D'Antoni having a rough go in NY...

[GHillDrnksSpryt]

d'antoni did a lot of good things for his franchise. but he lets his ego make horrible decisions.

[hunterxaz]

D'antoni like every other coach is at the behest of the teams talent. He's a great coach. Just had a **** team.

[ma_falaa_50]

D'antoni is D'antoni. he looked good cuz of steve. he had a losing record when he was with the nuggets and he has en even worse record with NY. the nuggets had a lot of talent when he was there. in NY they have enough players to be .500 in the east. He is not a good coach. he wasted nash, amare, and marion's best years.

[DusterBuster]

he really is getting exposed out there. New York is not looking attractive at all.

It's not D'Antoni...its the talent level in NY. It's awful.

Both are right in a way. His style of play is being exposed. Teams with piss-poor talent level can play competitive basketball. The Rockets are a prime example. Compare them to the Knicks. Neither teams (currently) talent level would make you shrink in fear. They have some players who are roughly the same in terms of talent level. One is getting the most of their talent and playing .500 ball, the other is a NBA door mat. Why?

DEFENSE!

Proper defensive schemes can take a team of nobodies and make them at least respectable. Trying to make that same team of nobodies be a offensive powerhouse just doesn't work. The only time that works is when you have multiple All Stars and preferable a HOF player.

So is it ALL D'Antoni's fault? No, not entirely. His talent level in NY is ridiculously low. But other teams have shown that you can be a decent team with a poor roster, and in that way, his system is being exposed for what it is.

[Miklo]

D'Antoni was a huge catalyst for change here and led us to some of the most entertaining seasons of basketball we've seen here. BUT, I think ultimately he does not have a full coaching game and as others have said his stubbornness is terrible.

He doesn't have drawn-up plays when he needs them, does extremely poor scouting and WILL NOT develop youth talent below pick 10. And his erratic benchings (okay, minus Marbury and Curry) lead to erratic performances from all players. I honestly think he'd be better as an assistant coach or in a more limited HC role.

[Mr. Sun]

lets see how he does next year with a good roster catered to his liking

Yeah one with no LeBron (he as arranged to change his jersey number to 6, something he wouldn't need to do if he was leaving the Cavs) or Wade.

I think they will improve if Walsh doesn't overpay for any two players.

[DaDragicShow]

Put Phil Jackson in Dantoni's position now and Knicks are still a 20-25 win team.

[the_warden]

Yeah one with no LeBron (he as arranged to change his jersey number to 6

What?

As a clear counterexample, T-Mac changed his jersey number this year.

[aIvin adams]

Yeah one with no LeBron (he as arranged to change his jersey number to 6

What?

As a clear counterexample, T-Mac changed his jersey number this year.

eh? tmac requested to change his # bc he had no reason to believe he would change teams.

lebron has no reason to believe he will change teams.

... logical reasoning -1

[Miklo]

Put Phil Jackson in Dantoni's position now and Knicks are still a 20-25 win team.

I dunno I think some of those Knicks players could use some zen meditation

[SUN]

Don't hate so much on Mike. He wasn't a bad coach with the Suns, but back in that era they had a pretty good roster. Shawn Marion, Amar'e and Steve Nash was a nice combination. He's a very emotional coach, but he has a bit of an ego, which is one of the downfalls to the Knickerbockers. I honestly think he's a pretty average coach, but calling him the worst in Suns history is just idiotic.

[hunterxaz]

Suns didn't win a championship in the D'Antoni era because we had refs fixing games, and bad luck losing Joe to injury, Amare to injury, and suspensions to Amare and Diaw...

[SUN]

Suns didn't win a championship in the D'Antoni era because we had refs fixing games, and bad luck losing Joe to injury, Amare to injury, and suspensions to Amare and Diaw...

We could've maybe won it.... maybe.

[The Diesel]

Suns didn't win a championship in the D'Antoni era because we had refs fixing games, and bad luck losing Joe to injury, Amare to injury, and suspensions to Amare and Diaw...

I agree.

Also, don't forget the injury to Hill right before the 2008 playoffs just when the Suns were starting to play VERY well with Shaq towards the end of the season and then Duncan's incredibly lucky 3 pointer which started their downfall as a franchise.

If Hill didn't get hurt and Duncan missed that shot = Totally different series.

Remember, the Suns beat the Spurs both times AFTER they got Shaq that year including a 96-79 win on the road at the end of the season and were really playing great basketball towards the end until their momentum got crushed when Hill got hurt and Duncan made that miracle shot.

Suns had the best record of any team in the West with Shaq over the last 20 games of the 2007/2008 season and Amare was playing MVP-level basketball during that stretch.

That Duncan 3 pointer is STILL hard for me to get over...