.

[al3xis]

because nate can ball.
there is no disputing this. He is a talented guy, he killed at times last year.

But, D'Antoni finally feels he has a rotation that can win and has worked pretty well together. So why not go with it until it falters?

Did he sabotage Chris Wilcox's career during a contract year last season? was that personal?

 

[true 3 blue]

So, you're just gonna randomly quote me for saying his defense is better than Duhon's? I still stand by that statement btw.

The 1st game of this benching we played Orlando on the road, a game that we were very much in, yet he didn't play Nate at all. OF COURSE people willquestion this, he was averaging a shade under 19pt, 3 ast after the New Jersey Nets wrong basket fiasco. A head scratching decision once again.

But no, I'm just quick to take shots at Dantoni, right

 

[al3xis]

I simply believe he wants to win.

I believe it's short sighted and a lack of faith to think he would rather win personal battles than games.

Nate & Steph have parallel's drawn. if so, don't stop there; add Darko, Wilcox, Hill, and Eddy Curry. Larry has been in and out of his doghouse.... starts to look kinda foolish to say that he is on that big of an ego trip, doesn't it? maybe he's just trying to find the right mix ofplayers to build a foundation for this franchise. That has been what is most important since Spring of 08 when the new regime was brought in.

but when you're losing on a consistent basis, i think you need a change.
Change was made. For better or worse it was Nate. It will continue until it falters and that does not mean 1 game on the road.

* that night in orlando Toney dropped 17 on 7-11 shooting. not sure what else nate coulda done.

 

[bangdak]

i think half those quotes were from me

allen, did i not ask for wilcox to get PT? i clearly remember saying that we should have put him out there more. i dont even understand what you'rearguing. because we're winning, nate deserves this benching? or is it because we're not fighting for any other man benching?


ive said many times we should pretty much get ALL our young talent play, before you bring up any other player being benched.

 

[al3xis]

You said yourself if you're losing, you need to make changes.

D'Antoni did, winning followed and everyone is against it.


And yes, people say Nate and Steph are personal matters....so you mean to tell me the other handful of guys were all due to personal issues and ego's aswell? I don't buy that. I don't wana hear it's just a Nate and Steph thing because there is no proof of it.

We're giving players the benefit of the doubt and not to the coach. That makes no sense to me.


* let me fix that, if you think steph was personal, i would tend to agree. I said the day he was hired that Steph was outa here. Do i think that hurt this teambasketball wise tho? no, not really.

 

[gabe gotti]

I'm sooo ehh when it comes to D'antoni. I don't know what to make of dude.

 

[bangdak]

^i love Mike's passion, when he gets upset for calls, but hes an total douche sometimes.


yes, i honestly believe steph COULD have helped us. duhon was balling out of his mind, but im sure steph could have played a nice bench role.


i remember saying if you start losing, you make changes, but i wasnt referring to benching players. i was talking about a more sophisticated defensive plan,not playing jungle ball out there. more set offensive plays for gallo, and not chucking 3s.


Giving the benefit of the doubt to the coach never works. look at alderman & tmac. what the hell did tmac do wrong? why isnt he getting as much PT as heshould?

 

[true 3 blue]

He's not a fan of loud personalities. But to duck and dodge question after question is sickening. Just be real with the public AND the players, this isridiculous as a professional.

 

[al3xis]

Originally Posted by true 3 blue

He's not a fan of loud personalities. But to duck and dodge question after question is sickening. Just be real with the public AND the players, this is ridiculous as a professional.

i differ here from probably everyone as I enjoy the Paranoia in a way. I am accustomed to it with my college team.

But, Again that is only if an intelligent person is in charge. I feel Mike is.

Giving the benefit of the doubt to the coach never works
When donnie was hired and outline a plan with a target date I gave over my trust until that point. i havent been given a reason to waver yet.

 

[bangdak]

to say that mike hasnt done an good job is an lie, but at the same time he has many faults. including his poor defensive schemes, offensive sets, and the wayhes set up the amount of PT for each player.



look at greg pop, that spurs team is pretty stacked, yet hes still found ways to give burn to players like bonner, and their improving rookie blair ( who ithink would fit great in here)

 

[al3xis]

The offense?

last year the Knicks offense was better than it ever had been since 91-92.

given some more talent Mike will be putting out a top offense in the league.

You're not going to find many sets, it's predicated on spacing, ball movement and finding the best available shot. They have reads off what the defensedoes, it's complex but in the same way it's very simple. youre not gona see much initiated other than pick and rolls and dribble drags.


Defensively, still need to improve but he's showing some more emphasis on it.

 

[bangdak]

Ball movement? its been better, but its still as predicatable. pick & roll, lee for the layup. duhon drive to the hoop, pass out, chuck a 3. why no pumpfake and drive to the hoop? half the team stands out by the 3pt line and waits for the ball. they need to start driving to the hoop.


defensively, ive been pretty satisfied with the zone d, but they need more. its not going to work every game.

 

[i nasmatic i]

Originally Posted by BangDak

Ball movement? its been better, but its still as predicatable. pick & roll, lee for the layup. duhon drive to the hoop, pass out, chuck a 3. why no pump fake and drive to the hoop? half the team stands out by the 3pt line and waits for the ball. they need to start driving to the hoop.

That falls on the players' shoulders for settling.

 

[al3xis]

well, a lot falls on Duhon's shoulders...as he goes, we go.

He has a lot of responsibility in this offense and it would help if a guy like Will made hard cuts and played more aggressively.

the PG is asked a ton, and it's why when people clamor for Nate to be in over Duhon, it just doesn't make sense. he's not capable of making thecorrect reads and keeping the ball moving. he's a shooting guard.

I know, know we need a PG other than duhon, and that's true ....but IF we did get Bron he takes over a ton of those duties and he's quite capable. itreally would be scary the #'s he'd put up. I bet you'd see Will having 3 or 4 dunks on a nightly basis just off of him.


The offense is a 4 out 1 in offense, so yeah they're spread around the 3 point line that doesn't mean they need to shoot 40 three's, they have tomove. D'Antoni should more assertive in getting more going at the rim, but they have to make those decisions as well.

 

[bangdak]

thats exactly what i mean. yes its the players fault for being lazy, but as the coach, its your responsibility to push them to their limits, push them toimprove.

 

[the gr8]

Originally Posted by SHUGES

This dude D'amn-phony has the nerve to say that he would never jeopardize someone's career by not playing them in a contract year (this was in response to not playing Nate) when he did the SAME EXACT THING TO STEPH.

I too, wanted to see Darko get busy this year. I mean, I understand that Darko may not be a beast or whatever. But I firmly believe that the guy has SOME talent in him. And I think dude was capable of providing more than just a warm spot on the bench ("slide over a little bit Darko"). But guess what, D'amn-phony is doing the SAME EXACT THING that he claims he is sooooo against. (Sabotaging a man's career in his contract year).

I hate Mike. Always have. His philosophy sucks (run up and down, shoot 3s, and play no D). And the only reason he is a "player's coach" is b/c that's all that most players want to do: run up and down and not play any defense.

this is kinda an unfair assesment. I know that Donnie has benched dudes in their contract years but its not because he has it out for them, itsbecause they were not working out and hes not gonna play a guy like Darko JUST because of his contract year. He benched him because he honestly feels like weare better without him on the court (saying that i truly believe that Curry should not step foot on the floor for the rest of the season). I mean Larry Hugheswas in a contract year and in the doghouse but he gt out of it by shutting his damn mouth and playing some good basketball. In most cases i do not believe itis personal he just wants to win.

Could Nate help this team even more? Who knows. He doesn't feel so. I'll trust him on it and see what happens.
not trying to sound like a Nate homer, but i also believe this is bull %+%#. I lie somewhere in between allen defending D'Antoni til his deathand the rest of yall calling out for his head and bashing him for benching Nate. I truly from an outsiders pov HAVE to believe that benching of Nate ispersonal, at least somewhat. Nate is not Darko Milicic or Chris Wilcox and as much as you wanna compare their cases allen this is simply not fair becauseNatewas our top gun through most of the season last years and the second most prolific bench scorer in the NBA last season. Also, it was not as if Nate wasslumping when he was benched. He was averaging 19+ over the last 4 before his benching and was playing his best ball all season and his relatively low scoringaverage before than was largely due to him rehabbing from injury. An dont say "Well we were losing all those games" cause that is also bull %+%#. IfDuhon or Hughes would have played HALF as good in those matchups astheyve been playing in our recent winning stretch they would have probably all been Ws aswell.

When D'Antoni says their is no personal matters and that he would play anyone (even Satan) if they would help us win i think that is bull %+%#. I just dontbuy it. I have to agree with what Nates agent said about when they couldnt hit a shot in the 3rd quarter of the Bulls matchup and were blowing a 17 point leadhe wouldnt even do som much as Look towards Nate's way. If we are digging ourselves further and further outof a game and nobody can score it couldnt hurtto give Nate a try. If D'Antoni was REALLY willing to explore ALL his options to try and win that basketball game he would put in his 17 per game scorer atleast to try and ignite some spark in his offense. Nothing else was working and Nate as he has acknowledged can clearly score te rock. Its like what he didwith Curry (who isnt good enough to warrant minutes) he put Eddy into the game and when it clearly failed and the Knicks offense sucked and blew a huge lead hetook him out. If you are willing to keep Curry out there and blow a lead there is no reson for Nate to sit on the bench when you are hitting 4/24 shots. Thereis just no excuse for that, that is just being stubborn. D'Antoni can sit their and lie and say that he thinks we are better with no Nate, but even if thatwas SOMEWHAT true i dont think with one slight ounce of my body that he believes that Nate couldnt at least help us out a bit in some situations and the one inChicago was the IDEAL situation where you put Nate in the game to provide a scoring spark off the bench... not to mention he only played 6 dudes and they werreCLEARLY tired and Nate cannot only score more efficiently than all of them (except for maybe Al) but he had fresh legs as well.

I personally think that this team is good enough to win games without Nate when they are playing to their max potential. We have been winning games becauseDuhon has stepped it up, Jeffries has been playing great, Hughes and Harrington bigtime as well, and Chandler and Gallo have been balling up as well. Wheneverything goes right we are a good enough team to win 5/8 games, maybe even more. But i presonally believe that in order for this team to be the bst that theycan POSSIBLY be, all of the aformentioned players need to play the way they have been and Nate ALSO needs to get his 25-30 off the bench to provide scoring toDuhons orchestrating (like what we did last year when we were at our bests) because we do not have enough scorers and keeping our 2nd best scorer on the benchdefinitley does not help us reach max potential imo. To reach max potential imo every player has to keep doing their thing AND Nate should get his minutes.Like i said lately we have been playing great ball and we have been a good team but in order to be the best we can possibly be we need Nate in the rotation aswell because even when everyone is playing great we still do not have enough scoring weapons out there and it has shown alot.

I mean im not saying Nate should overtake the job of Duhon, cause in order for this team to be the best they can be i do believe Duhon should orchestrate andplay the way he has been but i still believe that Nate should get off the bench and provide some spark as well. I know that D'Antoni knows this as wellbecause if he didnt he wouldnt have played it that way all of last season and the entirty of this one before 8 games ago. So D'Antoni can sit their and leand say there is nothing persoanl and he truly believes that we are better off without Nate, but honestly whether you guys wanna say it or not, if you look atthe history of this team... I TRULY believe that whther yall will admit it or not that NOT ONE of you guys truly believe deep down in your heart that there isnothing personal going on between Nate and D'Antoni when D'Antoni RANDOMLY ecides to bench Nate after hes dropping 19 a game when he played him hisentire career in NY thus far and wont even look his way once when we are shooting 4/25. There is just no way and i agree with his agent when he said that Bullsgame was the tipping point when he realized that D'Antoni's move to bench Nate is not basketball related. Because while D'Antoni can lie and say ibelieve we play better ball without Nate (and while i explained why this is bull %+%# we were winning without Nate) but there is no possible way to say that atthe very least Nate cant help out in VERY certain situations like the Bulls game where only 6 guys were getting PT and we couldnt hit a shot to save ourlives.Their is no way there is nothing personal at all when D'Antoni wont even use him in a situation like that.

 

[nychiphophippo]

dude just wrote an epic poem

 

[briannnnn]

GR8 always comes through

 

[pr0phecy718]

 

[al3xis]

so who do you want him playing over Douglas or hughes?

 

[bangdak]

G8!

a mix of Duhon's, Douglas, and hughes minutes.
Douglas should be getting 10-15 mins MAX per night (typical rookie minutes), same with hill.
Duhon-30. Nate-15. Hughes-20. Douglas-10. Chandler-15-20
Gallo-25 Jefferies-25 (raise his value)
Lee-30-35. Buckets-25
Curry 5-10.
Calculations might not work out, but thats how each PT should be worked out. if i even had an choice, i would bench curry+jefferies and split that betweenbuckets & hill.

 

[yeeupp]

Originally Posted by BangDak

i would bench curry+jefferies and split that between buckets & hill.

Jeffries is the main reason why we been winning, and we wont be able to trade him if he's benched, I do think Curry+Hill should play duringbum mins

 

[al3xis]

Hughes out again tonight.

 

[tommykairaa]

anyone peep the interview?

mmmm

 

[eightysbaby]

Danilo Gallinari for President.