D'Antoni: "Playoff Runs Of Magic, Suns Validate My System

Magic have a great chance of winning the title this year with a healthy Nelson who is tearing it up (Last year he was injured) , Carter >>> upgrade over rookie Courtney Lee. Dwight Howard best big man in the game , Rashard Lewis will draw Pau Gasol outside cuz Lewis can hit 3's like no one's biz .

 

Sure they do, but until they have won it, it can't be counted on as success... they have to make it to the finals first and then beat the Lakers or Suns in the Finals. Carter < Lee + Turkoglu.

 

Well last year when they lost in the finals , every game was to their taking besides game 1 . I still believe if they had healthy Nelson last year , the series would have gone 6 or 7 games .

 

I like Rookies ... I just dont like Bad rookies !

 

oh sweet delicious irony

 

Ha, nice one.

 

D'Antoni's admission that he couldn't get his best low post player to buy into defense speaks volumes about how much he sucks as a coach.

 

That's what I thought of.

Sorry folks but I'm just sayin.

 

I didn't get that when I read it but it does seem like that's what he was referring to doesn't it? At any rate, D'Antoni is all about "his" system, player development be damned. Of course, "his" system is **** without Steve Nash.

 

+1

1 dominant post player + 4 legitimate 3pt shooters = championship

Btw, the Suns of today are very different in terms of 3pt shooting than the Suns of D'Antoni. Kenny the idiot Smith said that the Suns always have 4 3pt shooters and spread the floor that way...he's just recycling comments made over the last 5 years. The reality is sometimes the suns have 3 3pt shooters, and fewer times have 4, but generally have 2: Nash and Richardson. Amare, Admonsun, and Hill are not 3pt shooters. Their 2nd unit has more 3pt shooting than their 1st (Frye, Dragic, Dudly, and a streaky Barbosa).

 

Smith's also forgetting that D'Antoni's Suns never had a perimeter shooting center like Frye. Having a center that launches 3s all night spreads the floor out so much that any team that has a major weakness on defense at any position (e.g. SA's Jefferson) gets exposed big time.

 

Just a couple days ago, there's an article in sohu.com (or sina.com I forgot) analysing the success of this Magic team. It said there are many things in common between this Magic and the 94-95 Rockets. A dominant Center surrounded by excellent perimeter shooters.

It's sina.com:

http://sports.sina.com.cn/k/2010-05-11/11484979377.shtml

The article also mentioned that there were 9 players in the 94-95 Rockets team shooting over 30% 3-pointers. In the playoffs, there were 6 Rockets shooting over 40% 3-pointers. 5 of them made a total of 172 threes! I think the die-hard Rockets fans here can easily tell their names.

Spoiler

Kenny Smith
Robert Horry
Clyde Drexler
Mario Ellie
Sam Cassell

 

Well, in those 2 WC finals teams that D'Antoni coached (lost to San Antonio and Dallas), they did have 3pt shooting big men, in a way. That 1st year, Amare played Center and Matrix played PF and shot 42% from the 3pt line in the playoffs. They also had Q-Rich (39% 3), Joe Johnson (56% 3) and Nash (39% 3)...but that was the year Joe Johnson busted his face or something...I can't really remember if it was Finley or some Mav that slightly slipped under him on a fast break dunk.

That 2nd team that lost to Dallas in the WCF didn't have Amare (injured) and started a FC of Matrix, Diaw, and Tim Thomas. By then, Matrix had lost his 3pt shot, but both Diaw and especially Tim Thomas were stroking it, along with Nash, Raja Bell and Barbosa off the bench.

Those Phoenix teams had rebounding problems. That was the #1 issue. They couldn't stop San Antonio inside, and Dallas kept getting a bunch of offensive rebounds. This year's team has more size, and they're going to really need to step up against the Gasol/Bynum/Odom FC rotation. Amare/Admunson/Fry are taller and longer than TT/Matrix/Diaw or Amare/Matrix. And Robin Lopez returning might upset chemistry, but I think he's clearly a better player than Jason Collins, so at least he should be of help in those 15 mpg.

 

Glad others pointed it out...Magic's system is nothing like D'antoni's.

Should be easy to see since the Suns never had a dominant center like Dwight.

 

The Magic don't really have the same system as the Suns...

And with the way things are going in the other East semis, ORL seems to be angling up for another easy series.

 

Are you talking about offensive system or defensive? Offensively, the suns run PnR, PnR, PnR, PnR, and fast break a lot. Every team wants to fast break, probably not as much as the Suns, but whatever. Miami won the championship with PnR. Utah got to the finals twice with PnR. Spurs ran a lot of PnR, hi lo action and other things. And the Magic PnR, inside outside, and drive and kick offense. The Rockets won that way..hell every championship team does some of that.

It's not like the Triangle offense is the only offense that wins championships. I tend to think great players have a lot more to do with it. And who knows, maybe the Suns or Magic will win it this year...and if they don't, it's probably more to do with Kobe and Gasol more than anything else.

And I actually think the Magic are better this year than last, but so is Boston and so is Cleveland so who knows what will happen. Perhaps Turkyglue was better last year, but he's been awful this year, and Carter has played well enough. The Courtney Lee comment is just silly.

Last year's Magic playoff rotation:
Howard, Gortat
Lewis, Battie
Turkey, Peitrus
Lee, Reddick
Rafer, Anthony Johnson
*a hobbled Jameer played some in the finals

This year's Magic playoff rotation:
Howard, Gorat
Lewis, Anderson
Barnes, Pietrus
Carter, Reddick
Jameer, White Chocolate

I think this year's team is deeper. There are 8 legit 3pt shooters (which is why Anderson gets the nod over Bass...but Anderson is also a decent player too). Anthony Johnson is the #3 pg instead of #2. A healthy Jameer is better than Rafer, Williams has played well this year. The wing rotation of Barnes/Pietrus/Carter/Reddick is collectively better this year. It's funny that Barnes/Pietrus played together in GS with Barnes as the backup I think. And I also think Anderson and Bass can do more than Battie did last year.

Now I'm not predicting a championship here yet, but the evidence shows that this year's team for Orlando is better than last year's.

 

D'Antoni = Epic Fail

 

LMAO D'Antoni's system might be similar to the Suns, but its lightyears away from how Orlando is playing!
Dude is just freaking r****ded to compare his style to the Magics style.

Thats like saying that your driving style is like Schumacher but you drive a 1990 Ford Fiesta in a Sunday Rallye.