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.
He doesn't preach defense. He preaches chaos on the defensive side. Getting in the passing lane, deflections, creating turnorvers, scrambling all over in order to fuel the fast break. That's not defense, that's a gimmick. Defense is stepping up and stopping a team time after time. Not relying on forcing turnovers but saying to another team "you may get a shot off, but our defense is so strong it's gonna be a bad shot, if you even get one off"
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.
No question a lot of it is on amare. But coaches can alter mindsets of teams. Two years ago avery took the allas mavericks and had them playing pretty solid defense. They didn't change the players, they still had horrid defenders like dirk and terry. But avery stressed a new defensive approach and they got better, not great, but better during their finals run. Was it just coincidence this happened after the switch from nellie to avery?
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.
Hmm, I also believe amare gave up career highs to centers NIGHT AFTER NIGHT! Bynum, jefferson, etc.... But yes the argument above is the argument mike would make, offensively he's great at the 5 (but better at the 4 as we see now, and don't think the mental strain of not playing the 5 doesn't have everything to do with it) so who cares if he gives almost all of it back on d!
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.
Yeah I know phil jackson has been referring to Sasha as the 11:00 am superstar in public for the past few years. Because he was great in practice. That hasn't hurt his growth. And don't compare phil to d'antoni, look at the young player jackson has aided in developing in just the past couple years, turiaf, farmar, sasha, bynum. Only bynum was a high pick. And yes I'm completely on board with you here that sarver's cheapness didn't give us enough chances at draft picks.
But back to diaw, he doesn't even have to call him out in public. Just let him know that a 4ft hook shot is better than a wide open three. But it is clear from mike's philosophy that is not the case so he doesn't see a problem with diaw's play. Also, how about playing him at the natural spot of 3, worked out pretty well yesterday...
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.
At the beginning of the year would you have said leon freakin' powe deserved to be on nba roster? He's getting minutes on the best team in the league. I can go down the roster of every top team and give you a leon powe.
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.
Just a baffling comment. Coaching doesn't have a huge impact in the nba? Let me just give you the examples that come to the top of my head:
1) Spurs win a title in 99, their last two titles are '05 and '07, only one player from the 99 team remains. Duncan is the greatest pf ever, but to rebuild an entire team in a 6 year span and win another title doesn't have anything to do with coaching, emphasis of a system and way to play and developing of talent?
Let me ask you this, if pop took over in minny in '03. And molded his philosophy around garnett, would they have missed the playoffs the last 3 years? That seems to emphasise the importance of coaching and philosophy, dont you think?
2) Look at the lakers during the rudy t run. They had kobe, odom, and butler but were horrid. You're telling me phil jackson hasn't had a huge impact on changing things. I'm talking even before the gasol trade.
People forget, last year before all the injuries in jan the lakers were a top 5 team. And that was replacing buter with kwame, but he made that team much better than rudy t.
How can you say coaching is overrated? Is it just a coincidence that those known as good coaches usually produce good teams?
