<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (playaofthegame @ Apr 25 2007, 03:40 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Ooh he is a respected coach from Italy..before it had any talented players..yes!He's been in charge for 4 years and hasn't even been able to bring his team to the Finals..let alone win a titleThe team's record in 2003 was 29-53 with Shawn Marion, Joe Johnson, Amare Stoudemire, Leandro Barbosa and Stephon Marbury..all very good players..D'Antoni was the coach and they sucked..then Steve Nash came to the team in 2004 and they're suddenly a 62 win team? Yeah that's D'Antoni the best coach in the NBA at work right there!When they don't make the Finals again this year what are Suns fans gonna say?His system is entertaining but it is not the best system..the Suns will be out of gas by the middle of May if they get that farAnd S2S that's funny that you say that about Phil Jackson who has won 9 titles and had 2 of the best "dynastys" of all-time while D'Antoni hasn't won any with the most loaded team since the 2000's Lakers...You think coaches win titles by themselves with sh*tty players? It doesn't work like thatD'Antoni can't win a title with the reigning MVP, the 2002 rookie of the year, the 6th man of the year and 3 NBA All-Stars</div>I'm pretty sure D'Antoni was brought in like part of the way into the season. During the trade deadline Marbury was traded, Leandro Barbosa was a scrub that year and Joe Johnson wasn't as good as he is now or was even a year later because he had very little confidence in himself. He just started to pick it up once Marbury was traded. That team was terrible that year. And the other part of his bad start to his career was because as a first time coach he was asked to coach a pretty bad Denver team. No rookie coach will win a championship with that team. D'Antoni has had only TWO chances so far at a title since the 3rd season isn't over yet...that's not very much, and last year we went through injuries that no other team could have gone as far with.It's his system, not Nash's system. Both help eachother, but make no mistake, this is D'Antoni's system, the type of basketball he new from college, Europe and now. I'm not saying he's a top 5 coach or anything, but he is a good one.
Yeah, D'Antoni pretty much made the team as good as it is. Barbosa and Diaw for 1 and 2 were nobodies and turned into somebodies. And only Amare was making a name for himself until 04/05 when D'Antoni installed this system.Phil Jackson took someone who was already a superstar and another almost huge name player and already solid role players and turned them into champions.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>It's his system, not Nash's system. Both help eachother, but make no mistake, this is D'Antoni's system, the type of basketball he new from college, Europe and now. I'm not saying he's a top 5 coach or anything, but he is a good one.</div>I disagree with you on that. Prior to coming to the Suns, Nash's Mavericks got perrenial scoring titles, led the league in offensive efficiency, and were the wild and crazy run and gun team of the league. Meanwhile, D'Antoni's nuggets weren't exactly an offensive juggernaut, averaging 93 ppg.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tHe_pEsTiLeNcE @ Apr 25 2007, 05:03 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I disagree with you on that. Prior to coming to the Suns, Nash's Mavericks got perrenial scoring titles, led the league in offensive efficiency, and were the wild and crazy run and gun team of the league. Meanwhile, D'Antoni's nuggets weren't exactly an offensive juggernaut, averaging 93 ppg.</div>The Nuggets weren't a good team then, and how long did he coach them anyway? He didn't even have time to get the players he wanted.Don Nelson also had to do with the Mavs scoring that much. He's an older, wiser version of D'Antoni, but it is D'Antoni's system. He played in it during his career and coached it too. That's the type of game he knows and he put that system in place. Of course, Nash is the perfect guy for it and we are lucky that D'Antoni and Colangelo were able to persuade Sarver to bring him in or else we really wouldn't have the same success obviously, but we wouldn't be as good if D'Antoni wasn't here either. The coach always makes the system and it's the front office's job to get players that fit in.S2S, I kind of agree, but it was Dan D'Antoni that made Barbosa this good, not Mike even though he is responsible for some of his success.
Like I said D'Antoni has the reigning MVP, the 2002 rookie of the year, the 6th man of the year and 3 NBA All-Starsand still hasn't won a title
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (playaofthegame @ Apr 25 2007, 05:13 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Like I said D'Antoni has the reigning MVP, the 2002 rookie of the year, the 6th man of the year and 3 NBA All-Starsand still hasn't won a title</div>He had 2 chances so far to do so and last year the team had some big time injury problems. I doubt any coach in the league would've won with us yet. It's just stupid to say D'Antoni's not a good coach right now. He really hasn't had a chance to take one of his healthy teams against another elite team yet.You take our injury problems and it's the equivalent of:Mavs losing Howard for a full season, losing one of their centers and one of the starting guards missing a game and then playing the rest of the playoffs with reduced speed and jumping ability which affects shooting and defense.Spurs losing Parker for the whole year and their starting center.Or losing Ginobli for the whole year and a big man and swing from the bench.Heat losing Shaq and a role player who gets good minutes.I don't blame the Suns for ONLY getting to the WCF. It's just not easy to win a championship, especially with teams like Dallas and San Antonio.Also, D'Antoni only had the 6th man THIS year and the season isn't over. We also didn't have our only player who plays well without Nash, one of those 3 all-stars.
The season will be over in the middle of May when the Suns run out of gas because of D'Antoni's "system"
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (playaofthegame @ Apr 25 2007, 05:32 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>The season will be over in the middle of May when the Suns run out of gas because of D'Antoni's "system"</div>They didn't run out of gas 2 years ago when they were 5 deep so I don't expect it now with 8 players getting a good amount of playing time. Nash is the only one that may "run out of gas" because of his problem with his spine, but the Lakers sure are helping us rest up. The only reason he seemed like he did last year is because they started off with two 7-game series and then had to play the Mavs and that first thing won't happen this time. The Suns are one of the most well conditioned teams out there. They will be fine.And you are probably going to use this, but no, that series against San Antonio was not us running out of gas. It was losing to a better team. It would've been a 6 game series at least if we had Joe Johnson back for the first two, close home games.
I don't think that's the problem, the Suns can't seem to play another way. They need to learn how to shut somebody down and win a 77-75 game against an elite team while shooting 40%. Then they'll be real contenders.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Michael Bryant @ Apr 25 2007, 07:44 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I don't think that's the problem, the Suns can't seem to play another way. They need to learn how to shut somebody down and win a 77-75 game against an elite team while shooting 40%. Then they'll be real contenders.</div>They don't NEED to when there has been only 2 teams in the league that have defended them well and one of them just gave up 126 against us last night. The Spurs are the one team that I'm worried about because they can make the games really low scoring, but with home court and more minutes from Kurt Thomas I think our defense will be good enough against them. They just need to put more effort on that side of the ball, they showed they could be pretty good in the first half last night when Amare had 4 blocks fairly quickly. He just took it out of Lamar and Kobe's hands. They have been contenders the last two year, just not the favorites. But now if they can finally have a healthy team I like our chances.
Spurs are the only team that can actually truly STOP us. Usually we just don't play well or they slow us down enough and are firing so well offensively that we can't beat them.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (tHe_pEsTiLeNcE @ Apr 26 2007, 01:03 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>I disagree with you on that. Prior to coming to the Suns, Nash's Mavericks got perrenial scoring titles, led the league in offensive efficiency, and were the wild and crazy run and gun team of the league. Meanwhile, D'Antoni's nuggets weren't exactly an offensive juggernaut, averaging 93 ppg.</div>Sorry, when did anyone say he has used the same system for every team he's coached? Just because he has in Phoenix doesn't mean he always has.IMO D'Antoni's greatest skill has been getting a lot of good players to play well with each other. Especially after all the big changes and injuries he has had to deal with in his time in Phoenix.People keep talking like he has had years and years to win a title, he hasn't even been in charge a full 4 years yet and the Suns are still in great shape this year.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>They don't NEED to when there has been only 2 teams in the league that have defended them well and one of them just gave up 126 against us last night. The Spurs are the one team that I'm worried about because they can make the games really low scoring, but with home court and more minutes from Kurt Thomas I think our defense will be good enough against them. They just need to put more effort on that side of the ball, they showed they could be pretty good in the first half last night when Amare had 4 blocks fairly quickly. He just took it out of Lamar and Kobe's hands. They have been contenders the last two year, just not the favorites. But now if they can finally have a healthy team I like our chances.</div>Yeah, but I still wouldn't put my money on the Sun's defense. I mean, they don't see to have that ability to rely on only their defense to win games. San Antonio can do that, the Lakers defend the Suns well because of their size and a healthy Kwame Brown can keep Amare from getting easy stuff inside. The Sun's offense is deadly enough, they should try to get that lock down ability. That's what I'm talking about, if the Suns become as good defensively as San Antonio then, the only thing working against them would be Nash's age and how many seasons he can play, because at that point the Suns would be unbeatable.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Michael Bryant @ Apr 26 2007, 04:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Yeah, but I still wouldn't put my money on the Sun's defense. I mean, they don't see to have that ability to rely on only their defense to win games. San Antonio can do that, the Lakers defend the Suns well because of their size and a healthy Kwame Brown can keep Amare from getting easy stuff inside. The Sun's offense is deadly enough, they should try to get that lock down ability. That's what I'm talking about, if the Suns become as good defensively as San Antonio then, the only thing working against them would be Nash's age and how many seasons he can play, because at that point the Suns would be unbeatable.</div>Fair enough. We'll see how it unfolds.
