Yes! and the Foul

Finally on Team Carmelo

Posts Tagged Mike D’Antoni

D’Antoni is Walsh’s best asset / Knucklehead Nate

Dec 3

Posted by YesandtheFoul in Knicks Banter, Recaps | 3 Comments

I’ll start with some belated thoughts on beating the Suns:

Thanks to Andrew, I was in attendance for the Knicks win vs. the Suns — truly a bizarro world experience, as Steve Nash was turning the ball over left and right, and the Knicks were making their threes.  The only thing that kept the game close in the first quarter were a number of missed free throws, but fortunately these didn’t come back to haunt the Knicks.  Here’s what I took away from the game.

  • Larry Hughes’ 10 first quarter assist made him look like the best PG on the team.  He pushed the ball, made the easy pass, and kept his options open.  He also made sure to look for Gallinari who got off to a quick start.  All this in contrast to Duhon who shuts down the first option (to run), and only seems to look for David Lee in the post.
  • D’Antoni (and Hughes) exploited Amare’s terrible defense, perfectly.  Throughout the first quarter, the Knicks were running plays to get the ball inside, with Hughes often finding players in the paint for WIDE open layups.  Amare looks incredibly lost on the defensive end.  As bad as Eddy Curry.  Worse than Zach Randolph.  No amount of athleticism can make up for his lack of awareness.  Basically, I don’t think you can have Amare be a franchise player (or 2010 free agent target) because his D is just THAT bad.
  • Jared Jeffries had a great game.  Blocks.  Deflections.  Defense.  Ball movement.  He made a real difference.  And fans still booed him when he missed a contested layup in the third quarter.  Come on, fans, are you even watching?  Boo Jared when he’s playing terribly if you’re going to boo at all.
  • Wilson Chandler D’ed up Nash at the top of the key in a zone like defense worked really well.
  • Darko is done.  Clearly his heart isn’t in it.  I’m sure this story didn’t help his cause. But, no PT in this season’s first extensive garbage time seems to spell the end.  Fans were even chanting for Darko at the end.  Really depressing.
  • Finally, Gallo’s great game has to be mentioned.  He did everything. His two best plays were probably the ferocious block in the third quarter, and the straight on 3 point bomb from about 5 feet behind the line.  Good to see Gallo blow the game open for the Knicks.

In other news:

Good read from Ian Thomson (SI) about how D’Antoni is still Walsh’s most valuable asset moving forward.  Most interesting in the article, though, is Walsh addressing the perception that some holdovers in the scouting department may not have been willing to stick their necks out for fear that they aren’t part of Walsh’s plans moving forward.  Seems that it’s not just the players suffering from the 2010 cloud.

And finally:

Nate was benched last night in the loss against Orlando.  Alan Hahn has the best take on it, asserting that Nate’s clowning around and showmanship are a disruptive and destabilizing force on a team that clearly doesn’t have much sense of ‘team’ or understanding of how to win.  Hahn goes on to say that Nate could help a team with a strong veteran, winning culture, and though Nate would have to approve any trade due to his one year contract, it’s hard to imagine him blocking any trade to a winner.

Frank Isola has another worthwhile take on the Nate situation.

And, finally an article from Hoopsworld where Nate and Al talk about the frustration of losing this season.

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If Donnie doesn’t sign Lebron he should be fired.

Nov 15

Posted by YesandtheFoul in Knicks Banter | 3 Comments

After hearing that Brandon Jennings had 55 points tonight – 55!!!! – can it be any clearer how badly Donnie has been screwing up.  As far as I can tell, he’s betting everything on signing Lebron.  Between, building a roster completely unfit to play for Mike D’Antonio (as Donnie called him when introducing him as Knicks coach – did he even know who he was hiring as coach?!), and completely screwing up the 2009 draft, it seems pretty obviously he isn’t paying attention to anything else.

How did Donnie not draft Jennings?!  It was so clear to anyone paying attention to the Knicks last year that Donnie should draft a PG this past summer.  And, I just can’t get over the fact that Donnie, as he’s unbelievably admitted – didn’t get a chance to see or scout Jennings, aside from the workout.  What a joke.  I think the average Knicks fan scouted Jennings more than Walsh.  You know, I would bet just about anything that Isiah would’ve drafted Jennings.  With this season turning out as terribly as it has, the Donnie Walsh era might actually be worse than the Isiah era.

Here’s what Donnie’s done:

  • Signed Chris Duhon for 2 years to run 7 Seconds or Less?  Huh? (yes, he was spectacular for the first half of last season, but he has looked like the terrible, old, slow dude in a rec league who doesn’t give a crap ever since) — BAD
  • Drafted Gallo.  I wholeheartedly approve, even over Eric Gordon. — GOOD (maybe made me overconfident in Walsh’s judgement)
  • Traded Crawford for Harrington.  You know what?  Last year, I’d have said this trade was a wash, but not anymore.  Harrington is the most frustrating player I’ve ever watched.  I’d rather have Jamal Crawford.  But, Donnie saved the Knicks 2010 cap money. — BAD
  • Traded Randolph for Tim Thomas and Mobley.  The way I remember it, Randolph was playing surprisingly well for D’Antoni and even seemed to be sharing the ball a little bit more.  His defense sucked, but not any more than our defense sucks now.  Even after Mobley’s injury/condition was discovered and the Knicks had a chance to rescind or restructure the trade, Donnie didn’t want to take the chance of not being able to get rid of Randolph’s albatross of a contract and clearing up 2010 cap space. Knicks lose any realistic chance of making the playoffs — BAD
  • Traded Tim Thomas, who became a versatile, productive, glue guy on the team, for Larry Hughes because we had no guard depth after the Mobley retirement.  Hughes was completely lost and the Knicks coincidentally collapsed for the rest of the season. — BAD
  • Traded Malik Rose for Chris Wilcox.  No impact. — WASH
  • Going into the 2009 draft, desperately needing a PG or a defensive presence in the middle, in a draft full of PG’s but completely lacking in big men, Donnie fails to move up to secure Curry or Rubio.  Fails to sufficiently scout Jennings and passes.  Doesn’t select Ty Lawson, a quick, winning, 3-point shooting PG.  Doesn’t move back in the draft.  Instead selects PF (pretend C) project Hill, a classic big man reach, as insurance to losing Lee.  I guess.  Or in the hopes that he’ll figure out how to play D in the pros… Or something…  I still don’t f’ing get it! — HORRIBLE!  (No offense to Hill, I think he has promise, but he absolutely shouldn’t have been the pick)
  • Also in the 2009 draft: Buys LA’s 29th pick for $3 mil, selects Toney Douglas.  We’re sold on his being a PG (just like being sold that Hill is a C), but despite being a small SG, Douglas has been a contributor and competitor and a keeper — GOOD (Though I should note, we could’ve picked Jennings with the #8, still bought the #29th pick and selected super productive #37 pick Blair instead — that would’ve been great)
  • Traded Q for Milicic.  Seemed like a good trade, but D’Antoni doesn’t give Milicic much of a chance.  Q loses a ton of weight and becomes a valuable piece for the Heat. — WASH
  • Failed to make any signings or trades this summer, despite a need to shake things up.  Works out a bunch of over-the-hill PG’s.  Wait, I thought Donnie was going to get a PG in the draft?… — BAD
  • Signed Lee and Robinson to 1 year deals.  Thank god he had the sense to not overpay for guys that didn’t have any offers. They definitely don’t look like the money they were asking for. — GOOD

So, Donnie had two goals when he was hired: 1) To make the Knicks competitive enough to compete for a playoff spot. Grade: FAIL. 2) Clear enough cap space for Lebron or some major free agent signing(s).  TBD

All I know is: I’ve never been more sick to be a Knicks fan.  This franchise is a laughingstock and there is only one thing that can save us.  To quote Fox Moulder, ‘I want to believe’

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I’m getting a tad bit doubtful and down on D’Antoni, too

Nov 14

Posted by YesandtheFoul in Knicks Banter | No Comments

These guys just aren’t talented, or actually smart enough, to be playing for a player’s coach.  The mental mistakes are ridiculous.  There isn’t enough accountibility.  But, in his defense, none of these guys thinks they’ll be back after next year and it’s tough to make a player like that feel accountable.  They all just want to get their numbers and their next contracts.  But, really, What coach is going to make any of these guys any smarter or better defensively than they are.

If anything my doubts are strongly toward Walsh.  I’ve always doubted 2010.  I doubted Duhon, though for half a glorious season he proved me wrong.  Was irate at Hill over Jennings on draft night.  The we didn’t know much about Jennings excuse that he gave was pathetic.  Uh, isn’t it your job to know about these guys.  Isn’t it clear that you need a PG for your coach’s style of play.  He defended the Hill pick with “We need more size”, but even that wasn’t really true.  We needed more defense down low, and Hill doesn’t bring that, either.  Sure, Walsh has cleared the salaries, but he’s done nothing to build a competitive team.

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I have to admit that I’m getting down on D’Antoni

Nov 14

Posted by YesandtheFoul in Knicks Banter | No Comments

He looks much more like the schlub who couldn’t win in his first stop than the Phoenix genius. The offense is as atrocious as the defense. I guess we have 1 point guard who’s playing as badly as can be, and that’s killing everything.

You could erase Wilson Chandler from the Knicks roster and it would take me 5 games to notice.

The worst part is that these losses won’t even lead us to a draftday stud. The draft is so much less fun when the Knicks aren’t picking. I bet we at least buy a random pick Toney Douglas style.

Bright spots: Gallo and TD are playing about as well as you could hope for, and it looks like Hill’s going to get some PT. Plus the return of Eddy.

Lee and Nate are playing themselves out of town. Their stock is dropping fast. Maybe we can jettison one of them for a draft pick or something.

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