When the decision was made to bring in Mike D'Antoni as the coach, I feared that it would be a colossal mistake, considering his failures in NY and LA. Obviously, there was a lot of hype around aligning Mike's coaching philosophy with the analytical approach of Morey and the Rocket's front office, yet I was still concerned about his coaching acumen without having an otherworldly player at his disposal. However, I was encouraged when the announcement was made that we'd be bringing in Jeff Bzedlik as an assistant, as Bzedlik was a former head coach in his own right and D'Antoni had previously experienced his greatest success when he had another former head coach (Alvin Gentry, with the Suns) sitting on the bench next to him. The thought process at the time was Bzedlik would be able to cover up some of what I perceived as D'Antoni's shortcomings. Sure enough, with Bzedlik in the fold and Harden claiming 'otherwordly' status as an MVP candidate and winner, the first two years of the D'Antoni regime were a pleasant surprise. But when Bzdelik stepped down, despite there being thought that our veteran leadership would be able to overcome his departure, the old fear of D'Antoni's previous failures cropped back up. It seems that without a steadying (and experienced) hand at the side of Mike, it's difficult to achieve success. I'm truly hopeful that the team can get it turned around this season, but the doubts I had when D'Antoni was initially brought in are now, unfortunately, being thrust into our reality. Go Rockets!
It's hard to place full blame on the coach. We were a CP injury away from having a ring last season and had GS by the throat. A critical injury from CP curtailed that momentum we had to take the WCF and likely the Finals. If he's to receive full blame this season he should equally be given credit for last season's success. This season isn't looking too good admittedly and I do think losing our defensive coordinator hurt more than even the roster changes, but I don't think the fault lies entirely on D'Antoni. I think last season was our best chance at getting a ring and it'll only get harder from here on out. You take the good with the bad with this team as a fan. There's still a lot of basketball to play and I'd like to think at some point this season this team will click and find it's own chemistry. I don't know if our best brand of basketball will be enough to compete with the other elites in the NBA but it would be refreshing at least to watch a brand of basketball from this team I would enjoy watching. Right now, it looks like train wreck out there. I had my initial worries about this season when in the pre-season people were hyping Carmelo and Tucker as the keys to us getting a ring. If we're so dependent on our minor role players to play like all-stars in order for us to reach the summit, then we're not as strong of a team as some here claim to be. Last year, this team was one of the oldest teams in the league. Injuries don't make you stronger nor does father time nor does our luxury tax situation. Fandom can make you idealize your team while ignoring the very real issues they faced last year and continue this year.
Time will tell with D’Antoni But ultimately we’ve gotten what you get with talented players combined with MDA. Great offense, less great defense. Jeff B. And the right players propped that defense up and they had a chance to take down the juggernaut last year. DM screwed up this offseason - though undoubtedly with MDAs input - and the team has been injured. If they liked MDA 2.5 years ago, it’s notnlike he’s changed. Personally I’m meh about him. There’s lots of good coaches out there. Few great coaches. The nba as a whole is catching up regarding offensive efficiency and possession maximization. Basically, he’s ok. Much much better than McHake obviously. But not in the Pop, Stevens category ... but I guess that’s a two man group so that is what it is. He’s a good coach. Not great.
Without the help of the best defensive coach, MDA can't do the job. MDA needs both asst defensive coach and at least 2 superstars to succeed, otherwise he can not lead the team to playoffs. http://bbs.clutchfans.net/index.php...me-of-lakers-2012-13-season-under-mda.294168/
I was against his hire at first, because of defensive concerns. But I became more accepting of it when we hired Bzdelik. Now that he is gone, MDA's defensive concerns are now relevant again.
Strange post. D'Antoni was at the helm for two of the best seasons in franchise history. It was a great hire. Not D'Antoni's fault he's forced to throw dudes like Melo and MCW out there.
i posted a fire MDA and hire JeffBizD thread last night in frustration. But the truth is, we really don't know how good of a coach of the Rockets MDA is on his own. We really only know how good the MDA/JeffBiz D combination is. 6 games is a pretty damn small sample size, so i'm not out with pitchforks and torches yet. But ....the big concern with MDA was defense. he really has no history of success on the defensive end minus JeffBizD. His comments after last night's game about our defense being pretty good shows me he still doesn't get it on defense. So MDA should really be judged based on this season, not necessarily based on the two super successful years he's had prior with Houston. The success that last two years was due just as much to JeffBizD (probably more so) than MDA. We need to hire a defensive coach to balance out MDA's deficiencies or we need to find a more well-rounded head coach.
As is apparent from many of my posts - i am not an MDA fan... I think he is probably better than most - but def not upper tier... To be a great coach, you have to know offense, defense and personnel mgmt... Obviously MDA knows offense - although I do believe he inflates his stats by running his starters into the ground during the regular season - leading to injuries and leaving little in the tank for the post season... but hey, 'even without a championship, you can still have a regular season to cherish' right? lol ...still, I'd given him an A on offense... Even more obvious, he doesn't have a clue on defense... It pissed me off all last year as everybody was calling MDA a genius - and i questioned some of his actions (short rotations, etc) i got told he was as much to credit as Bzdelik for the defense - obviously those people were mistaken... his lack of attention to defense is really confusing... if you score a bucket - but then give up an easy bucket - the net result washes... although again, maybe he's just too focused on inflating his offensive numbers so he has his niche and can be regarded as some offensive guru or something... leaving his personnel mgmt - which is highly suspect. People like to say he's a players coach bc he gives everybody the green light to shoot - and the players appreciate that... but thats only one side of the coin. How he deals with problems is really nonexistent.... I flash on Hardens quit/ran out gas/whatever game against SAS - and the 2 of them sitting 3 feet apart with no interaction... Ryno's confidence going to crap and he's left to wither on the vine as his value plummeted... guys unfocused and lackluster attitudes this year... Then there's his development of players... He continued to develop CC - great... but look at a guy like Trez... he couldn't even make it on the floor after Nene went down - leaving Harden to cover the likes of LMA and Pau... (personally i think thats one of the reasons harden quit imo...) MDA is playing a deeper rotation thus far this year... but in the past, he's only played 2/3 of his roster - the guys he 'trusted' and left the other third to rot... then injuries and guys arent prepared and we're dealing with short rotations... Now some of that is on DM... but as a coach, you play the cards yer dealt... and throwing away a third of your hand isnt an option... Thats all not even going into remarks like people that question his short rotation 'don't know what they're talking about' - then game 6 happened... followed the next year by Harden's shooting slump being due to 'too much rest' - still trying to justify running him into the ground the year before... lol GG wasnt going to get minutes bc 'the rotations are what they are...' Folks can continue to quote offensive efficiency stats all they want... but you better believe if Luc hadnt got injured in a meaningless game just prior, MDA woulda had his starters running in that last game trying to get #1 offensive efficiency - playoffs be damned....
The fear that the lack of defense of a Mike D team is always there He's Mike D and he gets respect timeouts and defense is not what we expect
The hallmark of MDA coached teams is when things go bad, they really go down hill It's as if he can't coach through adversity. MDA really took over a 56 win team that had already been to the WCF. He added 9 wins but the bugaboo of short rotations and a non developed bench caught up with him. Now he is in a rut and cant coach himself out of it.
let's not forget he doesn't call timeout when the other team goes on 15-0 run or stop jacking up 3s when we have the lead
no he didn't. he took over a broken team that barely snuck in the playoffs. the rut he's stuck in is multiple players that dont fit the system and aren't any good to begin with. hes forced to fit square pegs into a round hole. the regression is a result of the horrible offseason.
