D'Antoni Says Suns Were a Good Defensive Team

[nowagimp]

D'antoni is not going to be able to huff and puff his way around in NY. They may wait until he plays some games first, but he will have his hands full if they start losing by by way of the layup drills we watched in Phoenix.

I have a feeling that a franchise that has had a losing record for 7 straight years wouldnt mind 50 win seasons. Yeah fans that saw 63 losses last year are bound to be happier with 25-28 losses. then when DA takes his picks and signs lebron in 2010, suns fans will get a taste of what could have been, DA with king James.

 

[cly2tw]

DA has never won against a good team in the playoffs. That's the only reason the Suns are not satisfied with him, which forced him out. Why bother about definitions of defense? In his logic, other teams (SA, Mavs) played better offense to beat us. It's just a game of name.

 

[shazaam6]

Lebron is already a great player adding D'antoni as his coach isn't going to do any more for him than D'antoni did for the stacked Suns team. JMO

Nash MVP twice although 3rd year was great too.
Amare all NBA 1st team who improved offensive game each year.(except micro recovery)
Raja all defensive teams multiple years
Barbosa 6th man award then no improvement
Diaw most improved then regressed
Shawn Marion all star versatile, never injured, athletic freak, defender rebounder

Yeah D'antoni didn't have much to work with here. When or if he gets Lebron then we will see how good of a Head case/coach he really is.

We shall see if you are right. It'll take two years but I've got nothing else to do but see if Mike "Fricken our defense is good" D'antoni can do with a whole new team.

 

[mojorizen7]

"I know one thing for sure," D'Antoni said. "We averaged 58 wins in four years, so 58 times a year we were the best defensive team on the floor, I do know that."

Typical witty D'Antoni B.S. logic/rhetoric.

 

[mojorizen7]

Nowagimp,Griffin: I am now convinced that either........
A)You're in love with Mike D'Antoni.
B)You don't watch good defensive teams and therefore don't recognize what it is to
play it.
C)You prefer to be the person that takes the angle "contrary" to those of the
majority to be "that guy."
All kidding aside at least your opinions keep the D'Antoni debate interesting.
I cannot defend your defense of Mad Mike on this one because it's like arguing with the little boy that got stealing and proclaimed....."I didn't do it!"

 

[cly2tw]

Nowagimp,Griffin: I am now convinced that either........
A)You're in love with Mike D'Antoni.
B)You don't watch good defensive teams and therefore don't recognize what it is to
play it.
C)You prefer to be the person that takes the angle "contrary" to those of the
majority to be "that guy."
All kidding aside at least your opinions keep the D'Antoni debate interesting.
I cannot defend your defense of Mad Mike on this one because it's like arguing with the little boy that got stealing and proclaimed....."I didn't do it!"

Contrarians of the world, be united!

 

[Budden]

You guys really are pretty dumb.

D'Antoni makes one joking comment, and you pretend like it legitimizes everything you've been preaching for the past 18 months.

The thing that really sucks is that Phil Jackson and/or Greg Popovich aren't going to coach this team next year. Even Larry Brown has signed to another team. Which means the Suns' coaching prospects are a veritable who's who of guys that'll have shortcomings every bit as big as the entire D'Antoni family put together. Who do you guys honestly think is going to come in and save this franchise from the another season of not being 2 wins away from winning the NBA championship (I'm sure you guys are going to misinterpret this, so here goes: if the Suns were in the East, they might've won the championship at least one time in the past 4 years. And you guys know that. And you guys know that the next Phoenix Suns coach is going to be a guy that either.. a) got fired from his top coaching job in the East, or b) was passed over for a head coaching position by an eastern conference team.)

Hopefully, Scott Skiles, or Frank Johnson, or Danny Ainge, or somebody awesome like that, will be able to coach this team in 2008-09.

 

[mojorizen7]

You guys really are pretty dumb.

D'Antoni makes one joking comment, and you pretend like it legitimizes everything you've been preaching for the past 18 months.

The thing that really sucks is that Phil Jackson and/or Greg Popovich aren't going to coach this team next year. Even Larry Brown has signed to another team. Which means the Suns' coaching prospects are a veritable who's who of guys that'll have shortcomings every bit as big as the entire D'Antoni family put together. Who do you guys honestly think is going to come in and save this franchise from the another season of not being 2 wins away from winning the NBA championship (I'm sure you guys are going to misinterpret this, so here goes: if the Suns were in the East, they might've won the championship at least one time in the past 4 years. And you guys know that. And you guys know that the next Phoenix Suns coach is going to be a guy that either.. a) got fired from his top coaching job in the East, or b) was passed over for a head coaching position by an eastern conference team.)

Hopefully, Scott Skiles, or Frank Johnson, or Danny Ainge, or somebody awesome like that, will be able to coach this team in 2008-09.

I don't blame D'Antoni for the SUNS window of opportunity closing....meaning i don't expect ANY coach to come in here and take us to the promised land any time soon.
We haven't been 2 wins away from winning the championship in 15 yrs so i don't know what that's supposed to mean.
If the SUNS were in the East???? How bout if all the superior coaches were in the East....instead of the West? Thats weak.
As far as D'Antoni making one dumb comment.....it's the first....and all the others were just stubborn rhetoric like "We're fine." or "We've got to hit some shot's."
Personally, i'm not impressed with an offensive genius to come in here and wow the crowd and the media into a frenzy....i'd be happy with a HC who can teach fundamentals,intensity,defensive rotations,shot selection,and who'll tell it like it is & occasionally take the blame when his team wasn't prepared or played like crap.

 

[Griffin]

Nowagimp,Griffin: I am now convinced that either........
A)You're in love with Mike D'Antoni.
B)You don't watch good defensive teams and therefore don't recognize what it is to play it.

I never argued that the Suns were a good defensive team.

C)You prefer to be the person that takes the angle "contrary" to those of the
majority to be "that guy."

Because the majority is never wrong?

All kidding aside at least your opinions keep the D'Antoni debate interesting.
I cannot defend your defense of Mad Mike on this one because it's like arguing with the little boy that got stealing and proclaimed....."I didn't do it!"

If you are unable to dispute the validity of my points without resorting to ad hominem attacks, that should tell you something about the strength of your own argument.

 

[shazaam6]

You guys really are pretty dumb.

D'Antoni makes one joking comment, and you pretend like it legitimizes everything you've been preaching for the past 18 months.

The thing that really sucks is that Phil Jackson and/or Greg Popovich aren't going to coach this team next year. Even Larry Brown has signed to another team. Which means the Suns' coaching prospects are a veritable who's who of guys that'll have shortcomings every bit as big as the entire D'Antoni family put together. Who do you guys honestly think is going to come in and save this franchise from the another season of not being 2 wins away from winning the NBA championship (I'm sure you guys are going to misinterpret this, so here goes: if the Suns were in the East, they might've won the championship at least one time in the past 4 years. And you guys know that. And you guys know that the next Phoenix Suns coach is going to be a guy that either.. a) got fired from his top coaching job in the East, or b) was passed over for a head coaching position by an eastern conference team.)

Hopefully, Scott Skiles, or Frank Johnson, or Danny Ainge, or somebody awesome like that, will be able to coach this team in 2008-09.

Maybe you are just so smart that everyone who doesn't agree with you is dumb by comparison.

 

[mojorizen7]

Are you not a D'Antoni apologist Griff?
BTW if you can't see the humor in my post i'm sorry.

 

[Griffin]

Are you not a D'Antoni apologist Griff?

I am not defending D'Antoni or even so much his philosophy. I am arguing against the common misconceptions like "the Suns don't practice defense" that some people here have accepted as facts. Yet you label anyone who makes any argument to the contrary as an apologist.

 

[mojorizen7]

How is it a misconception you think? Seeing as the SUNS have been a poor defensive team under D'Antoni and that D'Antoni's boss asked him to add more time in practice devoted to defense.
If you're in the mood to argue that the SUNS haven't been a poor defensive team or that it's because our players couldn't defend regardless of the HC please don't because i'm tired.

 

[dreamcastrocks]

How is it a misconception you think? Seeing as the SUNS have been a poor defensive team under D'Antoni and that D'Antoni's boss asked him to add more time in practice devoted to defense.
If you're in the mood to argue that the SUNS haven't been a poor defensive team or that it's because our players couldn't defend regardless of the HC please don't because i'm tired.

The Suns have been a poor defensive team for the past 20 years....

 

[Mulli]

The Suns have been a poor defensive team for the past 20 years....

Yep.

 

[DeAnna]

Go back and re-read "7 Seconds or Less"

They did a lot of talking about defense during coaches meetings and video sessions (especially Iavaroni) and gave the players their assigments and tips. But never mentions they actually practiced it on the court.

 

[nashman]

The Suns sucked on D way before Dantoni, but sure its all his fault. Some of you will still find a way to blame Dantoni when we suck at D for the next 10 years.

 

[nowagimp]

Contrarians of the world, be united!

I dont consider ASFN "the world", but its perhaps you do. Thats OK, whatever floats your boat. I consider many of the arguments here to be simplistic, not that the points are wrong, just simplistic. I also consider the suns management more culpable for the quality of the bench, than the coach. Good defenders were given away with #1 picks to dump salary, then the suns bench became real short when a 36 year old went down with injury. Well Gee Duh!! Never could have figured out that depleting th ebench could be a problem when we bring the old guys on board. I dont give any of those guys a honeymoon, not kerr and didnt give sarver one. Clearly there are plenty of posters here who just gush about Kerrs talents and what he will bring to the suns, but there is not one shred of evidence that it will happen. To the contrary, a number of bad decisions have already been made, and continue to be made. I guess it all depends on what facts you wish to ignore. As far as the suns defense, it was different post shaq, any stat you look at, though perhaps it crumbled at the wing when Hill went down. If you want to think the suns defense was horrible, dont look post shaq. Defense didnt cost the suns the spurs series for perhaps the first time, it was offensive execution closing out quarters. The odds on favorite to win the west, the lakers, are not a good defensive team either, but they are deep team.

 

[justAndy]

Maybe Amare was coached on how to play D on the pick and roll and was just too dumb to learn it?
Maybe he was also coached on how to box out on rebounds and is too dumb to learn it?

 

[mribnik]

I actually agree with D'Antoni. The Suns were a pretty good defensive team. They were always in the middle of the league in FG% against and among the tops in the league in points per shot against. The Suns were a terrible rebounding team however, which improved when Shaq got here, but in turn Marions departure made the Suns worse and less versatile defensively in most situations.

 

[jagu]

With smart ass comments like that D'Antoni will get destroyed in NY.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Go back and re-read "7 Seconds or Less"

They did a lot of talking about defense during coaches meetings and video sessions (especially Iavaroni) and gave the players their assigments and tips. But never mentions they actually practiced it on the court.

iavaroni was a big loss. i really got the impression from 7 secs that he was the only reason ANY defense was discussed. i'll bet that his departure left a huge void there.

i honestly wonder if we lost out with iavaroni being the best successor to dantoni...

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

The Suns sucked on D way before Dantoni, but sure its all his fault. Some of you will still find a way to blame Dantoni when we suck at D for the next 10 years.

i am curious, who do you fault for the lack of championship over the past four years:

a. dantoni
b. sarver/kerr
c. players
d. league
e. refs
f. injuries
e. we just didn't have the right mix of the above to win

i am not being sarcastic, i am honestly interested on which of these you decide to place blame.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

I actually agree with D'Antoni. The Suns were a pretty good defensive team. They were always in the middle of the league in FG% against and among the tops in the league in points per shot against. The Suns were a terrible rebounding team however, which improved when Shaq got here, but in turn Marions departure made the Suns worse and less versatile defensively in most situations.

i've been charmed by the numbers game in the past too and decided that the numbers dictated that the suns were indeed a good defensive team, or at least an adequate or average defensive team. but someone earlier in this thread put it best, whenever they seemingly NEEDED to get a stop against a GOOD team they just weren't good enough defensively to do so on a CONSISTENT enough basis to win in the PLAYOFFS. note all the capitalized words - they are key. the team could play defense in spurts and in some situations, but they failed to do so CONSISTENTLY in the PLAYOFFS when it was NEEDED against GOOD teams. that's what ultimately defines a good defensive team, and that was NOT the suns.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

With smart ass comments like that D'Antoni will get destroyed in NY.

he'll get destroyed in ny with or without the smartass comments. he has no idea what he's in for out there. he had a walk in the park in phx compared to the gotham press and fans.