Question about Amar'e Stoudemire?

[I_Love_NYK]

How was his defense under Alvin Gentry? Was it this bad as it is now that he is back with Mike Antoni?

[rsavaj]

Always.

[Stix]

Yup... it may have been a little better under Gentry, for the fact that Mike D does not believe in defense. Knicks will go no where unless they get rid of him.

When Terry Porter took over, Amare was quoted stating that Mike D never taught him or emphasized any defense.

[BurningHeart]

And yet, D'Antoni's teams were always in the middle of the pack defensively and Gentry's teams were always near the bottom.

D'Antoni's "lack of defense" bull is seriously starting to get really **** old. The problem with those teams was rebounding.

[rsavaj]

And yet, D'Antoni's teams were always in the middle of the pack defensively and Gentry's teams were always near the bottom.

D'Antoni's "lack of defense" bull is seriously starting to get really **** old. The problem with those teams was rebounding.

+1

[sunsfever68]

Burningheart, the reason we were middle of the pack defensively is because we had raja, shawn, kurt, james jones, guys like that who made up for Nash and Stoudemire's atrocious defense.


Stoudemire has always been a horrible defender always will be. I personally think we made the right move letting him go. He's not a franchise guy.

[RaisingArizona]

Amare has no effort on D. It's the reason he can never lead a team to a title. Bigs are supposed to be the defensive anchor and he only cares about scoring.

[KLEON]

Have you guys notice that he's just not the same player he once was since joining the Knicks ? Whats up with him being strictly a jump shooter, he doesn't attack the rim anymore and when he does it leads to a turnover. Whenever he tries to run the P n R they don't give him the ball. You'll think Mike D'Antoni would run the P n R every chance he gets because that's what made him a very effective player. Yes he's had a good season but no where close to what he had in Phoenix

[BurningHeart]

Burningheart, the reason we were middle of the pack defensively is because we had raja, shawn, kurt, james jones, guys like that who made up for Nash and Stoudemire's atrocious defense.


Stoudemire has always been a horrible defender always will be. I personally think we made the right move letting him go. He's not a franchise guy.

Yes. None of that has anything to do with D'Antoni "being a **** defensive coach" or "not coaching defense", blah blah.

[Stix]

And yet, D'Antoni's teams were always in the middle of the pack defensively and Gentry's teams were always near the bottom.

D'Antoni's "lack of defense" bull is seriously starting to get really **** old. The problem with those teams was rebounding.

I had to dig for it but here it is...\

“It was fair,” he said. “I was never taught defense. I just never was taught it in high school and also in the NBA…”

“I’ve got to give it to Alvin Gentry,” Stoudemire added. “He really implemented some strategies that were helpful to me. I took what I learned last year and carried it over to this year.”

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/11/26/amare-stoudemire-says-nobody-ever-taught-him-defense/

[JasonDaPsycho]

At least he tried a little more under Gentry, especially on a few occassions (very very few) when guarding Aldridge last year. He actually looked above average during those stretches (again, very very few). As a matter of fact, I never expected him to play even a lick of defense but he did (again, for the second time, on very very few occassions).

But don't expect defense from him when he's playing for D'Antoni. No way he'll be trying on the defensive end. NOOOOOOOO WAY.

[I_Love_NYK]

I was never a fan of Mike Antoni, Shawn Marion and Raja Bell's great individual D made up for the lack of D. Shawn Marion's versatility made up for the small ball lineups throughout the game. I'm through with Antoni.

Amar'e attacked the rim a lot before the trade, he and Raymon Felton ran the P n R a lot. He has really improved his jumper in NY which will give him more years to his career. But the P n R with Chauncey has been non-existant.

[DBrimstone]

I was never a fan of Mike Antoni, Shawn Marion and Raja Bell's great individual D made up for the lack of D. Shawn Marion's versatility made up for the small ball lineups throughout the game. I'm through with Antoni.

Amar'e attacked the rim a lot before the trade, he and Raymon Felton ran the P n R a lot. He has really improved his jumper in NY which will give him more years to his career. But the P n R with Chauncey has been non-existant.

His jumper's been amazing for a good bit now. He's just used it more as of late. He used to use it once in every 5 or 6 scores but most of his points came 5 feet or fewer from the rim. Chauncey just isn't as good a playmaker as Felton or most certainly Nash. I live in Denver so I've seen a little bit of both sides. Billups never runs the offense because he's not that kind of point guard. He's better suited to an offense like LAL's, Utahs, Miami's, or Portlands. Sometimes facilitator, sometimes scorer.

[toucansma]

And yet, D'Antoni's teams were always in the middle of the pack defensively and Gentry's teams were always near the bottom.

D'Antoni's "lack of defense" bull is seriously starting to get really **** old. The problem with those teams was rebounding.

+100000000000000000000000

[BurningHeart]

And yet, D'Antoni's teams were always in the middle of the pack defensively and Gentry's teams were always near the bottom.

D'Antoni's "lack of defense" bull is seriously starting to get really **** old. The problem with those teams was rebounding.

I had to dig for it but here it is...\

“It was fair,” he said. “I was never taught defense. I just never was taught it in high school and also in the NBA…”

“I’ve got to give it to Alvin Gentry,” Stoudemire added. “He really implemented some strategies that were helpful to me. I took what I learned last year and carried it over to this year.”

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/11/26/amare-stoudemire-says-nobody-ever-taught-him-defense/

I know that's what he said. I don't care what D'Antoni pushed or didn't push. We were a much better defensive team than we were given credit for during those years. Unfortunately, stupidity, reputation, media, and stereotypes hold out over facts.

[Jdiddy701]

Say what you want about Amare, but if we still had him, we'd be talking playoffs right now.

[lilfishi22]

It's always been bad overall. Although he's actually just below-average when it comes to individual psot D. Most of the times he gets murdered defensively is when he has to make defensive switches or rotations. He's low bball IQ holds him back from recognizing plays before they come. Also I think that his shot-blocking is overrated because he so often gives up his defensive position just to attempt and all-star block.

As for us being a middle of the pack (and I think, at one point, close to top 10) defensive team a few years back, it was mainly because we had fantastic defenders on the team. Like BH mentioned it's always just been our inability to rebound that has allowed teams back in the game so often. But with guys like Raja, KT, Marion, James Jones and Diaw on the team, coupled with Nash and Amare's devastating PnR, it makes our defense look good and our offense overshadow any defensive lapses we often have.

Also I actually really enjoyed watching the Knicks play pre-Melo trade. Felton surprised me with his PnR ability and with several decent defenders on the team, the Knicks were a half decent team. After the Melo trade, the Knicks were gutted and it become more the Melo-show than the Melo-Mire show. I really thought the Knicks had something going for them with that roster and cap space to put together a legit team.

[lilfishi22]

Say what you want about Amare, but if we still had him, we'd be talking playoffs right now.

Nobody is debating that.

[BurningHeart]

It's always been bad overall. Although he's actually just below-average when it comes to individual psot D. Most of the times he gets murdered defensively is when he has to make defensive switches or rotations. He's low bball IQ holds him back from recognizing plays before they come. Also I think that his shot-blocking is overrated because he so often gives up his defensive position just to attempt and all-star block.

As for us being a middle of the pack (and I think, at one point, close to top 10) defensive team a few years back, it was mainly because we had fantastic defenders on the team. Like BH mentioned it's always just been our inability to rebound that has allowed teams back in the game so often. But with guys like Raja, KT, Marion, James Jones and Diaw on the team, coupled with Nash and Amare's devastating PnR, it makes our defense look good and our offense overshadow any defensive lapses we often have.

Also I actually really enjoyed watching the Knicks play pre-Melo trade. Felton surprised me with his PnR ability and with several decent defenders on the team, the Knicks were a half decent team. After the Melo trade, the Knicks were gutted and it become more the Melo-show than the Melo-Mire show. I really thought the Knicks had something going for them with that roster and cap space to put together a legit team.

Which made it make even LESS sense that Kerr was brought in to instill a more defensive mentality and all that yet we systematically got rid of every good defender we had.

[lilfishi22]

Kerr had a lot of tough decisions to make and for the most part, I think he did pretty well. Not sure I agreed with the Shaq trade but Marion had to go. The Raja/Diaw trade turned out well even though they were two of our better defenders. The only mishap during Kerr's time in Phoenix was the Porter hire.

We weren't great last season defensively but we got stops when we needed it most.