Finley being open in game 1 was Amare's fault. If you can't understand basketball 101, please stop pretending like you know more than a coach.

 

[ClingingMars]

if D'Antoni isn't gone after the season, it's a victory for every single other team in the league.

 

[Cheesewater]

if D'Antoni isn't gone after the season, it's a victory for every single other team in the league.

You post like the Suns went 0-82 this season.
That, or you post like a troll.
Or both.

 

[cobbler]

There is no "holding players accountable" in the NBA. This isn't the NFL where you can just cut someone for underperforming. The NBA is about managing the psychology of these players as much as it is anything else. There is definitely teaching that happens with younger teams, but that isn't us. Amare is in his 6th season. He isn't going to suddenly become a great defender and rebounder until he really wants to be.

I don't know if anyone touched on this but i think there was a direct correlation with Amare's game 4 decline in offensive numbers and his increase in defensive intensity. HIs shots were comming up short because he was actually giving an effort on D. With that said, until he puts as much emphasis on a consistant basis with the defensive end as he does making the "highlight" dunks, he will never be the player he can. You are correct, its all desire. It should never take a 0-3 series record to motivate you to play D.

 

[ClingingMars]

You post like the Suns went 0-82 this season.
That, or you post like a troll.
Or both.

continue to be satisfied with failure, no skin off my bones, I'm a Spurs fan. But if I was a Suns fan, I'd have been calling for D'Antoni's name a long time ago.

don't we define failure in sports as no championships?

 

[Cheesewater]

continue to be satisfied with failure, no skin off my bones, I'm a Spurs fan. But if I was a Suns fan, I'd have been calling for D'Antoni's name a long time ago. don't we define failure in sports as no championships?

I think you mean "nose" and "head"...but perhaps you meant to be obtuse.
Did you call for Popovich's "name" the years the Spurs failed to win a championship? Perhaps you define failure that way, but using absolutes in an endeavor like professional team sports is ignorantly over-simplistic to me.

 

[cobbler]

I think you mean "nose" and "head"...but perhaps you meant to be obtuse.
Did you call for Popovich's "name" the years the Spurs failed to win a championship? Perhaps you define failure that way, but using absolutes in an endeavor like professional team sports is ignorantly over-simplistic to me.

Not so sure comparing Pop's and D'A in a accomplishments argument is a bright move.

 

[Irish]

It has been a while since I checked. The Suns are 9th in salaries, but are all but certain to go higher next year

1-Dallas-105.272

2-New York-88.877

3-Denver-81.697

4-Cleveland-81.123

5-Boston-75.534

6-Portland-74.152

7-Miami-73.761

8-LA Lakers-72.072

9-Phoenix-71.519

10-Philadelphia-71.419

11-Houston-70.579

12-San Antonio-70.34

13-Minnesota-69.069

14-Washington-67.55

15-Indiana-67.159

16-Golden State-66.377

17-Detroit-66.231

18-New Orleans-66.079

19-LA Clippers-65.048

20-Sacramento-63.123

21-Chicago-62.665

22-Milwaukee-62.599

23-Toronto-62.217

24-New Jersey-61.115

25-Seattle-60.718

26-Utah-59.06

27-Orlando-58.819

28-Atlanta-55.922

29-Charlotte-53.254

30-Memphis-52.752

 

[Cheesewater]

Not so sure comparing Pop's and D'A in a accomplishments argument is a bright move.

I wasn't comparing the coaches. I was asking a troll if he applied the same criteria to his own coach.

 

[Chris_Sanders]

I don't believe it is a certainty that the Suns go higher in salary. The Suns have been doggedly determined not to do that. The entire bench is made up of guys who only partially count against the cap and are on near minimum deals. I don't expect that to change.

Reasonable scenario: Suns trade the #15 pick and Boris Diaw to shed salary.

 

[nowagimp]

continue to be satisfied with failure, no skin off my bones, I'm a Spurs fan. But if I was a Suns fan, I'd have been calling for D'Antoni's name a long time ago.

don't we define failure in sports as no championships?

Pops was quoted in the paper yesterday as saying spurs fans call for his head everytime they lose a series opener, says alot about fans, even ones with multiple rings. So I am not suprised that a spurs fan would call for DA's head, they call for Pops head quite a bit. I guess you could say it was a damn good thing spurs ownership didnt listen to those ignorant fans