You could actually fix the team but there isn't a way in hell Dolan would bite the bullet and do what is necessary which is trade Melo and then Amare and Lin.
Jacksonity......or the Knick thread
- Thread starter Rocco Graziosa
- Start date
Lin's trade value as a moneymaking asset far exceeds his value as a basketball player (and frankly would if he were anyone other than Lebron or Kobe, probably). There's no way they trade him; if anything, they traded all those assets for Carmelo because he was the most marketable guy they could find.
In the world of reality, the Knicks will likely be outside of the playoff discussion at this time tomorrow. I cannot fathom a single reason to keep D'Antoni employed when that happens.
In the world of reality, the Knicks will likely be outside of the playoff discussion at this time tomorrow. I cannot fathom a single reason to keep D'Antoni employed when that happens.
BTW somebody please tell me, why hasn't Spike Lee -- with all of his connections and wealthy business associates/friends/etc. -- ever tried to form an ownership group to buy the Knicks?
Why would Dolan, a man so powerful he singlehandedly tanked NYC's Olympic bid ever move off his thrown?
Knicks about to go down. Coupled with the Bucks win, they are out of the 8th seed. Completely pathetic.
I didn't think it was a bad game for the Knicks tonight against the team with the second best record in the league.
The Knick player I like the most is Tyson Chandler (duh Dr. Obvious). He's fantastic on defense and does all the little things on offense.
Lin as he plays now seems like a mediocre to above mediocre point guard. I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that within the next couple of years he ll grow and mature into a far more polished and effective player than he is today.
The reason they suffer beyond defense - which has already been covered today- is lack of a credible three point game I feel. Carmelo and Amare shoot too many 15-18 foot jumpers and Lin/Fields aren't good enough at shooting the 3 in order to keep opposing defenses honest.
I definitely think however that this team with enough time and patience has lots of room to grow and gel. In the meanwhile, it's certainly made casual fans like me interested in following them.
The Knick player I like the most is Tyson Chandler (duh Dr. Obvious). He's fantastic on defense and does all the little things on offense.
Lin as he plays now seems like a mediocre to above mediocre point guard. I don't think it's unreasonable to hope that within the next couple of years he ll grow and mature into a far more polished and effective player than he is today.
The reason they suffer beyond defense - which has already been covered today- is lack of a credible three point game I feel. Carmelo and Amare shoot too many 15-18 foot jumpers and Lin/Fields aren't good enough at shooting the 3 in order to keep opposing defenses honest.
I definitely think however that this team with enough time and patience has lots of room to grow and gel. In the meanwhile, it's certainly made casual fans like me interested in following them.
This wasn't the team with the second best record in the league. They were missing an All-Star (Deng), another starter (Hamilton), and a third important rotation piece (Watson). Then, Rose has a poor shooting game.
Once again, they just gave minimal effort and couldn't get the ball where it needed to go down the stretch.
Only set against their previous pathetic showings was this "not a bad game."
D'Antoni's firing is not going to save an Amare Melo lead team.
Has Melo ever gotten along with any coach?
Has Melo ever gotten along with any coach?
We must have been watching two different games. I thought the effort was there, and that the real problem, again, was that this team simple isn't very well constructed or good.
They ask Chandler to do everything down low, and a team with a deep front line like the Bulls makes that very clear. Chandler is forced to cover so much space on the defensive end to make up for the fact that Amare is atrocious that last night he was out of position on rebounds regularly. The Bulls did a great job of forcing him to follow Noah/Boozer/Gibson 15 feet out, and took advantage of that on the offensive glass. Amare never bodied up last night on the glass, and the Bulls killed the Knicks with second chance points. The Knicks actually played good defense last night; the Bulls just had a good game plan in place to exploit Stoudemire on the defensive end. I can't tell you how frustrating it is to watch team after team go right at Amare. Every team in the league runs plays right at him now, and it's a testament to just how good Chandler is that the Knicks have a top 10 defense despite that.
Again, and I know we're just never gonna agree on this, but the problem with this team is not effort or coaching. This is a team of disparate parts that was cobbled together during the 2 weeks of free agency. They've played together very little, aren't comfortable in the system, and have had no continuity. They have a rookie (essentially) point guard who has played meaningful minutes against NBA defenses all of 19 times, and didn't even have a training camp to learn the offense. This team is trying to learn to play together, and learn the system on the fly. I really just don't understand why people believe this is an issue of coaching, and I certainly don't understand why people think Mike Woodson of all people is going to present some sort of upgrade. Remember Mike Woodson's offense in Atlanta? It was mocked throughout the league because a quarter of it consisted of Joe Johnson iso's and failed repeatedly in crunch time.
Linsanity might have been the worst thing that could have happened to this team. He played a great stretch of basketball against mostly bad teams who didn't have sufficient scouting reports on him, and people here immediately started talking about the Knicks as a championship contender. Think about that. The Knicks beat New Jersey, Utah, Washington, Toronto, Sacremento, Minnesota, and the Lakers--teams that are a combined 117-173--and the talk shifted from capturing a playoff spot to competing for a championship. And without that context, there's no way that a losing streak against teams that are a combined 150-102 warrants firing their coach. There is simply no way it's a good idea to make a coaching change this year. They would benefit so much more simply by being given time to adapt to playing with one another. But instead, the entire city of New York believes that Jeremy Lin went from being cut by two NBA teams to championship level point guard in 19 games and that Mike D'Antoni is holding them back.
Look, I know this team has been playing like shit. I know they're ugly to watch. But can one of the D'Antoni haters please explain to me what it is about this team that they don't feel is being maximized? Do you really look at a team with Carmelo and Amare as it's top 2 guys and think NBA Championship?
To be fair to Lin, pretty hard to rack up assists or points when you forced with the choice of having to pass it to a 35% FG shooter or deal with an absolute hissy fit we saw when Melo didn't get the ball he screamed for. (to be fair at this point Amare was out suck hogging him)
Melo has to go.
Melo has to go.
Okay. Somebody needs to explain to me how it's D'Antoni's fault though. What is a new coach going to do to get better results?
edit: everybody lists the pieces. How do those pieces fit together and what are their roles on a good team?
Including Fields and Shumpert does not help the argument that the Knicks are better than the Bucks. They are fungible pieces and the Bucks have multiple guys that fit similarly on their squad. Has Lin made a convinving case that he is significantly better than Brandon Jennings? I think he needs to do more to prove that. With Bogut out, the Knicks should probably be a couple of games better than the Bucks but I don't think it's clear that the Bucks are a significantly worse team than the Knicks.
He is just not good at any aspect of coaching, outside of pumping up his starting PG's numbers. Against Boston, he should have fouled at the end with less than 10 seconds and up by 3. Against Milwaukee at the end, he had the ball twice down by 1 with an exhausted team on the floor and plenty of time-outs and didn't call time out either time. Last night, Amare was red hot at the end of the third and carrying the offense, and then D'Antoni sat him for the first five minutes of the 4th.
But it's true that D'Antoni is just a symptom and Dolan is the disease. I just started a FB group to gauge interest in a fan boycott of the Knicks (yes, I know this is a waste of time), please join if you're interested:
http://www.facebook.com/groups/183912708391673
Look, to me there are a few things a coach can do to add value to a team.
1. Make smart in-game decisions (timeouts, when to foul, playing matchups)
2. Motivate players, particularly stars, to play harder or smarter (case dependent) than they would for another coach.
3. Emphasize defense so that players feel their minutes are based on performance on that end
4. Put in place defensive principles that work.
5. Put together a coherent offensive system that fits the pieces he has and adjusts to various defensive schemes.
6. Work well with the media to mitigate off the court issues.
7. Prepare his team for the variances of their opponents.
To me, D'Antoni does none of these well. To those defending him, I ask which you feel he does do well. And if I'm leaving out an important value-add for a head coach, particularly one that D'Antoni does well, I'm very open to hearing it.
1. Make smart in-game decisions (timeouts, when to foul, playing matchups)
2. Motivate players, particularly stars, to play harder or smarter (case dependent) than they would for another coach.
3. Emphasize defense so that players feel their minutes are based on performance on that end
4. Put in place defensive principles that work.
5. Put together a coherent offensive system that fits the pieces he has and adjusts to various defensive schemes.
6. Work well with the media to mitigate off the court issues.
7. Prepare his team for the variances of their opponents.
To me, D'Antoni does none of these well. To those defending him, I ask which you feel he does do well. And if I'm leaving out an important value-add for a head coach, particularly one that D'Antoni does well, I'm very open to hearing it.
Agreed, D'Antoni was given a roster without any flow amongst the players offensive styles. Anthony and Stoudemire are both ball-stopping isolation players, and its hard for guys like that to work togather. Also, D'Antoni has never been a great defensive coach, so the GM has to take the hit for setting up a team where the two best players are awful defenders.
It's clear that D'Antoni's style is wearing very thin for Knicks fans but I think that D'Antoni's record in Phoenix shows pretty clearly that he is a very good coach who is capable of leading his team to success. He is probably not as capable of coaching parts into a whole as someone like Popovich but he is clearly one of the elite offensive minds in the game. D'Antoni is not succeeding with this team, obviously, but I'm not sure how much more another coach such as Phil Jackson, Thibodeau, Jerry Sloan, Carlisle, Doc or Popovich would wring from this roster.
#2 is the big one but I think it absolves Carmelo and Amare of blame. Carmelo needs to play like an MVP candidate for the Knicks to be title contenders and he's not. That's more his fault than the coaches. Amare needs to play like an All Star and right now he's not even close.
Also, fans and media like a coach that is good at #6 but I don't buy that it has anything to do with winning. There's a coach in foxboro that's exhibit A.
See, I have no issue with any of that, but what I haven't heard is an alternative. All of the criticisms of D'Antoni to this point seem to be sort of generic criticisms that could be leveled on any NBA coach. In fact, the only one of your points that I think really apply to this year's Knicks is point 1, which I admit, D'Antoni seems to have had some lapses on. The others are fine points, I'm just not sure how relevant they are. I'll address them:
2. Motivate players, particularly stars, to play harder or smarter (case dependent) than they would for another coach.
Jeremy Lin is a product of D'Antoni's system. Steve Novok is having the best year of his career. Jared Jeffries has been developed by D'Antoni into a fantastic role player. Tyson Chandler has always played hard, however, he's having the most efficient offensive season of his career this year, so you could make a case that D'Antoni's getting more out of him. Iman Shumpert and Josh Harrelson have never played for another coach, but I don't think there's many complaints here about their effort and intensity. Landry Fields is widely believed to be the result of D'Antoni, and a completely replaceable NBA player otherwise. Which leaves the following guys: Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudemire, Baron Davis, and J.R. Smith. And what do those guys have in common? Career long reputations for not playing with intensity, not playing defense, and checking in and out of games. If you fired every coach who couldn't get those four guys to play hard, you'd fire every coach that's ever coached them.
3. Emphasize defense so that players feel their minutes are based on performance on
Look, I would love this as much as anybody. But it's not realistic, because the moment you do this you end up benching Amare Stoudemire. He's still owed a ton of money, and you have to try and extract value from that. Ditto for Carmelo. You have to play those guys, even if it's just to try and build their value for a trade.
4. Put in place defensive principles that work.
The Knicks are a top 10 defensive team. Defense is absolutely not the problem.
5. Put together a coherent offensive system that fits the pieces he has and adjusts to various defensive schemes.
This is my point. What is the "coherent offensive system that fits the pieces he has"? How do you take these pieces, and make them work? That's the one question nobody has answered.
6. Work well with the media to mitigate off the court issues.
I'm not really sure what this means. The media thinks the Knicks are championship contenders. Why would D'Antoni work with them on anything?
7. Prepare his team for the variances of their opponents.
How has he not done this?
My point is simple: this is not a good team, and given it's pieces, I don't know how you get more out of it. And all of the criticisms I read/hear of D'Antoni don't address that. They all seem to work under the assumption that this is a good team that isn't being maximized. But I can't really bring myself to see that until I see a reasonable alternative put out there. How do you make a team with Carmelo and Amare work together? I honestly don't know the answer, and I'm not sure that there's a ton of coaches out there that do, nor do I think that there are a ton of coaches banging down the door for the opportunity to work under James Dolan and figure it out.
As an outside observer... Celtics fan who lives in NYC... I think the main problem is, as others have said, that the team basically has two different mindsets. It's true that the Knicks had a weak schedule when Linsanity happened..but Melo and Amare were hurt or not playing as much and the Knicks were playing with energy and more importantly no selfishness..like a team really... now that Melo is back there is just not as much movement on either side of the ball..and worse it seems now that Melo is back he dominates the ball and makes players think twice about what they're doing on the court.
That and one of their 'superstars' can no longer jump and a huge portion of his game relies on getting off the floor so that he doesn't get blocked.
Melo and Amare on the floor more often also takes away minutes and shortens the bench...and also makes for more odd pairings on the floor. The second unit that was playing first unit minutes during the streak seems to bring energy to the game and play lockdown D...but the scorers arent there.
I agree that DAntoni isn't doing a great job meshing everyone together...but I think he also needs to reevaluate who should be getting major minutes for this team at the moment...cause it might not be the big names anymore.
That and one of their 'superstars' can no longer jump and a huge portion of his game relies on getting off the floor so that he doesn't get blocked.
Melo and Amare on the floor more often also takes away minutes and shortens the bench...and also makes for more odd pairings on the floor. The second unit that was playing first unit minutes during the streak seems to bring energy to the game and play lockdown D...but the scorers arent there.
I agree that DAntoni isn't doing a great job meshing everyone together...but I think he also needs to reevaluate who should be getting major minutes for this team at the moment...cause it might not be the big names anymore.
Actually I think it's increasingly clear that that had much more to do with Steve Nash than with the coaching. Everyone likes to say that he is "clearly one of the elite offensive minds in the game", but if he really was, he'd be able to figure out how to get Melo and Amare going, or even one of them!
I changed the FB group to a page, so now it's here:
http://www.facebook.com/OccupyMSG
Look, to be clear this is not an indictment to say he doesn't do any of those things at all. I'm saying he doesn't do any of them particularly well, and doesn't add value.
1--His in game management is atrocious. I'm not sure anyone really disagrees with this.
2--Does he get Carmelo to play harder than Karl did? Obviously not. I'm not saying that he should be able to turn Melo into KG, intensity-wise. But if a guy is naturally a 4, you hope your coach can get him to a 6.
3--I understand the difficulty here with guys like Melo and Amare. But by not getting them to buy in, he's not adding value. I'm not sure if anyone else could or not, frankly. But he's not doing it.
4--I'm not sure there are "principles" per se (other than adverse ones like switching on every damn pick and roll), and if there are I give the credit to Woodson and Chandler. Nothing indicates that D'Antoni adds value in this way.
5--He still isn't willing to adjust his system. He wants Carmelo to be a glorified spot up shooter, and that forces Melo to go outside of his system to play his game. That causes frustration on everyone's end. When you have HIS guys, HIS system adds value. When you don't, it doesnt' work. I said this previously--he'd be an excellent college coach, but his system creates problems that only his system can fix. That's unsustainable in the NBA.
6--This is fine. I don't like him for the most part, and this is not a major issue. However, to say that a coach can't add value by being good with the media is false. Look at Torre or Doc.
7--Again, not something he doesn't do at all, but its not an area where he adds any great value. Look at how he never takes the ball out of top opposing PGs hands.
1--His in game management is atrocious. I'm not sure anyone really disagrees with this.
2--Does he get Carmelo to play harder than Karl did? Obviously not. I'm not saying that he should be able to turn Melo into KG, intensity-wise. But if a guy is naturally a 4, you hope your coach can get him to a 6.
3--I understand the difficulty here with guys like Melo and Amare. But by not getting them to buy in, he's not adding value. I'm not sure if anyone else could or not, frankly. But he's not doing it.
4--I'm not sure there are "principles" per se (other than adverse ones like switching on every damn pick and roll), and if there are I give the credit to Woodson and Chandler. Nothing indicates that D'Antoni adds value in this way.
5--He still isn't willing to adjust his system. He wants Carmelo to be a glorified spot up shooter, and that forces Melo to go outside of his system to play his game. That causes frustration on everyone's end. When you have HIS guys, HIS system adds value. When you don't, it doesnt' work. I said this previously--he'd be an excellent college coach, but his system creates problems that only his system can fix. That's unsustainable in the NBA.
6--This is fine. I don't like him for the most part, and this is not a major issue. However, to say that a coach can't add value by being good with the media is false. Look at Torre or Doc.
7--Again, not something he doesn't do at all, but its not an area where he adds any great value. Look at how he never takes the ball out of top opposing PGs hands.
I don't see this as an either/or proposition. I don't think D'Antoni is doing a great job with this team. However, I just don't think the team is that good. All this talk of how much talent is on the roster doesn't take into account how none of it seems to fit together. I also question how much talent they actually have. Melo is a great scorer but what else does he do really well? Amare looks like he is fossilizing before our eyes. Lin is learning on the job and the league has adjusted to his game. Chandler is a good player. The rest of the team? Davis? JR Smith? Fields? I just don't see this as some talent laden team.
Joined...both. He and ownership are a disaster. It's twice as painful watching this team than it was watching them 3 years ago. I feel like this team is analagous to when you're watching a super hero movie where the super hero keeps losing all of his battles only to eventually triumph in the last minute. Except the Knicks never triumph in the last minute.
You can debate the relative severity of the Knicks' various flaws, or whether the one flaw that isn't fixable (Dolan) dwarfs the others, but it seems the Knicks' offseason plan should consist of three parts:
1. Fire D'Antoni and replace him with an outside hire.
2. Trade Melo.
3. Hope Amare bounces back somewhat next season.
They probably could have swapped Melo for Dwight Howard a month ago, then dealt Chandler (either right away, or this summer) for a wing. That might have given them the foundation for a contender. Now, they're nowhere.
Edit: Hell, a month ago, the Magic might have taken Amare for Howard.
1. Fire D'Antoni and replace him with an outside hire.
2. Trade Melo.
3. Hope Amare bounces back somewhat next season.
They probably could have swapped Melo for Dwight Howard a month ago, then dealt Chandler (either right away, or this summer) for a wing. That might have given them the foundation for a contender. Now, they're nowhere.
Edit: Hell, a month ago, the Magic might have taken Amare for Howard.
How realistic is a Melo trade? Dolan was the driving force behind bringing him to New York. I can't see him allowing the Knicks to just punt and trade him after a year and a half. I also wonder what the market for Melo is.
As far as Amare goes, could they amnesty him and spend the money elsewhere? He looks so old right now. I' d be very concerned that he might never rebound physically.
Why would they have taken Amare a month ago and not now? A month ago, they might have had hope they ll find a better trade, today Amare might be the best trade offer they get. Although tbh, I don't think Amare is going anywhere, because it's just not an acceptable trade for anyone.
I think Knicks fans should show patience. The Knicks have been irrelevant for years and years, some of them they were just a joke.
The upside of this team not playing well together is that there's definitely room for them to grow and iron out some kinks.
No, they used their amnesty on Billups, so they could get Chandler.
Amare has actually looked somewhat better in recent games, the issues for NY continue to be below-average coaching and below-average PG play. Lin is a good backup and may develop into a consistently solid starter, but right now every other guard in the league is gunning for him and it's gotten ugly pretty consistently, and Baron has shown flashes but is far from consistent as of yet.
I do think there are coaches out there who could get a lot more out of this team than D'Antoni has been doing, Carlisle, Adelman, Skiles even. I'm just not sure if any of them are available and I agree that Mike Woodson is probably not the answer.
Amare might look better but he's not playing like a max player. Over his last 10 he's only averaging 16/8 while shooting .488 from the field. If you're paying a guy max money and that's the line he's putting up and he's not an elite defender then you're probably not going to do much in the playoffs.
That article is pretty damning, though just as much so of Anthony as of D'Antoni. What a mess of a franchise. I just put the rest of my tickets for the year on stubhub. And the best part is, somebody who bought into Linsanity and never went to a Knicks game before February is still going to be stupid enough to pay top dollar for them.
And if it's true that Phil Jackson is really their target, and there's a chance of that happening, isn't it going to be a waste to pay Lin the full mid-level to stick around? He's certainly not a good fit for the triangle, though I have a feeling that given how much money he makes Dolan, he's the starting point guard here for better or worse. There are definitely guys I'd prefer over Jackson.
I agree with the bolded. It's pathetic that D'Antoni refuses to alter his system at all, but it's also embarassing that Melo ignores what the coach is trying to do. I agree with the posters who say that D'Antoni would be a good college coach, because it seems clear he wants to run a specific system, regardless of the talents of his players. College would let him do that. But having Melo just stand around and spread the floor is a joke. Of course, it's even worse that Melo acts like a petulant child and does whatever he wants.
See, this is the part that I think goes back to the personnel, and why I thinK D'Antoni is being unfairly maligned. Carmelo could be a great fit for that system, the problem is that the role he's best suited to is currently occupied by Amare, and ironically, Amare isn't particularly good at it. The Knicks front office did a terrible job of providing D'Antoni with players that fit what he does, and now they find themselves in a situation where they have no cap space, a lot of large contracts (one of which is unmoveable) and no discernible plan as to how to move forward and make it work. Carmelo wants the ball in the spots where Amare gets it. That's where he's most effective, and those are the parts of the floor the article mentions him drifting to. He's a much more effective post player than Amare, and is better at the elbow too. They simply get in each other's way. On top of that, adding Chandler to the mix reduced Amare's effectiveness in the system because he worked better at the 5 as the roll guy. And the worst part of all of this is that Knicks fans--a lot of them anyhow--are naive enough to believe that the pieces in place can win, and that all it's gonna take is better coaching and a different system. In the span of 5 games Carmelo Anthony gave up on trying to make this work. That really inspires a ton of confidence.
However, there is an 11th hour rumor right now about Melo + Tyson for Howard and Hedo. Nothing would make me happier right now than the right to root against Carmelo Anthony.
If I were D'Antoni I'd put Melo at the end of the bench and go back to the formula that was winning games before Melo returned to the lineup. I'd dare Dolan to fire me. Unless Melo is traded D'Antoni ia gone in two months anyway.
Interesting trade rumor...but I wonder how long it would be before Melo butted heads with Stan Van Gundy.
Interesting trade rumor...but I wonder how long it would be before Melo butted heads with Stan Van Gundy.
The more I think about it, the less I think the Dolan-Carmelo thing matters. At the time he pushed for that trade because he saw Carmelo as a fantastic marketing opportunity. Now Jeremy Lin's his meal ticket, and Melo is getting booed in pre-game introductions.
There's also another very interesting Knicks related rumor out there today, which is that Jerry Sloan would be interested in coaching the team. I have no idea why he'd be interested, but "sources" close to him said as much to Sam Amick.
And here's another take on the Carmelo-D'Antoni thing from Howard Beck:
http://www.nytimes.c...the-knicks.html
It includes this interesting tidbit, which D'Antoni has been blamed for here:
http://www.nytimes.c...the-knicks.html
It includes this interesting tidbit, which D'Antoni has been blamed for here:
Sloan with this team would be amazing. How long until a 70 year old Sloan challenges Carmelo to a bare knuckle fight?
I think Lin is for more likely to survive than Melo. No way Jackson wants anything to do with Melo.
I'm more than happy to engage Orlando, but given what we know (he has his sights set on Brooklyn), there's no way I'm offering Melo. Either they can take Stoudemires contract or they can take a hike. Even if he left for the Nets, getting rid of Amare's deal would be sufficient reason to make that trade.
I'm sorry, I still blame D'Antoni for this over Melo (not that he's without blame). In what other basketball situation do we expect a ten year star to defer to a mid-tier rookie PG? In what basketball situation is the onus not on the coach to make sure his best player can succeed, and in turn help the team succeed? These are basic high school principles.
We can hem and haw and complain that Melo doesn't play like Lebron or Kurt Thomas or Charles Oakley or Willis Reed. But he is what he is. And he's not going to change, so its the coach's job to get the most out of him in that context. And frankly, he's been a better sport up until this point than I would have expected.
I'm sorry, I still blame D'Antoni for this over Melo (not that he's without blame). In what other basketball situation do we expect a ten year star to defer to a mid-tier rookie PG? In what basketball situation is the onus not on the coach to make sure his best player can succeed, and in turn help the team succeed? These are basic high school principles.
We can hem and haw and complain that Melo doesn't play like Lebron or Kurt Thomas or Charles Oakley or Willis Reed. But he is what he is. And he's not going to change, so its the coach's job to get the most out of him in that context. And frankly, he's been a better sport up until this point than I would have expected.
Definitely sounds like D'Antoni's fault. Look people knew this was going to happen. Melo doesn't want to play team offense or defense. Without Melo getting injured this team probably won't make the playoffs.
This isn't about him deferring to Lin. It's about him buying into the team concept, and with the exception of Broussard, literally everybody else is reporting that the entire Knicks roster is frustrated with Carmelo for refusing to buy in. Carmelo Anthony is blatantly breaking out of the offense, refusing to stay in his spots, and demanding that other players adhere to his style. And when he plays, the Knicks are worse in every facet of the game. What has Carmelo done to earn the right to be a petulant child and put himself above the team?
He has experience holding a team hostage while demanding to be let out of town.
Sure seems like D'Antoni's working hard at that relationship. I guess we can pretend that the NBA isn't a star league, and that the coach should be able to just say what he wants and all his guys follow it blindly. But frankly, that's not reality--and its the coaches job, more than anything else, to get the stars to play well. And he's not doing his job.
I'd be inclined to agree with you, if it weren't for the fact that everybody else on the team was on board with D'Antoni.
But I get it, you hate D'Antoni and that's not gonna change. Fair enough.
A month ago, Amare was a guy who was recently a top 10-15 player who was slumping -- and of course had bad knees, and a bad contract. Melo was a top 20 player without any of Amare's baggage. Faced with the prospect of Howard leaving for nothing, and with the Magic seemingly headed for a one-and-done in this season's playoffs, I think they would have done the Melo deal, and would even have been tempted by the Amare deal.
Now, of course, you're right -- there's no deal to be made. Amare's contract looks like an albatross, Melo has convinced most people that he can't fit on a contender, and Howard has decided he wants to play out the string in Orlando and sign with Brooklyn this summer. The Magic would rather have the salary relief, and the Knicks aren't going to give up a marquee player (even an overrated one) for a rental.
As the Knicks roster is currently constructed, Chandler has to start at Center and Amare at PF right? if Amare starts at PF, then Carmello needs to start at SF right?
An NBA team, not just D'Antoni's team, but any NBA team, needs a 3 point deep threat right? If your starting backcourt is Lin and Fields or even Schumpert, then who else other than Anthony is supposed to sit on the 3 point line keeping defenses honest and creating the space for the rest of the offense?
If by some magical way, the Knicks got rid of Amare, then they can play the roster much more to its strengths. They can move Carmelo at PF and use Novak or a new wing signing as the deep threat.
An NBA team, not just D'Antoni's team, but any NBA team, needs a 3 point deep threat right? If your starting backcourt is Lin and Fields or even Schumpert, then who else other than Anthony is supposed to sit on the 3 point line keeping defenses honest and creating the space for the rest of the offense?
If by some magical way, the Knicks got rid of Amare, then they can play the roster much more to its strengths. They can move Carmelo at PF and use Novak or a new wing signing as the deep threat.
Or maybe they could experiment with not playing Melo and Amare at the same time so much...hard to do with the number of minutes they play, but if Melo is purposely not playing in the system that's in place then maybe he shouldn't be playing so much.. it would seem to start to explain the lack of movement and confusion on the offensive end.
I agree, but show me a coach that would bench a purported superstar and I ll show you a coach with a big locker room problem on his way out the door.
D'Antoni has little to lose -- he's out the door anyway if the Knicks don't make the playoffs. Cutting Amare and Melo to 30 minutes apiece per night, and minimizing the minutes they're on the floor together, seems like a sensible strategy.
Of course, this is precisely the sort of in-season change that's difficult to make without regular practices.