Bickley Article on D'Antoni
I didn't click on this Dan Bickley article for a few days because I really didn't want to read yet another article about Mike D'Antoni needing to leave. I think he's a good coach. I think he doesn't get his just due. Why do people say Phil Jackson is a good coach? His 9 rings were with 3 of the greatest players to ever play the game. Yet when some people talk about Mike D'Antoni, they say, "Oh, he's not a good coach, he has Steve Nash." So what's the difference? Is it that Phil Jackson sits on a throne while on the bench and D'Antoni stands the entire game?
Anyway, this article on D'Antoni is good and I agree with it. I want to keep D'Antoni around. Just like the players, he's learned a lot this year as well. I think he'll be able to take what he learned and apply it to the team next year. And it will make the team just that much stronger.
Take a look at the article and let me know what you think.
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Here's another interesting quote from the coach
From azcentral.com
The Suns center didn't elaborate Saturday, because he never showed at US Airways Center, an unexcused absence as the team convened a final time.
D'Antoni acted like it wasn't a big deal but admitted the Suns had chemistry issues, maybe deeper than anyone realized.
"I don't want to get into it a whole lot," D'Antoni said, "but we can really improve that. Last year at the end everybody was crying. This year (everyone) was like, 'daggone,' but it wasn't the same heartfelt stuff that a team should produce."
by Phoenix Stan on May 20, 2007 10:07 AM MDT 0 recs
Interesting
Unfortunately, I suspect the issues have a lot to do with Amare and his desire to be "the man". If that's the case, the Suns may have to decide just how important keeping him happy really is. If this turns into a Kobe-Shaq type feud that ends in either Marion or Nash (or both) being sent away just to appease Amare's ego, that will be an even bigger unjustice than Stern-gate. (But I'm thinking if it came to that, it would probably be Amare sent out unless Robert Sarver overrules the call--D'Antoni seems pretty attached to both Nash and Marion, plus capitulating to someone's overly-developed sense of ego just doesn't seem to be his style). Hopefully, it won't come to that. Amare and Nash have the potential to become Stockton/Malone-like or even better, and Amare would really miss having Nash around whether he realizes it now or not.
by TexSUN on
May 20, 2007 10:42 AM MDT
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My guess
Amare did also make mistakes as well such as his public calling out of Bowen (which I agreed w/ at the time and still don't really have a problem with) and more importantly on the court his ability to play smart and stay out of foul trouble.
If I had to guess, I would say that he is taking it out on Marion and maybe Diaw. We all pretty much thought that Nash's comments during the Laker's series calling out his teammates was directed at Marion as well. So, I would say its Nash and Amare "vs" Marion in that they feel like he didn't give 110% for the full 48. That's just my hunch.
Regardless, we know that Nash and Amare aren't going anywhere and IMHO shouldn't. I agree pretty much w/ Bickley's list of untouchables: Nash, Amare, Bell, Barbosa and I would add KT. We do know how much Coach D likes Diaw so I wouldn't be surprised to see him back but ONLY if they manage to move Marion.
The Coach and Sarver talked up Marion a lot during the year but I always felt like they were saying those things to appese his ego as he always feels slighted and underappreciated in the media and by the organization.
by Phoenix Stan on
May 20, 2007 10:59 AM MDT
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Who knows...
by TexSUN on
May 20, 2007 12:14 PM MDT
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Naughty Amare
by Phan X on
May 20, 2007 6:05 PM MDT
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Hey!
by TexSUN on
May 20, 2007 6:12 PM MDT
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subject
by Phan X on
May 20, 2007 9:02 PM MDT
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Awesome
by Dan on
May 20, 2007 9:30 PM MDT
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predicate
by Phan X on
May 20, 2007 10:58 PM MDT
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Amare' and the issues on our plate
The Suns future is sky high by there are things to worry about.
In Random order
- What is the deal with chemistry? Talent alone isnt enough if the guys can't stand each other and may necessitate some sort of shake up.
- As was said earier, we don't have Colangelo to steer the ship. Dantonio is a good coach, even if not the most trusting with his bench.
- Kurt Thomas's salary. As I understand it, its his option to come back next year for 8 million, a huge number for a role player. If he is still on the roster come Feb. the luxury tax will hit. If he goes, we still need a servicable big man who can defend.
- Back up point guard. And do we know really what the honest deal is/was with Marcus Banks?
- When the Spurs were able to control the tempo, the Suns became a pick and roll team with the inconsistant Marion and Bell shooting three's. A more consistant perimeter shooter who can create his own offense is an area of need.
- Sarver's deal with Colangelo the Elder finalizes soon, how will that effect the team?
Go Suns.
G.B.
by Gorillas Bodyguard on
May 20, 2007 4:29 PM MDT
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Three points
Anyway....
On to the three points.
- I'm not sure who to believe about the chemistry issue. On one hand we have Amare skipping out on the exit interviews, which unless he had a legitimate reason (and it doesn't sound like he did), is really, really, really not a good sign. It basically means (a) he was totally uninterested in hearing about the plans for next year, and (b) he didn't want to see his teammates one last time before heading to the off-season. This just seems like a definite bad thing to me, unless he had a darn good reason (e.g., emergency) that nobody has reported yet. On the other hand, there was a quote from (I think) James Jones and also Eric Piatkowski both saying how well everyone gets along and how much fun it is to play on this team. Jones even said something to the effect of it was the "closest team [he's] ever been on at any level". So who knows.
- I'm not ready to throw Mike D'Antoni the GM (or Mike D'Antoni the coach either for that matter) under the bus just yet. In my mind, the off-season last summer was a disaster primarily for one reason: Mike D'Antoni naively believed Tim Thomas when he said he wanted to come back to the Suns and would be "silly" to sign somewhere else. Everything the Suns did at the draft (or didn't do) was to free up money to sign Thomas. Then Thomas backed out and signed elsewhere, and the Suns were left to scramble up a Plan B. And then Plan B (Salmons) backed out too, so they ended up with Plan C. I didn't think the Banks signing was a bad idea at the time. Here was a guy who had been a starter who said he wanted to come to the Suns (at a discount) so he could learn from Steve Nash. I would take a guy with that attitude ten times out of ten. Unfortunately, Banks just either can't figure out how to play in our system, is no longer interested in learning, or wasn't really who he said he was to begin with. Sure he's been a colloassal bust, and in hindsight, obviously keeping Sergio or even Rondo would clearly been the better option. But by the time they even got to Banks, the draft was over, Tim Thomas had played Judas, and Salmons decided he'd rather play with Ron Artest instead of Nash. Diaw's contract is another bust (so far), but after the Joe Johnson fiasco, there was no way they weren't going to come to a deal with Diaw. I thought it was a good idea at the time too. So since I would have made the same mistakes as D'Antoni, I guess I really can't complain about it too much. :) That said, this was his one free pass. Now, he really needs to redeem himself this summer or else it's probably his last year as coach, GM, or both (just a hunch).
- As for the Spurs controlling the tempo, honestly I don't think the Suns are nearly as bad as everyone says they are in a "slow down" game. It's obviously not the way they play best, but they hung in there with the Spurs in every game during the series, even the one they played without Amare and Diaw. During the fourth quarter of Game 4, the announcers were even saying that it looked like the Suns had finally "broken through" against SA. It felt that way to me as well. Who knows what would have happened had they had all their guys in Game 5? No guarantees, obviously, but I'm guessing the series would have been decided tonight not Friday. In any case, the Suns aren't that far behind SA, if they're even behind at all. And I just hope D'Antoni means it when he basically said the same thing (and that Sarver lets him follow through on it).
Ok, I didn't mean to write a book. Just spilling out some thoughts that accumulated over the past near-48 hours while waiting on laundry to finish up.
by TexSUN on
May 20, 2007 5:44 PM MDT
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D'Antoni as Coach - Great! As GM...
- Extend Boris Diaw to 9M for four years - I retrospect this looks like a terrible move, but I can forgive him somewhat since we didn't know how Amare's knee would be this year.
- Barbosa 5 years, 33M - This is solid. Barbosa's great and a bargain at 6Mish per.
- Eric Piatkowski 2 years, 2.3M - That's not much money, but I'm sure we could have used on less worthless player. Or just saved it.
- Jalen Rose 1 year, 1.5M - This doesn't bother me. One year on a risk. It didn't turn out, but it won't hurt us next year.
- Marcus Banks - Five years, 21M. This move particularly hurts considering what we did at the draft.
- Selling Sergio Rodriguez - We get "cash considerations" that we can waste on Banks and Piatkowski. The Blazers get one of the most promising point guards in the league who would be ideal in the Suns up tempo system.
- Trading Rajon Rondo - We lose the best defensive PG in the draft for the 24th pick this year. Is that terrible? No if we keep Rodriguez, since as great as this year's draft is, it is not very deep in PGs, and we really, really need a backup PG. (Leandro's great, but he's a 2, through and through). But we traded both PGs. So the trade was awful.
59M dollars in total salary, both Rondo and Rodriguez on our squad. Barbosa and Diaw are free agents. But our core of Marion, Nash, Bell, and Amare all happily paid and here. And we still have the possible #4 pick and the #29. And we would have enough money to sign Barbosa and stay under the luxury tax (Larry Bird exception!). I would take this any day.
But now we've got a lot of moves to make and Colangelo to make them. Let's hope D'Antoni gets more than cash and Ricky Davis for Marion.
by rosewood on May 20, 2007 1:06 PM MDT 0 recs















