Too soon to call for D'Antoni's head?

Will 1/1/11 be too late? Cause if we keep playing like this, we will have absolutely no shot at the playoffs. Worse than that, probably, is the fact that Carmelo might not want to come here anymore and might sign an extension with the Nets or anybody else.

The problem with comparing us to the Heat is that while we’ve won 3 games, they were against terrible teams (Toronto, Washington) or we had amazing luck shooting the ball (against Chicago). Now we’re not even beating the bad teams, and getting completely outclassed by (on paper) better teams. Miami has routed the games they’ve won and come close in their losses. They’re a PG and decent paint presence away from being almost unbeatable. I know I might be exaggerating and I know we can’t compare out ambitions to Miami’s, but still. 5-4 (or 6-4) is easier to climb out of and prove yourself in the playoffs than 3-7 is. Especially if there have been very little flashes of good play or one problem that needs to be fixed. We’re not being coached right now, and that summarizes a lot of problems that probably aren’t going to get fixed in the near future if Pringles is HC.

they did play defense for those first few games. They were leading the league in blocked shots, remember?

It wasn’t just that, they took charges and got in passing lanes and made some nice steals. They actually still kinda do that, but they don’t finish on the fast break (mainly cuz Toney Douglas just is flat out bad at it.).

Turiaf is our defensive “anchor”. Kinda crazy to call him that, but he really is and he really is pretty damn good at it.

and quite frankly, shows your absolute ignorance about what you are talking about.

Do we even have defensive drills in practice? Or do we just have 50 basketballs lying everywhere and people just come in and shoot from wherever until it’s time to leave?

All preseason the team was talking about the D drills. Mike D talks about it every week on his MSG show.

This is a brand new team with an insane amount of young players. Not to mention our D has been in the middle of the road all season (not "We don’t play defense ever).

I dont think its a huge coincidence that as soon as our best defensive big gets hurt, we start playing much worse D.

In fact, when i hear someoen use a line like that or in a similar vein, I immediately dismiss them as people who are just regurgitating what they have been told years ago. If you watch this team, they absolutely play defense and good defense too! Just because a score reaches 100+ pts doesn’t mean the defense sucks. It can also mean that a quick pace led to more scoring opportunities.

Actually… our defense this year is NOT the problem. Our offense is. ironic.

but I didn’t think we’d be this bad. I never thought an 8th seed was written in stone but I did at least think it was possible.

I think the swap so to speak btwn STAT and Lee was a wash and we didn’t gain or lose much overall from that, I thought this before the trades even took shape but I thought Felton would be the real difference that would push us in a positive direction.

Now not only do we have Fellton but a steal of a draft pick in Fields and a promising talent in Mosgov, so yes…this team should be better and ur 100% right the players do have to play the game but one can’t help but wonder what the hell is the coach doing (or not doing) that these guys can’t beat teams they should be beating.

Wouldn’t you have the exact same strategy if you were Mike Brown? He’s mainly a defensive minded coach, and I think a lot of good things can come from that. Is it because I want a total 180 of what we’re doing now and not thinking rationally? Maybe, but it’s worth a though.

This team is suited for an up tempo style of play, but not D’Antoni’s style of play. We simply don’t have enough shooters on this team to suit his style. Granted, if we do get Carmelo, I take everything back. But D’Antoni isn’t the only coach in the league who can tailor to our player’s strengths. Being athletic doesn’t mean we can’t actually have a half-court game.

its crazy to talk about firing Mike D already.

If they came out and played these 5 bad games, then followed with the first 5 games… people would be like… wow they are starting to come around.

This team is SOOOOOO YOUNG!!!!! and Mike D plays a system that is different then they have ever done. Knickerblogger showed a stat the other day how when they actually play the SSOL way, they are doing well. Its when they fall off the system and start chucking shots and dragging out the clock that they fail.

Rome was not built in a day. People need to take a puff and chill a little bit.