Sunday Convo: Mike D'Antoni

[iamworthy]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoVAhDrWXPI[/youtube]

Mike D'Antoni: " I was going to time my return when steve nash starts to play I was going to start to coach"

Earth to MD, there are other players on this team besides Steve Nash

[iamworthy]

This probably isn't thread worthy mods so feel free to merge. I was going to put it into the GT buts its not posted yet

[VTi]

He has mentioned Steve Nash quite a lot.
Hopefully all the rest of the stars is ping to feel just as involved.

[Kobe System]

So he isn't gonna coach the team tonight?

[iamworthy]

So he isn't gonna coach the team tonight?

My understanding is that he will be coaching tonight.

[DEEP3CL]

Yeah it's been a lot of "Steve Nash" talk from him, this team still revolves around Kobe no matter what. I get that Steve has his system on lock, the problem is the players here are a 1000 times better than anyone he ever played with in Phoenix.

If anything once we get ticking, the Nash we saw in Phoenix won't exsit here. I remember our game plan for him during the Phil days was to make Nash a scorer, that way they were less effective in their system. And it use to work for us.

Now with Steve here he can run the same stuff but doesn't have to worry about scoring at all really. Just keep the ball moving to our finishers in Kobe, Dwight and Pau sprinkled with some Metta !

And whatever Steve puts up is just daggers for us basically.....well more like machete's if he's on point.

[tysonironmike]

So he isn't gonna coach the team tonight?

My understanding is that he will be coaching tonight.

Not coaching tonight.

[Kilroy]

Not going to lie.
At first it was sorta cute, but the seemingly single minded focus on Nash worries me a lot actually...

We saw how this team responded to a coach that couldn't demand their attention in Mike Brown... How does he expect to keep their attention if it doesn't seem like he can, or wants to, coach the team without Steve Nash?
Especially when you have a healthy and invigorated Kobe on the team...
And we saw what happened to MDT when he couldn't engage his stars in NYC...

I'm trying to see it as MDT just trying to get Nash fired up and feeling like a key member of this team again... And that could very well be it, because frankly, it's looked like Nash's head and heart were still back in Phoenix. Now we got most of Phoenix here.

But if this team doesn't cohere pretty damned quick, we're going to be in for one long and disappointing season.

[twinthunder3]

He wanted run & gun...Kobe can do both..

[Dr Aki]

He wanted run & gun...Kobe can do both..

here's a good question?

when did more talented teams decide to want to "grind" games out, which actually favours the less talented team on the floor, instead of want to "get more shots", which overwhelmingly favours the more talented team?

[DEEP3CL]

He wanted run & gun...Kobe can do both..

here's a good question?

when did more talented teams decide to want to "grind" games out, which actually favours the less talented team on the floor, instead of want to "get more shots", which overwhelmingly favours the more talented team?

Well Aki my answer isn't from this era, but the late 80's Lakers did. I'm talking those teams that won back to back in 87 and 88. The Celtics and Pistons bumped and plowed the Lakers. Pat Riley realized Showtime wasn't going to win against those teams in June.

So to your point the Lakers were deeper than that 87 Celtic team and were more talented. But we needed to match their toughness and pick our spots when to run.

[albasuna]

You guys thinking way to deep into this whole Steve Nash thing. You guys honestly think Kobe and crew are crying because Mike D'Antoni is mentioning Nash more than them? There is nothing to worry about, Nash and D'Antoni are not going to try to take over this team and make it theirs. I'm sure they are well aware that they combine for ZERO rings.

[Jajwanda]

When D'Antoni was in Pheonix, Barbosa filled out Nash's backup minutes as well as those of Raja Bell. His rotations are usually very tight in order to give rhythm and consistency. I could easily see Darius Morris taking the backup job at both PG and SG, meaning he'd play 32 mpg. He's a better defender and almost as good of a shooter as Duhon, he's better than Meeks already.

Is there any reason to block his potential by not playing him for very big minutes.

[Stebo_SSK]

When D'Antoni was in Pheonix, Barbosa filled out Nash's backup minutes as well as those of Raja Bell. His rotations are usually very tight in order to give rhythm and consistency. I could easily see Darius Morris taking the backup job at both PG and SG, meaning he'd play 32 mpg. He's a better defender and almost as good of a shooter as Duhon, he's better than Meeks already.

Is there any reason to block his potential by not playing him for very big minutes.

In that case they really need to consider picking up Delonte West then. He can play both at a B- to B+ level consistently.

[Run-MKE 311]

Mike D and Nash will always be tied at the hip and Pringles will always have that man crush. I think though once Coach D is around Kobe & Dwight more, he will love them all like a lucky father with frickin' champions as kids!

Kobe is the ultimate winner/competitor of this generation, Nash is a grinder, but nobody goes harder than Mamba. Dwight is pretty damn hungry to get his spot at the table though too.

Lots of motivation here, I would have to imagine Pringles is getting tired of listening to the rap against him and how he could not cash in a chip with STAT and Nash in his prime. Now is the time though to settle that score with an elite unit.