Rockets fans are fine with being good in the regular season and "almost in the Playoffs" excuses. That much is clear.
I mean... when half or all your coaching staff is erased from existence like those dunks and 3s, all you can do is fold your arms, cross your legs, and blame the effort.
Especially when a supposed great coach can't teach DEFENSE without having a coordinator come in and do it for him. MDA should give half his check back to Tilman since he only coaches half the game. Frankly it's ridiculous that he's allowed to get away with that. Everybody was on Harden for playing offense only but MDA gets a pass for doing the same thing?!?! It's a joke a guy like that could get a high profile job like the Rox.
WHY WOULD HE LEAVE WESTBROOK IN UNTIL HE PICKED UP THE 2ND TECHNICAL FOUL???? I must admit, I love the Rockets new system and I credit that to MDA but it's the small things that boggles the mind! Like not going deep into his rotation when you are up by 30, not getting Bruno more playing time AND not taking Westbrook out of the game, when he was getting his shot blocked, getting the ball stole from him in meaningless minutes. I think Westbrook currently has 14 technical fouls and the minimum is 16 before you are suspended and the Playoffs are fast approaching. Everybody could see what was coming. Why couldn't MDA????
what in the world are you talking about. everybody saw wb popping off and getting ejected. ok. what's the lotto numbers coming up
No doubt! Westbrook was in the wrong BUT also, everyone saw it leading up to that. He should have never been in the game at that point! Prior to that, he had his shot blocked 3 or 4 times, he had the ball stripped from him several times against players with lesser talent....Why not take him out?
Yes - but he’s not simply a good coach. He’s an elite, first ballot hall of fame coach. He has a data driven prices that consistently wins and maximizes his talent. But knock yourself out imagining that you’d be better than one of the most innovative and winningest coaches of all time.
I think you guys misconstrued what I was saying. I never once said MDA was not a good coach. As a matter of fact, I credit him for the Rockets new system and I think he's a first ballot HOF. However, he seems to fall asleep at the wheel sometimes, which hurts his team. Short rotations, lack of foresight (Like leaving Westbrook in too long to pick up that 2nd tech) and not developing younger players. And I think the most of that is what separates him from a Popovich. Pop goes deep into his rotations and he develops younger players.
Playing 12, his entire bench except for Tyson, was a short rotation? Leaving Russ that extra minute is what caused him to elbow Lee in the chest, antagonize the Dubs bench then start arguing with refs and security? Maybe you think we should have played him only 28 minutes, is that the magic number? Or even zero minutes to make sure he does not foul out or get hurt??? Did Morey fall asleep at the wheel when he developed Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson to multiple All Stars each? Or elevated Nash at the age of 30 to a 2 time MVP? And Clint Capela seems to have done just fine under MDA. Perhaps if D'Antoni had more first rounders he could have developed those too. Or do you believe that he should be making undrafted FA's and late 2md rounders into All Stars as well?
6 years with Suns and 3 years with Rockets, 1 yr Lakers, 1 yr nuggets playoffs record 49 wins 49 losses
If you include the years that he was 'actually' head coach, PHX and HOU, then his playoff record is a respectable 49-41 (.544) (He never was HC in Denver) In NY, he had the Carmelo plague. Melo refused to run his system and wanted all of the touches and all of the points (remember Linsanity? All of that 'magic' happened when Melo was injured and out of the picture. Now we understand why Melo was cut so quickly here in HOU) Fast forward to LAL and that was still Kobe's team. Likewise, Kobe wasn't all about sharing. He was all about Kobe. Not the right personnel to run MDA's system anyway. I guess people have short memories. It was only a couple of years ago that we had 'The Greatest Team Ever Assembled" on the mat, and we were up 3-2 in the series. But CP's hammy decided it wasn't going to continue with us and the rest is history. (That and some 'magic' little zebras with whistles) This was the equivalent of Frazier taking down Ali. NO team had done this to the KD version of the Warriors. But Mike D'Antoni's Rockets did. Give the man some credit. If CP's hammy hadn't popped, we likely win that series and win it all. THAT SERIES ALONE, forged my respect for Mike D'Antoni. You can't say he's not a good coach when we had a heavyweight bully on the ropes. That was hardly by accident. It gets old listening to ungrateful people whine about 'not winning it all'. We proved ourselves at that moment that we were the BEST in the Association. Unfortunately, fate intervened and the whiners have never stopped pointing fingers
If he has good players, I think his strategy works. He still can improve the defence and when to call timeout.
Give mad props to MDA. He outcoached the F out of COTY Billy Donovan. Donovan was looking for solutions for 3 quarters, couldn't find one.
The action done for Houston is champion. All people only focus on that and dont care about the process. MDA still needs to prove for it
