D'Antoni=Mike Martz

by Aluminum Foyle on Mar 8, 2008 11:21 PM MST

Let's face it, Mike D'Antoni is the Mike Martz of the NBA.

-Both guys are considered offensive geniuses
-Both guys have coached the highest scoring offenses in their respective leagues.
-Both guys coached the most entertaining teams to watch in their time.
-Both guys coached teams with suspect defenses.
-Both guys have an enormous ego when it comes to coaching decisions, where they go to the well one too many times, and are too stubborn to adapt:
--->Martz is notorious for wanting to pass more, run less, and leave minimum protection for his QBs, who ultimately get killed. Regardless of the Spygate scandal, if he had run Marshall Faulk more in the Super Bowl vs. the Patriots, they would have won that game, despite the spying.
--->D'Antoni is notorious for wanting to run, run, run (which is fine with me), but he refuses to utilize his bench, so his teams always lack the depth that other teams have, like those who win championships. I thought D'Antoni blew it last year when he only played 6 players in Game 5 against the Spurs when Amare & Diaw were suspended. Yes, they were screwed over by the league, and yes they played hard and inspired, but they ran out of gas, and ultimately lost.

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yup

nice comparison

Phx - where stuff h

by Seth Pollack on Mar 9, 2008 9:13 AM MDT reply actions

Right

I want to disagree, just because I'm the argumentative type, but I cannot.

I thought Martz won once, no?

Mmmmm ... Guinness

by JSun on Mar 9, 2008 9:45 AM MDT reply actions

Ya he won...

as offensive coordinator under Dick Vermeil, but not as the head coach.

by Aluminum Foyle on Mar 9, 2008 1:16 PM MDT up reply actions

Stubborn is right

"We can win a championship with small ball!"
"These guys don't get tired!"

He said it again, recently, he gonna play even a tighter rotation!

"You can never have too many shooters." - Cotton

by ZonaFlash on Mar 9, 2008 12:28 PM MDT reply actions

hard to blame him

with the bench +- results, but I hope they get better, our older guys need the rest

by jasonsuns1 on Mar 9, 2008 7:24 PM MDT up reply actions

D'Antoni...

needs to play DJ and Skinner, and not only to provide rest for the regulars, but to also let them bring their skills/talents to the game. Starting with DJ, who is a solid on the ball defender, and you can't think that he couldn't make guys like Parker, Iverson, Kobe, Deron Williams, etc. work harder to get theirs, if not stop them. Plus, he could get a few steals that could lead to some easy fast breaks.

Skinner too needs to play, and not just for his defense, but also for his fouls. Today the Suns dodged a bullet with Shaq and Amare nearly fouling out. The Bulls back in the day used 18 fouls to combat Shaq, Zo, and other big guys in the league. Not to mention Skinner has a similar game to that of Kurt Thomas, so not only will he do the dirty work underneath, but he can also knock down those midrange jumpshots like KT. Skinner should come into the game whenever Shaq goes out. Skinner will spread the floor and give Nash and Amare more room to operate, and still provide the Suns with size and protection for Amare.

There's your 10 man rotation right there with Nash, Amare, Cactus, Bell, Hill, LB, Diaw, G-squared, DJ, and Skinner. Now hopefully the coach will use the rest of his team's roster.

by Aluminum Foyle on Mar 9, 2008 10:23 PM MDT up reply actions

I agree

I was really surprised not to see BSkinn get some minutes today after Amare picked up his fourth. As much as I want us to develop with Shaq we can't forget about his age and injury history, so it would have been nice to see D'Antoni getting him some rest even if it meant (gasp!) going eight or nine deep on the bench. To be fair though, this was a fairly big game, and D'Antoni was pushing it.

At least, Giricek got minutes though. We needed someone to provide that inept defense, inaccurate shooting, no passing spark.

by rosewood on Mar 9, 2008 11:20 PM MDT up reply actions

DJ can do that, too

"We needed someone to provide that inept defense, inaccurate shooting, no passing spark."

They both clank their 3s.

Mmmmm ... Guinness

by JSun on Mar 10, 2008 12:19 AM MDT up reply actions

DJ, Skinner and Linton Johnson

Hey these guys are still playing for us. We need damn good practice players for our starters to whip on.

I hope we hold on to LJ for insurance purposes. Experienced and hungry 6-8 defenders are nice to have.

And you never know, he could be a "CP3-stopper" after all.

"You can never have too many shooters." - Cotton

by ZonaFlash on Mar 10, 2008 5:36 AM MDT up reply actions

Which bench players?

Don't say "the bench is bad, so I won't go deep." Say, "Doris looked awful, so I'll try Skinner."

Waiting and hoping for Doris to turn it on is killing me. It's kind of like leaving the porch light on for Jimmy Hoffa.

Mmmmm ... Guinness

by JSun on Mar 10, 2008 12:21 AM MDT up reply actions

You're dead on, AF...

I was just talkin' to a friend of mine (a Pistons fan), and I referred to D'Antoni as the Mike Martz of the NBA.

Glad to hear someone else thinkin' along the same lines...

"I am not a role model. A million guys can dunk a basketball in jail, should they be role models?" - Charles Barkley

by kcbrett5 on Mar 10, 2008 12:23 AM MDT reply actions

Maybe I just hate Martz

But I don't think it's a fair comparison. For one, there's really no evidence that D'Antoni has the massive ego that Martz has- he always comes off as very humble and wise.
Secondly, Martz refused to run the ball while he had Marshall Faulk- an egregious error. Let's face it- the Suns just aren't talented defensively. Having to come up with defensive schemes featuring Nash, Amare, and an ancient Hill and Shaq is not a job I would wish on my worst enemies.

by UASun on Mar 10, 2008 12:52 AM MDT reply actions