Apology Accepted: Mike D'Antoni Dominated All New Coaches

Right. Kobe definitely had skill to be an elite playmaker. He even was their point guard a few games. He just didn't WANT to be a PG distributor, in his own words he liked to launch shots. Carmelo definitely isn't

The ONLY ball dominant person in D'Antoni system is the point guard or the key playmaker. Everyone gets their shots of ball movement and motion. You cant have dribble heavy volume scorers who DONT pass disrupting the rhythm. (Or delusional players wanting only post-up touches like Dwight working against their strengths)

That's how Jeremy Lin worked in NY, no other player was absorbing the ball out his hands and stalling movement, they let the system and motion dictate shots. Put an elite player like Harden and Nash WILLING to pass and it operates even better

 

It's crazy how we our defense was terrible last season and with the hiring of Coach Mike D'Antoni we predicted it would be even worse..now here we are with the 6th best defense in the nba in the month of December. I'm shook

 

Let's put it this way, if McHale were still coaching this team right now do you honestly think Dekker or Harrell or even Capela are getting as many minutes as they are now? I don't, man. McHale probably runs with a short rotation, Nene probably gets many of Capela's minutes, Brewer would be getting more minutes too. McHale rarely mixed up his rotations, he liked to run the same 8 or 9 dudes and would rarely go deep into the bench unless it was garbage time. I just don't remember many times under McHale where I would be like "Cool, we have three young guys on the court at the same time and its only the first quarter."

It just seems that Mike D trusts these youngsters more and is willing to leave them in longer. McHale had a doghouse and when you went into it you never came out.

Then again, your mileage may vary and dude may have just smoked himself stupid.

 

McHale started a rookie Parsons. Capela got to play in every game of the playoffs in his rookie year despite being rawer than sushi. We didn't have a deep bench. There was no Gordon, no Dekker, no Harrell. In 14-15, before the Brewer trade and Josh Smith signing, our bench consisted of Jason Terry, Pablo Prigioni, Terrence Jones, and Kostas Papanikolaou. Dwight was hurt for half the season, DMo and Bev were out for the playoffs, and we still won 56 games and got to the WCF.

I get that McHale was extremely frustrating in the few games he had last year, but you can't criticize him for sitting scrubs. He played talent (Parsons, DMo, Capela). If he played Nick Johnson, Isaah Canaan, and Troy Daniels regularly then he would've been fired sooner. Those guys sucked and only deserved to play if no other choice was available, like Ennis this year. Ennis is 22 years old, should we play him just to mix up the rotations?

 

Eric Gordon is making shots at an unsustainable rate. Plus Ryno's reputation alters opposing defenses. For the longest time teams played like they didn't fear the Rockets 3P shooting even though they took so many.

When the offense is at an elite level, it puts pressure on the other team to score just to keep up. So it's harder on both ends for the other team physically and mentally.

 

If you don't let facts get in the way you just described MDA's history as a NBA coach, not McHale.

 

I think Troy Daniels would have gotten more burn under Mike D, probably Canaan too. Not so much Nick Johnson because he couldn't shoot. But, some of that is a product of the system and how the players fit into. But McHale had no system, his system was ISO ball Harden and everyone else just stand around and watch. Not a very good system for young guys to learn in, I'd imagine.

 

Well, that's interesting, man. Tell me more about this.

 

D'antoni basically played a six or seven man rotation in Phoenix. Barbosa was only guy that had consistent time from the bench. Look at the minutes Joe Johnson and Shawn Marion had to play. They were the anti-Spurs.

 

Mchale looked good because he had Harden.

Even MDA would tell you Harden is making him look good.

But what MDA does that Mchale couldn't or wouldn't is that he spots guys screwing up quickly and pulls them even if is just for a min or 2. He calls timeouts at the right time, his rotations are much better and he's instilled confidence in every player in the Rotation. This isn't new MDA made a lot of guys looks good in Phoenix.

Not to mention just from an eye test the defense is looking really good and much better than in years past even in the 14/15 year.

MDA has always been a good coach. Mchale is a guy you get to coach young players.

The twolves prob should have hired him over thibbs. He could have really helped the young pups. All young players seem to like him and perform improve under him. But when you got guys in there prime that want to win and maximize there skill sets coaches like MDA Kerr pops is what you need.

 

That's cool, I didn't pay much attention to that and perhaps Mike D has changed his ways in order to adjust. Perhaps, Morey has just done a better job at getting some talent for James to play with and he deserves a lot of the credit too. As long as we keep winning is all the dude cares about and I credit everyone in the organization for that.

 

Been doing a great job. People forgot that he was an innovator when he first got into the league. Now he has harden playing like prime steve nash. Not sure how it could get any better for him or that team.

Plus, the rockets role players are outstanding talents as well: dekker reminds me of a taller Gordon Hayward, Gordon still has a lot more game than anybody previously believed. It's all good in Houston.

 

D'antoni was known for his 8 man rotations in PHX. He never had a 6-7 man rotation don't go overboard please lol I remember Eddie House, Leandro Barbosa, and James Jones coming in off the bench and being absolutely lethal. I also remember Kurt Thomas getting mins at C and him going 9 deep when he had a roster he really liked.

 

Go figure - you give a bunch of high quality players an actual gameplan to follow within an offensive system and viola! Who knew you needed to coach playing team basketball? Apparently you can't just tell guys to try harder, move the ball, and hustle...talking about you, Mchale..

 

clapping. you forgot you need clapping.

 

During the off-season I thought JVG was the logical choice because our biggest weakness was defense, ergo why not bring in a defensive coach. I was underwhelmed with the signing of MDA at first but now it seems so simple. We're an offensive team so bring in an offensive guru to play to your strength. All these things with Moreyball and our roster moves have finally fallen into place. We shoot a ton of 3's but we have an offense geared towards getting open shots to guys that can actually make 3's. What a huge difference it makes to see Anderson and Gordon jacking shots over Corey Brewer and Terrance Jones. The whole McHale era now seems like putting the square peg into a round hole.

 

Count me as one of the people originally sour on the D'Antoni hire. Even at his peak with Phoenix, I thought, he couldn't ever get past defensive teams in the playoffs. The obvious take was that it magnified our strengths and did nothing for our weaknesses.

Fortunately, he picked a great, well-rounded staff and brought the fun back. I'm a believer, at this point.

 

This is exactly why I want nothing to do with Rudy Gay. He would be an offensive black hole, and this fantastic ball movement we're seeing would completely stop when he's on the floor.