***2012-13 NBA THREAD!!! New Season/New Thread - LET'S GO!!!!!***

[authentic]

D`Antoni had Mike Woodson as a defensive assistant last year. And nothing changed.

And the minute D`Antoni quit last season.... the defense automatically and instantly improved into one of the league`s best.

People say, well... he never had 2 bigs. Absolutely, he did last year. And what happened.... when Amare and Tyson Chandler were on the floor together... his system couldn`t space them out and they cancelled each other out offensively.

D`Antoni is a terrible hire for the Lakers. I`m shocked.

Yes, exactly!! lol good post!

[RonArtest15]

The players were DOGGING it under D'Antoni. This was even admitted by Melo after dude was canned. I'm not absolving Pringles of blame, but that situation in New York was an absolute mess. Of course guys are going to play better when someone new steps in. They are still in the honeymoon phase w/ Woodson...we're 4 games in and there is A LOT of b-ball left to be played. IMO, the jury is still out on the Knicks because despite their hot start, they are still the Knicks and they'll do Knick-like things at some point during the season.

Also, D'Antoni's Suns teams weren't that bad defensively when he was there. And that is saying a lot considering how bad they were before he was hired. His tenure in NY is not a fair gauge as to how he is as a coach. Dude is an offensive genius and having guys like Dwight Howard, Pau, Kobe, and Nash >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Melo, STAT, JR Smith, etc. Not to mention, how bad can he be defensively when you have D12 anchoring the paint?

This hire is going to workout just fine for the LA.

[AsiaticSkinsFan]

Also, D'Antoni's Suns teams weren't that bad defensively when he was there.

yes, yes they were. They were terrible defensively.

[MLSKINS]

This hire is going to workout just fine for the LA.

I thought the Lakers were about winning Championships. This hire aint winning them championships. They better hope they got a top four seed in the playoffs because if they don't they might get bounced in the first round if they have to play the likes of the Clippers, Thunder, or Spurs.

[Die Hard]

The players were DOGGING it under D'Antoni. This was even admitted by Melo after dude was canned.

Who dogged it?

Tyson Chandler -- Defensive Player of the Year
Iman Shumpert -- A rookie who is already considered one of the best perimeter defenders
Landry Fields -- One of the hardest working blue-collar players in the NBA
Amare Stoudemire
Carmelo Anthony

You figure `how bad can they be defensively with Howard anchoring the paint`? Again, Tyson Chandler... the Defensive Player of the Year last year.... on the Knicks... in the paint. And the defense was still atrocious.

It`s not a honeymoon with Mike Woodson. The team is 22-5 under his reign -- carried over from both years. That`s obscene. But that`s how talented the team is with a proper system.

And D`Antoni couldn`t get the team to play even .500 ball. Think about that for awhile.

[DCranon21]

I thought the Lakers were about winning Championships. This hire aint winning them championships. They better hope they got a top four seed in the playoffs because if they don't they might get bounced in the first round if they have to play the likes of the Clippers, Thunder, or Spurs.

This is the bottom line about this hire. It's both personal and business. 1st the personal, Jim Buss and Phil don't like each other. This was known around LA, and they still don't like each other. I bet Phil wanted to get under Jim Buss skin once more, but Buss wanted to stick it to Phil one more time. Also you have to remember, Phil's girlfriend is Jerry Buss daughter, Jeanie. This goes a little deeper than what people think. Now for basketball reasons(did I just use a David Stern line ), the thing about the triangle, there are 3 people who could have understood it. Now think about it, could Nash be effective? Sure, but in the triangle, it never requires a pure point guard to run it. Look @ all of the PG's when Phil won 11 championships. I think the starter in the 1st 3 peat was BJ Armstrong. In the second 3-peat, it was a combination of Randy Brown and Ron Harper. Now let's fast forward in his 3rd 3-peat, Ron Harper and Derek Fisher was the PG's with Harper starting because he understood the triangle with his run with the Bulls. Then when the Lakers went to 3 straight Finals, the starting PG was Fisher. So I look at this hire for keeping Dwight in LA and bringing in a different type of player to Los Angeles.

[RonArtest15]

yes, yes they were. They were terrible defensively.

What I should have said was that they were middle of the pack - as high as 13 in his tenure there. They weren't bad...just average.

Who dogged it?

Tyson Chandler -- Defensive Player of the Year
Iman Shumpert -- A rookie who is already considered one of the best perimeter defenders
Landry Fields -- One of the hardest working blue-collar players in the NBA
Amare Stoudemire
Carmelo Anthony

You figure `how bad can they be defensively with Howard anchoring the paint`? Again, Tyson Chandler... the Defensive Player of the Year last year.... on the Knicks... in the paint. And the defense was still atrocious.

It`s not a honeymoon with Mike Woodson. The team is 22-5 under his reign -- carried over from both years. That`s obscene. But that`s how talented the team is with a proper system.

And D`Antoni couldn`t get the team to play even .500 ball. Think about that for awhile.

I noticed you said nothing about Melo. HE is the guy who dogged it. Maybe i shouldn't have said "players," but the Knicks go as Melo does. He admitted it...but hey, you're ready to crown them after 4 games tho.

Tyson Chandler is not Dwight Howard, so stop. In addition (maybe another thread for another day), but Chandler winning DPOY over D12 is laughable.

[MLSKINS]

This is the bottom line about this hire. It's both personal and business. 1st the personal, Jim Buss and Phil don't like each other. This was known around LA, and they still don't like each other. I bet Phil wanted to get under Jim Buss skin once more, but Buss wanted to stick it to Phil one more time. Also you have to remember, Phil's girlfriend is Jerry Buss daughter, Jeanie. This goes a little deeper than what people think. Now for basketball reasons(did I just use a David Stern line ), the thing about the triangle, there are 3 people who could have understood it. Now think about it, could Nash be effective? Sure, but in the triangle, it never requires a pure point guard to run it. Look @ all of the PG's when Phil won 11 championships. I think the starter in the 1st 3 peat was BJ Armstrong. In the second 3-peat, it was a combination of Randy Brown and Ron Harper. Now let's fast forward in his 3rd 3-peat, Ron Harper and Derek Fisher was the PG's with Harper starting because he understood the triangle with his run with the Bulls. Then when the Lakers went to 3 straight Finals, the starting PG was Fisher. So I look at this hire for keeping Dwight in LA and bringing in a different type of player to Los Angeles.

Well when you put it that way, it is what it is. But I stand by my statement. I don't care who they bring in, it is other teams in the West that are already loaded to make runs for the next five years or so.

[Die Hard]

WI noticed you said nothing about Melo. HE is the guy who dogged it. Maybe i shouldn't have said "players," but the Knicks go as Melo does. He admitted it...but hey, you're ready to crown them after 4 games tho.

Tyson Chandler is not Dwight Howard, so stop. In addition (maybe another thread for another day), but Chandler winning DPOY over D12 is laughable.

So, you don`t know who is dogging it... but since you`re basing off my reply.. you`re suggesting that Melo is dogging it. Therefore, Melo must have come out and said that he is dogging it.

Can you please provide the quote for that then? I must have missed that press conference.

Moreover, it was widely speculated that he had a rift with D`Antoni... except that he denied that as well and continually stated his public support for coach. Even doing so now with his Lakers hire.

So which is it... did Melo call himself out?!? And then suggest that he loves his coach too?

Because that would just be utter nonsense.

So, D`Antoni`s defense can only work with the number 1 defensive player in the NBA (Howard).... but falls apart with the number 2 players (Chandler). Got it.

[AsiaticSkinsFan]

What I should have said was that they were middle of the pack - as high as 13 in his tenure there. They weren't bad...just average.

they were bad, albeit not statistically so.

Marion saved them a lot because of his ability to guard 4 positions, and help out Nash on PnR defense.

Nash was a sieve, and Amare is one of the greatest defensive let downs of the last 20 years.

[stevemcqueen1]

The Celtics looked like themselves last night. They are notorious slow starters. Can't wait to see my guys fight for the Eastern Conference Title this year. Should be fun to watch, especially with teams like the Knicks and Heat playing so well.

I made this point last year and I'll say it again here: Rajon Rondo is the best point guard in the NBA. 31 straight games with 10 assists or more? Out of this world. And his jump shot has drastically improved.

It has improved. He's looked pretty damn good this year, looks much more natural scoring the ball now.

But I don't think the Celts have looked go so far at all. They got a good win off the Bulls (although this is without Rose). But splitting with Milwaukee, getting beat by the Sixers and barely escaping twice against the Wizards is pretty bad.

Still a lot of time left in the year, but Boston does not look like a serious contender at all so far. That's about how it was last year though.

Rondo is on the cusp of Superstardom, but he's still not yet in DRose and CP3's class IMO. I put him in the same class as Westbrook and DWill.

---------- Post added November-13th-2012 at 11:34 AM ----------

Well when you put it that way, it is what it is. But I stand by my statement. I don't care who they bring in, it is other teams in the West that are already loaded to make runs for the next five years or so.

This is my issue somewhat. Why did it have to be either D'Antoni or Phil?

They didn't conduct a thorough search IMO.

I don't think either of those guys were right for the job. Phil is too old to coach. That's why he was complaining about the travel. It must suck for a 67 year old who is 6'8 with bad joints to have to travel constantly.

And I think D'Antoni was a bad pairing with Dwight.

Does anyone think D'Antoni will still be there in four years? I certainly don't. So why hire him?

The Lakers have been mortgaging the future for stop gaps for a little while now. They need a five year plan that has its #1 priority - doing everything possible to keep Dwight and build around him, not try and desperately eke out one more championship run for Kobe.

They should have been looking for a defensive minded coach who is hungry and came out of the Poppovich or Rivers coaching trees IMO.

[DCranon21]

Well when you put it that way, it is what it is. But I stand by my statement. I don't care who they bring in, it is other teams in the West that are already loaded to make runs for the next five years or so.

Oh OKC is making those runs homie. I don't doubt that.

[RonArtest15]

So, you don`t know who is dogging it... but since you`re basing off my reply.. you`re suggesting that Melo is dogging it. Therefore, Melo must have come out and said that he is dogging it.

Can you please provide the quote for that then? I must have missed that press conference.

Moreover, it was widely speculated that he had a rift with D`Antoni... except that he denied that as well and continually stated his public support for coach. Even doing so now with his Lakers hire.

So which is it... did Melo call himself out?!? And then suggest that he loves his coach too?

Because that would just be utter nonsense.

So, D`Antoni`s defense can only work with the number 1 defensive player in the NBA (Howard).... but falls apart with the number 2 players (Chandler). Got it.

Here you go, chief:

Not really, but that's the assumption by some after the Knicks have gone 3-0 with three double-digit wins after D'Antoni resigned and assistant Mike Woodson took over. Thing is, the team is essentially still running the D'Antoni pick-and-roll system and playing basically the same style. Except they're playing better.

Why? I guess the obvious answer would be that they're playing harder. Or at least that's pretty much what Carmelo Anthony implied, speaking mostly about himself. Via Newsday:

“I think in the last three games, my focus was to have an energy that I haven't had so far this season, especially on the defensive end,” he said. “Everybody on this team knows, everybody in the world knows I can score the basketball. It's not that important to me.”

Awesome. So Melo wasn't trying for D'Antoni, but he is now for Woodson. I guess maybe that's a credit to Woodson for motivating Melo, but it shouldn't take a coaching change for Anthony to play hard. He's making a whole lot of money and his team is losing. He's supposed to be the best player, supposed to be the leader. It shouldn't take something as dramatic as a coaching change for him to play hard. Basically, Melo is admitting he quit on D'Antoni.

http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/ey...r-mike-woodson

Outside of the Wizards, I follow the Knicks pretty closely. You'd have to be blind to think that Melo was giving his all under D'Antoni. It was evident in the games that he was playing. If your best player isn't giving it his all, what type of example is that for others to follow?

Woodson is no miracle worker....this was all on Melo (as far as the effort)

[MLSKINS]

Oh OKC is making those runs homie. I don't doubt that.

They aren't. They are a young and athletic team, with the best scorer in the league, and arguably the best home court advantage in the league, that has already made it to the finals once. Besides, you brought up OKC, I didn't. So obviously you are worried about them.

Then you have the Clippers who have savvy veterans, with a mix of youth that could either run you to death or beat you on the half court.

You can never count out the Spurs while Pop is there, as well as Carlisle with the Mavs.

And what if teams like the Blazers, T-Wolves, Rockets, get it together.

And that is just the West.

[Die Hard]

Woodson is no miracle worker....this was all on Melo (as far as the effort)

That quote in no way implies that Melo was dogging it. What it suggests is a player who has undergone a personal and professional transformation and taking his game to the next level. And you can credit Mike Woodson for that.

He`s no longer a point forward... as D`Antoni played him. He`s distributing the basketball. He`s changed his game. Woodson has played into his strengths and inspired him to improve his game. Defensively AND offensively... which is why he brought Hakeem into training camp to improve his game with his back to the basket.

Melo did exactly what D`Antoni coached him to do. It was flawed and the results showed. Melo wasn`t dogging it.

Woodson has made Melo better; he makes the Knicks better. And part of that is Melo stepping up his game and taking it to the next level. Just like Lebron in Miami. Doesn`t mean Lebron was dogging it in Cleveland.