After discussing things going on with the Lakers, it seems "D'Antoni" is either gone before this season starts or signed on for 2 seasons while he has to Coach a Lakers roster in year one 5-6 games into the NBA Season. That's a tough thing to do, especially when you've never coached any of those players or been the head of the LA Laker Franchise (that whole Sterling racist statement about Magic really helps me to keep my balance with the Lakers). That's where my immediate shout-out for Jordan Hill goes, as D'Antoni did officially draft him with the Knicks in the mid/late lottery but only got him in his rookie year basically... and Hill was not NBA ready exactly. But now, my gosh, he's flourished this season under the system and coach...
Now honestly, I've never been huge on D'Antoni, Sure, I felt like some of those Phoenix rosters Coach D'Antoni gathered could of had a player coach and been successful; but that's me being picky, though a back-court of Nash and Quentin Richardson (prime 18-20ppg) to complement the Guard/Forward rising Joe Johnson at Small-Forward, leaving at the time Sun NBA All-Stars Shawn Marion starting at Power Forward with the system and young athletic PF Amare Stoudemire would start at Center. While it's obvious they could score, I'm still unsure who played the defense... unless Marion guarded all 5 players.
Through his tenure in Phoenix the lineups changed a bit, but Stevie Nash signed as a Free Agent the first Phoenix training camp with D'Antoni as the coach; D'Antoni also signed a veteran Jim Jackson for cheap to give the team some depth. But D'Antoni was so infamous for his 7 man rotations, sometimes even could be 6 basically, but usually 7-8. The team is a potent offense with no real shot blockers or lockdown defenders at this stage, though they still get to the Western Conference Final's after beating Memphis and Dallas in the first 2 rounds to lose to the eventual NBA Champion Spurs. The next season, 2005-2006, he leads them back to the WCF's but this time they lose to the Dallas Mavericks who were the hottest team that season.
How the "West was Won" has been a long tale of who the eventual Champ would be.
When you expect a top tier or 2 (below the Poppovich and Sloan's) coach and management to truly "rebuild" a Franchise it should start with a top coach. While others will call him an "offensive juggernaut" or "regular season gold", I simply think he's one of the most unique basketball minds to coach an NBA team. His Euroleague philosophies and styles he adopted from playing a tad after being drafted by the NBA in the late 70's but ultimately going overseas to play for an Italian squad, Trevisio. have actually evolved the NBA American Game, rubbing off into a softer, more entertaining, more 3pt shooting style.
Notice how many teams live on running fast-breaks and shooting quick hitters from the corners, or simply playing a much faster tempo (average possessions per game this season was higher than it's ben in 20+ years). Every team is trying to become like the Spurs, if you know the game well enough using angles, passes, dribble moves, body space, and so much more, you can truly create havoc on offense. When all your guards and forwards can shoot 3's at a clip much better than solid, PG/SG/SF can all handle the ball effectively as well as pass and make that extra pass. Of those 5 players listed, only Joe Johnson didn't have his "Career Season" with the Suns; while you take an athletic marvel like Shawn Marion and he was a 25 Ppg, 10 Rpg, 4 Apg, 2.5 steals, 2.0 blocks, freak of nature beast. After being traded by the Suns to the Heat (for Shaq late in his career) and then signed with the Raptors, he really struggled to find any game.
Marion literally owes half of his big-time contract to D'Antoni, as before that we didn't know of the "D'Antoni Affect", and how simple and obvious it is. The more possessions you have in a game as a result of taking quicker shots and playing and running faster allows players to put up amazing rebounding numbers, along with scoring and assists. FG percentage... now that has never been huge...When he ran it people thought it was almost a gimmick, rightfully called "7 seconds or less", but if you passed up a wide open shot he might be the first coach to actually take you out (or swear at you to "F***ing shoot it) for not shooting a wide open three, even if you are an average Small Forward shooter is never good in a D'Antoni offense once it has his players and roster, full of athletes and good / great perimeter shooters. That's why players usually seem so confident offensively on his teams; he's given them the green light to shoot when open, even Kendall Marshall experienced it this season. Most coaches wouldn't want Marshall to shoot a mid-range shot ever in a game, and when it comes to threes his sample size is too small from this year (as it kept dropping after a hot start). He can really make players look and even play more efficient because of the system.
"...Steve Nash, Quentin Richardson, Raja Bell, Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire, LeAndro Barbosa, Boris Diaw, Chris Duhon, Al Harrington, Zach Randolph, David Lee, Jamal Crawford, Channing Frye, James Jones, Eddie House, Jared Jeffries, Timmy Thomas, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Bill Walker, Nate Robinson, Sergio Rodriguez, Tony Douglas..."
Remember how great he played for the Knicks and D'Antoni's system, putting up career numbers that year? Well everyone I just listed he pretty much did the same for, whether making bad into average or good to great, great to amazing, he coached them all in their greatest individual seasons. Duhon is a prime example, as a career backup PG for the Bulls out of the draft, he is all the sudden signing with the Knicks for the Mid-Level because of D'Antoni and has a decent year averaging 10.7 Ppg and 7.0 Apg 3.0 Rpg, 1.0 steals, and all career bests as well as 42%FG and 39%FG|3PT! It's no coincidence that this happens with every Point-Guard that he gets in his system....
Remember Jeremy Lin?
-He's had many of those players, like Duhon and Felton, Nash to begin and Marshall recently. Most of them just don't get as much publicity as the only Asian-American NBA Player to go from D-League to Warriors cutting him to New York 2 months of great D'Antoni stat padding ball and that was a frenzy! Imagine the things he can do. Kendall Marshall literally went from being cut by the Wizards after being traded by the team that drafted him; the Wiz had no legit backup PG then either, but he wasn't it. Then D'Antoni snags him and he's a 9ppg 11apg stud making three's somehow (though his shot is bad and started to go back to normal). He can get almost any PG to average near 10 assists a game. Look at what he had Steve Blake at this season!
So as far as his impact on players, it is huge. Really long athletic guys should usually flourish in his system, as well as undersized shooters and PG's that can hit the open 3pt shot as well as run a Pick & Roll (and one more thing, pass up the court). It's that simple.
. Coach Mike D'Antoni who has failed to have "supposed" success here in the city of LA and NY, while having what I consider great success in Phoenix since his arrival, never missing the playoffs often getting to the Western Conference Finals at least 3 times, I believe four.
Beginning his 2002-2003 season he is hired as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns. He remains as they struggle and 21 games into the 2003-2004 season, the Suns made a Coaching change. He was finally taking over the entire NBA team and roster, after 21 games (8-13 record), Mike D'Antoni getting to the WCF's and Finals but never winning a Championship, stuff that is stated as if we'd never heard it before. ]
He got a chance in New York to Coach and built a team, but when they hire him to do this, it appears they don't truly let him get his way always. My next article will be discussing MIKE D'ANTONI as a whole, from an objective view rather than the simple minded haters. People hate on him badly since New York, and it makes no sense... He inherited a roster with overpaid multi-year contracts that were joks like Q-Rich and Stephon Marbury
Now honestly, I've never been huge on D'Antoni, Sure, I felt like some of those Phoenix rosters Coach D'Antoni gathered could of had a player coach and been successful; but that's me being picky, though a back-court of Nash and Quentin Richardson (prime 18-20ppg) to complement the Guard/Forward rising Joe Johnson at Small-Forward, leaving at the time Sun NBA All-Stars Shawn Marion starting at Power Forward with the system and young athletic PF Amare Stoudemire would start at Center. While it's obvious they could score, I'm still unsure who played the defense... unless Marion guarded all 5 players.
Through his tenure in Phoenix the lineups changed a bit, but Stevie Nash signed as a Free Agent the first Phoenix training camp with D'Antoni as the coach; D'Antoni also signed a veteran Jim Jackson for cheap to give the team some depth. But D'Antoni was so infamous for his 7 man rotations, sometimes even could be 6 basically, but usually 7-8. The team is a potent offense with no real shot blockers or lockdown defenders at this stage, though they still get to the Western Conference Final's after beating Memphis and Dallas in the first 2 rounds to lose to the eventual NBA Champion Spurs. The next season, 2005-2006, he leads them back to the WCF's but this time they lose to the Dallas Mavericks who were the hottest team that season.
How the "West was Won" has been a long tale of who the eventual Champ would be.
When you expect a top tier or 2 (below the Poppovich and Sloan's) coach and management to truly "rebuild" a Franchise it should start with a top coach. While others will call him an "offensive juggernaut" or "regular season gold", I simply think he's one of the most unique basketball minds to coach an NBA team. His Euroleague philosophies and styles he adopted from playing a tad after being drafted by the NBA in the late 70's but ultimately going overseas to play for an Italian squad, Trevisio. have actually evolved the NBA American Game, rubbing off into a softer, more entertaining, more 3pt shooting style.
Notice how many teams live on running fast-breaks and shooting quick hitters from the corners, or simply playing a much faster tempo (average possessions per game this season was higher than it's ben in 20+ years). Every team is trying to become like the Spurs, if you know the game well enough using angles, passes, dribble moves, body space, and so much more, you can truly create havoc on offense. When all your guards and forwards can shoot 3's at a clip much better than solid, PG/SG/SF can all handle the ball effectively as well as pass and make that extra pass. Of those 5 players listed, only Joe Johnson didn't have his "Career Season" with the Suns; while you take an athletic marvel like Shawn Marion and he was a 25 Ppg, 10 Rpg, 4 Apg, 2.5 steals, 2.0 blocks, freak of nature beast. After being traded by the Suns to the Heat (for Shaq late in his career) and then signed with the Raptors, he really struggled to find any game.
Marion literally owes half of his big-time contract to D'Antoni, as before that we didn't know of the "D'Antoni Affect", and how simple and obvious it is. The more possessions you have in a game as a result of taking quicker shots and playing and running faster allows players to put up amazing rebounding numbers, along with scoring and assists. FG percentage... now that has never been huge...When he ran it people thought it was almost a gimmick, rightfully called "7 seconds or less", but if you passed up a wide open shot he might be the first coach to actually take you out (or swear at you to "F***ing shoot it) for not shooting a wide open three, even if you are an average Small Forward shooter is never good in a D'Antoni offense once it has his players and roster, full of athletes and good / great perimeter shooters. That's why players usually seem so confident offensively on his teams; he's given them the green light to shoot when open, even Kendall Marshall experienced it this season. Most coaches wouldn't want Marshall to shoot a mid-range shot ever in a game, and when it comes to threes his sample size is too small from this year (as it kept dropping after a hot start). He can really make players look and even play more efficient because of the system.
"...Steve Nash, Quentin Richardson, Raja Bell, Shawn Marion, Amare Stoudemire, LeAndro Barbosa, Boris Diaw, Chris Duhon, Al Harrington, Zach Randolph, David Lee, Jamal Crawford, Channing Frye, James Jones, Eddie House, Jared Jeffries, Timmy Thomas, Raymond Felton, Wilson Chandler, Bill Walker, Nate Robinson, Sergio Rodriguez, Tony Douglas..."
Remember how great he played for the Knicks and D'Antoni's system, putting up career numbers that year? Well everyone I just listed he pretty much did the same for, whether making bad into average or good to great, great to amazing, he coached them all in their greatest individual seasons. Duhon is a prime example, as a career backup PG for the Bulls out of the draft, he is all the sudden signing with the Knicks for the Mid-Level because of D'Antoni and has a decent year averaging 10.7 Ppg and 7.0 Apg 3.0 Rpg, 1.0 steals, and all career bests as well as 42%FG and 39%FG|3PT! It's no coincidence that this happens with every Point-Guard that he gets in his system....
Remember Jeremy Lin?
-He's had many of those players, like Duhon and Felton, Nash to begin and Marshall recently. Most of them just don't get as much publicity as the only Asian-American NBA Player to go from D-League to Warriors cutting him to New York 2 months of great D'Antoni stat padding ball and that was a frenzy! Imagine the things he can do. Kendall Marshall literally went from being cut by the Wizards after being traded by the team that drafted him; the Wiz had no legit backup PG then either, but he wasn't it. Then D'Antoni snags him and he's a 9ppg 11apg stud making three's somehow (though his shot is bad and started to go back to normal). He can get almost any PG to average near 10 assists a game. Look at what he had Steve Blake at this season!
So as far as his impact on players, it is huge. Really long athletic guys should usually flourish in his system, as well as undersized shooters and PG's that can hit the open 3pt shot as well as run a Pick & Roll (and one more thing, pass up the court). It's that simple.
. Coach Mike D'Antoni who has failed to have "supposed" success here in the city of LA and NY, while having what I consider great success in Phoenix since his arrival, never missing the playoffs often getting to the Western Conference Finals at least 3 times, I believe four.
Beginning his 2002-2003 season he is hired as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns. He remains as they struggle and 21 games into the 2003-2004 season, the Suns made a Coaching change. He was finally taking over the entire NBA team and roster, after 21 games (8-13 record), Mike D'Antoni getting to the WCF's and Finals but never winning a Championship, stuff that is stated as if we'd never heard it before. ]
He got a chance in New York to Coach and built a team, but when they hire him to do this, it appears they don't truly let him get his way always. My next article will be discussing MIKE D'ANTONI as a whole, from an objective view rather than the simple minded haters. People hate on him badly since New York, and it makes no sense... He inherited a roster with overpaid multi-year contracts that were joks like Q-Rich and Stephon Marbury
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