Fire D'Antoni!

[ArizonaSportsFan]

I agree. It would be hard for me to argue against any of these points. The longer this goes on, the more frustrated I become.

I don't think he will be fired however. The Suns have an appealing product on the floor, have sold out 70+ games in a row, and have been the appointed darlings of the NBA by the national media. The NBA is about business as well, and business might get in the way of any change on the coaching front.

As well as what? It is ALL about business. The entertainment business. Not sure why fans don't get this. Coach will never be fired unless the team starts seeing empty seats, slowing merchandising, etc. DAntoni is a money-maker right now. The few disgruntleds are NOT going to change that!

 

[Rab]

As well as what? It is ALL about business. The entertainment business. Not sure why fans don't get this. Coach will never be fired unless the team starts seeing empty seats, slowing merchandising, etc. DAntoni is a money-maker right now. The few disgruntleds are NOT going to change that!

Thanks for restating my point.

 

[nowagimp]

I just have to say. I am somewhat surprised by the Coach D'Antoni defenders. What has he done? He hasn't done anything that Paul Westphaul didn't do. What if I said that Paul Westphaul was a great coach, would you agree? Paul led the team to the Finals (uncharted for Mike D.) He also just lost to the eventual champs (Houston) twice, as did Coach D. So, are they equal?

Consider - Westphaul's teams were torn apart after the Finals run, he suffered MAJOR injuries to KJ, Manning, and others. He was blessed with only one NBA MVP (D'Antoni has had two). He was fired after a short time (less than 5 years).

1) the finals stat is a joke, if the suns were in the eastern conference they would have been there. Would that make DA a better coach? Everyone knows the most competitive series in '07 was suns/spurs and that series was forever contaminated by donaghy and the suspensions.

2) The number of NBA MVP's is a worthless stat. In the absence of MJ, all MVP selection stats change.


One thing I will agree on is that the loss of KT has made the suns into a lousy defensive team. They need to double -all the time- in the low post is there again, and the perimeter shots are not well defended because of it. Seeing no one defend radmonivic, repeatedly, at the 3pt line brings back some bad memories. I can see opponents shooting 40% from 3 as in the pre KT era. This also means the suns will get winded faster and not run as effectively and miss more jump shots. Who is to blame for the loss of KT? If its DA, flame on, but more likely its Sarver and his money problems. I am not getting too upset, its not worth it, life is too short. The suns dont look like a good bet this year especially with all the extra contact permitted in the lane area on big guys. With that I dont see amare being quite the weapon and Diaw, and Matrix will be even worse at finishing in there. Its seems like every year the stern-ites tinker on the foul calls and this year alot more physicality is being allowed on the low block/lane area w/out a call(except for Timmy D of course). For a small team like the suns this is not good. For a small team with a star center with knee issues who depends on being fouled while going to the hoop its really not good. I guess we'll see how many foul shots stat shoots per game this year. If you dont think stern and his group knows how this change effects the suns, go on believing everything is just chance. Well the suns have been "sterned", but all the NBA loses. And sarver helped hugely by the jetison of KT. I have watched a number games on cox of other teams, its really ugly ball. I have a feeling when I get fed up and stop watching, I wont miss it. Watching "Le Brick" James heave some bricks is pretty ugly, its not much in the way of entertainment or even good basketball. Seeing "hack and whack" basketball in NBA 2007/8 has not impressed me, its like a war of attrition. I find myself wishing for more playoff baseball, damn times have changed!

 

[TucsonDevil]

Anybody want to revisit this?

I told others I would lay low for a month and not mention this thread - however, what has D'Antoni changed? He still erroneously relies on Diaw too much, he doesn't stress defense, and he runs our starters into the ground because he refuses to play the bench. No player development, no defense (no team rebounding), tired starters = bad coaching, failure in post-season.

This coach and his system is the problem. I know the Suns have the 3rd best record in the league - but is there anyone here that believes they can beat San Antonio? Boston? Utah? Houston? Dallas? Golden State? in a seven game series?

Here I go again ... I almost hope the Suns lose to the Spurs, the Jazz, the Lakers, and the Mavericks in humiliating fashion, just so D'Antoni will be fulling exposed. The Suns have a talent laden squad, so why can't they win a championship - the coaching has sold 'em out.

Yeah, a mid-season firing won't do any good. I agree. I would like, however, to see everyone jump on board in hopes of forcing D'Antoni to change his style. In hopes of Sarver making a deal for a body down low that will play defense, rebound and chew up minutes (20 or so). Playing this way will not bring a championship this year, next year, or ever.

OK, go ahead and pile on again... but dare I say, some of you have started to see the light?

 

[nashman]

No!

 

[krispydude]

i see us dropping the next 4 out of 5 games. the heat will really get turned up if this happens. dantoni isnt going to change. thats been evident for 4 years now. pretty much our only chance to win this year is for the playoffs seedings to fall our way and our worst matchups to get knocked out early.

 

[Covert Rain]

As I stated before on this thread, Firing a coach mid-season is just stupid. Nothing ever comes good of that. If you start the season with him you should finish. After the season though if the Suns have not won a title, I am all for firing D'Antoni.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

 

[Mainstreet]

As I stated before on this thread, Firing a coach mid-season is just stupid. Nothing ever comes good of that. If you start the season with him you should finish. After the season though if the Suns have not won a title, I am all for firing D'Antoni.

I totally agree with everything except your last sentence which I personally prefer to leave open. I still remember the remark D'Antoni made in a casual manner before the season started (which many thought he was kidding). He made the comment something to the effect, that a 10 million dollar big man would make the Suns a much better team. I didn't think he was kidding then and the need for such a big man is all the more obvious now when the Suns are getting pounded on the boards. In many ways I think the Suns have grown weary of trying to rebound with bigger front lines and trying to defense them.

 

[WuRaider]

No one needs to be fired or traded. The problem, Barbosa....coming off the bench averages more shots than Amare. Amare should always get the most looks, every single game. Good things happen when Amare goes off, why can't the team realize that?

 

[Covert Rain]

I totally agree with everything except your last sentence which I personally prefer to leave open.

I gotcha. If D'Antoni took us one step further to the finals then I would probably still want him around.

However, if we go to the WCF, lose in game 7 and still get bounced, he is not a keeper to me. I would still be OK with letting him go. I don't want to have the NBA version of the NFL's Dan Reeves where my teams constantly goes to the playoffs but can never win the big games.

 

[TucsonDevil]

As I stated before on this thread, Firing a coach mid-season is just stupid. Nothing ever comes good of that. If you start the season with him you should finish. After the season though if the Suns have not won a title, I am all for firing D'Antoni.

did you read my note?... In case you missed it...

Yeah, a mid-season firing won't do any good. I agree. I would like, however, to see everyone jump on board in hopes of forcing D'Antoni to change his style. In hopes of Sarver making a deal for a body down low that will play defense, rebound and chew up minutes (20 or so). Playing this way will not bring a championship this year, next year, or ever.

 

[scXfreakX]

Yeah I agree with WuRaider. Barbosa is taking waayyy to many shots. He should use his speed and drive the ball in, or pull up for a closer J. But all of these threes, at the end of a game when you have some time left, drive the ball in, don't jack up threes.

 

[TucsonDevil]

Yeah I agree with WuRaider. Barbosa is taking waayyy to many shots. He should use his speed and drive the ball in, or pull up for a closer J. But all of these threes, at the end of a game when you have some time left, drive the ball in, don't jack up threes.

Barbosa is simply doing what he has been told to do. Nothing more.

 

[scXfreakX]

Yeah, he has the green light, but that doesn't always mean jack up a 3. If there was a way he could drive it inside to either get a closer shot or to dish it out, that might be better. But come on, he has really been shooting like a free soul this year.

 

[nowagimp]

I say fire Sarver! The suns have 20 million more operating cash than the spurs and we got rid of KT and draft picks. The suns are short at least one good perimeter shooter to run the DA system, I blame $arver for that. Even if the suns had kept KT and the picks, they would be better off financially than the spurs. This team is small, built to run, it cannot defend in the half court against the better post players. If the suns are to change their system, new pieces will be needed. With marions expiring contract and the atlanta pick that would be a start, but its going to take time to wheel and deal for the pieces for a defensive oriented team. And forget about Nash being a part of a system changeover, it'll be too late for him, given a changeover wont happen instantly.

 

[scXfreakX]

Fire Sarver? He is the owner. He wont be fired. I think this team needs to make changes with just their gameplans. The running is great, but jacking up all those shots is not. The team needs more passion, and a longer rotation. And wheres the rebounding?

 

[nowagimp]

Fire Sarver? He is the owner. He wont be fired. I think this team needs to make changes with just their gameplans. The running is great, but jacking up all those shots is not. The team needs more passion, and a longer rotation. And wheres the rebounding?

This team is not built to rebound, and the running means less defensive rebounds as the players release early to run. I agree more of skinner would be nice, but as soon as he goes to the bench, the suns are way small. Yeah I know sarver cant be fired, but the fans could let him know they are displeased. Blaming DA doesnt solve the cheap fiscal policy of losing productive bigs like KT and selling picks.

 

[Mainstreet]

This team is not built to rebound, and the running means less defensive rebounds as the players release early to run. I agree more of skinner would be nice, but as soon as he goes to the bench, the suns are way small. Yeah I know sarver cant be fired, but the fans could let him know they are displeased. Blaming DA doesnt solve the cheap fiscal policy of losing productive bigs like KT and selling picks.

The irony is not lost on me if the Suns lose a key player, they could spiral downward. The Suns team chemistry also appears lacking as well. If they missed the playoffs they would not even have there own lottery pick this season. The Western Conference is a very tough conference so anything can happen. I just do not felt comfortable with this year's version of the Suns despite the hype.

 

[Ciani]

I would like, however, to see everyone jump on board in hopes of forcing D'Antoni to change his style. In hopes of Sarver making a deal for a body down low that will play defense, rebound and chew up minutes (20 or so). Playing this way will not bring a championship this year, next year, or ever.

This roster is built to play small ball, even with a new big man (which we do need) the Suns would not be capable of being a top defensive and rebounding team. And its not that those are able to beat the Spurs: the Jazz and the Cavs had absolutely no chance of beating them, while we played a very close series against SA.

Granted, D'Antoni has a lot to do in the regular season to prepare the team for the playoffs. But imo we have to live and die with the small ball until Nash slows down (1 or 2 years), then the Suns can start it over with a new coach and new roster.

 

[az1965]

As I stated before on this thread, Firing a coach mid-season is just stupid. Nothing ever comes good of that. If you start the season with him you should finish. After the season though if the Suns have not won a title, I am all for firing D'Antoni.

I agree, firing him now will do no good. At least take a chance with him and see how far this club can go. But, I'm all for firing him end of this season. He is just not a good coach. He is like Westphaul, average coach made to look good by a superstar and talented cast around, Barkley in Westphaul's case and Nash now. But continuously exposed in playoffs by other smarter coaches.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

I think the bottomline in all of this is the massive miscalculation $arver made on Joe Johnson. Atlanta claimed Diaw was the laziest player ever and were thrilled to get rid of him. $arver and co.(no fault of theirs) missed on the pick last year, now that will be sold or traded this season at somepoint to rid themsleves of Banks or Diaw.

This francise better win it all in the next two years because we are going to be the Kings in 3.

 

[cly2tw]

DA is responsible for Amare's lack of development on defense.

The main problem with Amare is he most of the time seems lost, standing around, off the ball on defense. His attention seems to be only where the ball is and not where his opponents are. To correct this, you need to recondition his reaction mechanism and make it his second nature to pay 70% attention to his man instead of 100% to the ball as of now.

However, DA's motto is "defend by scrambling and just get by and let's beat them on offense". And supposedly, he has only light practices between games. In this environment, Amare doesn't get a consistent way to do the necessary re-conditioning. So, we get what we see now. It's sad to say, but despite the scoring stats, and the 1st team AllNBA award, DA's system gets for Amare, he is actually ruining Amare's career with the SYSTEM, in that Amare doesn't get to learn/develop the traditional bigman skills.

 

[msdundee]

DA is responsible for Amare's lack of development on defense.

Not only that, I'm pretty sure he's to blame for global warming.

 

[dodie53]

worst case scenarios:

Banks and Diaw will not live up to their contracts.

Marion will sign elsewhere and the Suns don't get anything in return.

Amare will be Penny/Mcdyess II.

Nash and Hill retire.

Atlanta makes the playoffs.