I hate to break it to you, but we ain't even making the playoffs next year unless we do really well in free agency this summer. There is very little talent on this team right now outside of Harden.
Couldn't they hire him as an assistant? What we need more is leadership and defense, not offense...and btw we'll see how the offensive structure will be...cause if Harden will not move without the ball you can structure my ass. Just bring more talented players (not chuckers) at this point, this will probably help more than the structure...
Was this a good hire? SAS: I don't think we can say it is because Daryl Morey told us one focus in looking for a coach would be on defense. You hire Mike D'Antoni? The guy who Skip says should have the D omitted from his name? It amazes me. He could be credited to some degree revolutionizing the game. Before the Warriors existed, it was Mike D'Antoni with 7 seconds or less. He helped Nash acquire 2 MVP awards. He knows a thing or two about offense. He lost his job in NY. They looked better afterwards. He lost his job in LA. In the end, Mike D'Antoni could have won a championship if he listened to Kerr and hired Tom Thibodeau. He wasn't willing to do that. Maybe he's learned from his ways. You're hearing Rex Kalamian as possible assistant. If that's the case, why not just give Rex the job? He's an exceptional salesman. Despite never winning a western conference crown or NBA crown, he continues to lands job. Somehow, someway, he continues to land good job after good job after good job. If I want a salesman, I'm hiring him. Skip: One guy bought it. Leslie Alexander was the one who wanted Mike D'Antoni. Daryl's choice was bringing back Jeff Van Gundy. That indicated to me that Daryl is losing power. SAS: He should. Skip: I'm reading the tea leaves from a distance. Something in interviews, he speaks the owners language. I don't know him but know others who do. He's personable & can be charming. I'm guessing Les will look forward to socializing with him, maybe lunch or dinner. According to Marc, not Daryl's first choice. SAS: Daryl, you deserve to lose clout when you fire a coach 11 games in who just took you to the Western Conference Finals. You deserve to lose clout when your superstar is making decisions you should be making. Dwight won't be enamored with staying, I can promise you that. It might be best for Harden. For me, it's the process. You see so many coaches who deserve opportunities but the same coaches are recycled who haven't won anything. How is it he continues to land jobs? Especially at the expense of so many starving for an opportunity. Skip: Jeff Bzdelik for 'defensive coordaintor'. Doesn't do a whole lot for me.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jerry Colangelo called MDA "1 of the great offensive minds of the game. Assuming he’s the choice, it’s an excellent choice for the Rockets.”</p>— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/735986876947914752">May 27, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Asked Colangelo about Rockets D Said: "It’s not that with Mike, you get offense and not defense.Players need to buy in. They do with him.”</p>— Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href="https://twitter.com/Jonathan_Feigen/status/735987717989748736">May 27, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Wasn't MDA also one of Coach K's Olympic team assistants when Harden was on team 2 summers ago? If so, then Harden has some familiarity with MDA. And Rockets don't just players that will fit MDA's system but players that bring in a built in D mindset. The best D players have to WANT to excel on defense. Aside from Harden, Beasley and Motiejunas fans are sleeping on the fit of Goudelock and Josh Smith. And Harrell is tabula rasa.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rockets fans underestimate the problems the team had offensively. No structured systematic approach. Was supposed to be a motion offense.</p>— Rockets Insider (@Rockets_Insider) <a And you really underestimate the importance of defense. Remember defense wins championships? Check the Cavs, OKC, GSW, and even SAS.
Greg Popovich on D'Antoni's defense... "I think in this business, it's a small fraternity [in the press] and once you get a reputation for something, it pretty much sticks," Popovich said before the Lakers played the Spurs on Wednesday. "It doesn't matter what you do about it. I think Mike could probably do defensive drills all day long and somebody would still get after him for not caring about defense." "He's probably by now stopped trying to convince people he cares about defense because he's not an idiot," Popovich said. "He knows you have to play defense. People act like he's never heard of the word, doesn't know how to spell it, and nothing could be farther from the truth. But he's wasting his time trying to convince all you guys that he cares about defense because it’s a better story the other way."
Sure it does. Les is a senile micro-managing control freak who is more concerned with entertainment than winning championships. The message is very clear. This is Les' team... not your team not my team not Morey's team ... and he's going to do whatever the eff he wants to. I just wish he wanted to sell the team to someone with a clue.
"Mike D'Antoni changed the game of basketball," Steve Nash said. "There's not many people you can say that about. No wonder I had my best years playing for him. His intelligence guided him to never over-coach, complicate or hide behind the game's traditions. He deserves a championship."
When you normalize possessions to 100, you realize that a Mike D’Antoni-led team never finished in the bottom third of the league in terms of defense over the course of a full season until his last season coaching the 27-win Lakers (who almost certainly outperformed their talent level. Again, Jodie Meeks and Wesley Johnson were their leaders in minutes played). This is despite the fact that his teams often gave large minutes to Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire, and later on Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire.
Ahaha are you actually trying to give quotes from other coaches and players as proof of d'antoni's work? Lmao. What you expect other than flattering fluff pieces? His work speaks for itself. No need to hear coaches try to tout each other.
That's a very interesting point if true. (The optimist in me wants sooooo badly to believe.) And might keep me from typing _Antoni a bunch of times. Did you pull that off basketball reference or somewhere else?
Exactly, like when JVG praised JBB. No coach is going to publicly bash another coach... We know what Antoni's track record is, and that's a mediocre head coach with no emphasis on defense being hired by a team that's already complete ass on defense. Well atleast we'll finally get some high draft picks next season..
Well he was a COTY and did revolutionize the game. That stuff is true. Jerry also picked him as a coach for Team USA, so he wasn't saying nice things just to say them. Is this the best hire? No. Is it a good hire? Not likely. But this idea that we hired some bumbling buffoon is silly. MDA knows basketball and at least the one thing he'll do is either clash with Harden or get the guy buying into an offensive system.
Adelman didn't want to be here anymore either, He wanted more power in personnel changes and Murray was having none of that. McHale should have never been hired.
Other than the fact that Les fired McHale because he thought the games were unwatchable, not Daryl. It will be interesting to gauge Daryl's comments and body language at the D'Antoni press conference.
