The D'Antoni reason we were snubbed by Free Agents

[nashman]

Players love Dantoni so not sure but I would think lots of players would follow Mike D. if they could. Think what you want but they liked Mike and wanted him to still be the coach...well maybe not Amare with some of his comments. Amare needs to shut up and play D, always spits out blah blah blah and then doesn't do it on the court (defense).

 

[BC867]

Players love Dantoni so not sure but I would think lots of players would follow Mike D. if they could. Think what you want but they liked Mike and wanted him to still be the coach...well maybe not Amare with some of his comments. Amare needs to shut up and play D, always spits out blah blah blah and then doesn't do it on the court (defense).

If wanting to play his natural (and dominant) position of Power Forward instead of undersized Center for years is blah blah blah, I don't blame Amare at all.

In fact, how can we blame Amare's lack of complete development at all when
D'Antoni chose to replace our big man's Asst. Coach with a former Guard?

Let's see what happens this season with Bill Cartwright on Porter's staff.

 

[nashman]

Whatever BC, defense is all about EFFORT the same EFFORT that the precious Amare almost never puts in on that end of the floor. Where was his D even after we got Shaq????? Thats right it still sucked because he doesn't put in the effort on any sort of consistant basis! Amares' effort is not Dantonis' fault its Amares geesh.

 

[nashman]

Man I swear some of you people think that Dantoni was at fault for every defenciency this team has, thats right has because they still have it. Getting rid of Dantoni did not make us a better team, now we may develop in the future but right now we are worse.

 

[Irish]

Whatever BC, defense is all about EFFORT the same EFFORT that the precious Amare almost never puts in on that end of the floor. Where was his D even after we got Shaq????? Thats right it still sucked because he doesn't put in the effort on any sort of consistant basis! Amares' effort is not Dantonis' fault its Amares geesh.

Amare was constantly given a mixed messgae. He was asked to play hard all the time, but stay out of foul trouble even though every team went to great lenths to attack the basket entirely to get him into foul trouble.

IMHO, adding Shaq helped the Suns defense because it let Amare become more assertive on defense. Now, he needs to learn about defensive rotations and positioning.

 

[msdundee]

Mixed messages or not, Amare really CAN play good defense, we've all seen it. It sounds like we're talking about a rookie here, even though he's been in the league for six seasons, sitting one out. Even the year he didn't play, he could have still learned a lot--maybe even more than when he was on the court. Weber was around for all six years and according to reports was working with him (player development coach) and Amare himself said KT was kind of a mentor on defense and he got a lot of help from KT. Amare can do it--he "gets" it--it seems to be more a matter of focus and no matter how much direction he gets or who he gets it from, that focus has to come from within.

 

[Chaplin]

Man I swear some of you people think that Dantoni was at fault for every defenciency this team has, thats right has because they still have it. Getting rid of Dantoni did not make us a better team, now we may develop in the future but right now we are worse.

But on the other end of the spectrum, you can't excuse D'Antoni for any of the blame as well.

 

[nowagimp]

Amare was constantly given a mixed messgae. He was asked to play hard all the time, but stay out of foul trouble even though every team went to great lenths to attack the basket entirely to get him into foul trouble.

IMHO, adding Shaq helped the Suns defense because it let Amare become more assertive on defense. Now, he needs to learn about defensive rotations and positioning.

Amare stoudemire probably commits 2 frustration fouls a game, dumb fouls that result for him getting pissed he was beaten. The mixed message thing is BS, just BS. If he's being told not to foul and yet he's is #1 in the NBA in fouls, well he's just not listening. Defense takes knowledge and a consistent commitment and amare just gets caught out of position too many times to defend consistently. I find it funny how posters will rip a marginal rotation guy for shooting poorly when he just doesnt have much of a shot, but then defend amare for lackluster effort, not even being consistent.

 

[nashman]

^Exactly he is LAZY if you watch and we all do you can see it EVERY game for christ sake. Even Nash at least puts in the effort even if he does get beat its not from lack of effort just lack of size/speed. Thats what I hate Amare has the tools he is just too lazy and dumb to use them properly.

 

[shazaam6]

Man some of you want everything from one guy. He is first team All-NBA without being a defensive monster. He says he wanted to be better on defense, when did they practice that? According to D'antoni they didn't waste much practice time and energy on that.

Let's see how he does with a defensive system that is taught and practiced. I predict he will do well. All Suns players were at a disadvantage defensively because they didn't practice defense while other teams did.

Do you notice that the tough defensive teams don't get out of position after three or four passes? I thought the Suns as a team were not very good on defense most of the time because all it seemed to take to get a wide open shot against them was a pick and two passes.

Pick set, which causes mismatch because we switch,
because of the mismatch someone comes over to help,
pass to open guy,
someone leaves their man to run to cover the open guy,
pass to running guy's man.
Bingo, open shot
everyone stays with their guy now and hopes for a miss.

 

[nashman]

It should be interesting to see if Amare will man up and learn to play D. You could see in alot of games even his own team mates would get irritated with his lack of D and rebounding. While he is a scoring machine he still needs to get better on D and on the boards as well. He loves to score and I think he is lazy on D to conserve his energy for the offensive end, thats the crap that has to stop gotta play both ends.

 

[BC867]

Hey guys. We're talking about a team -- our team -- that has traditionally played its Power Forward out of position at Center. Does that not put him at a disadvantage?

This past season, there wasn't even a former Power Forward or Center on the coaching staff to work with him. Another disadvantage.

And he's expected to be our scoring monster as well.

Amare had two choices when on the court. Go all out on defense and spend alot of time on the bench in foul trouble (because refs do not favor undersized players) or lay low and stay on the court for offense.

Michael Jordan was dominant on both offense and defense. Very few players can be like Mike. Even if the Head Coach gears his approach to the team's All Stars' strengths.

And Mike D'Antoni certainly did not do that for Amare.

A good leader makes it as easy as possible for his people to do their jobs well. Hopefully, Terry Porter will. His quotes thus far have indicated that he knows what it takes to accomplish that.

 

[Suns_fan69]

Even Nash at least puts in the effort even if he does get beat its not from lack of effort just lack of size/speed.

Nash's problem is that he tries to help too often. You're supposed to keep one eye on your man and one eye on the ball but I swear Nash somehow has both eyes on the ball ALL the time. Sometimes he gets the charge as a result of it and looks like a champ. Most of the time he either leaves his man wide open for a jumpshot or gets beat because he's closing out too hard.

 

[Irish]

Nash's problem is that he tries to help too often. You're supposed to keep one eye on your man and one eye on the ball but I swear Nash somehow has both eyes on the ball ALL the time. Sometimes he gets the charge as a result of it and looks like a champ. Most of the time he either leaves his man wide open for a jumpshot or gets beat because he's closing out too hard.

I hope you are right. It would be nice if Porter could find a way to improve Nash's defense. I'm not so encouraged.

 

[mojorizen7]

Players love Dantoni so not sure but I would think lots of players would follow Mike D. if they could. Think what you want but they liked Mike and wanted him to still be the coach...well maybe not Amare with some of his comments. Amare needs to shut up and play D, always spits out blah blah blah and then doesn't do it on the court (defense).

Who wouldn't love to play for the ultimate players coach who only asked of his "7" guys to run,pass,and shoot jumpers?

 

[Joe Mama]

Who wouldn't love to play for the ultimate players coach who only asked of his "7" guys to run,pass,and shoot jumpers?

The eighth or ninth best players on a talented team.

Joe