FanPost

If you Think D'Antoni need to preach defense you are wrong


It is the widely held belief that D'Antoni needs to preach defense in order to turn the Knicks around.

Their is even another post on here where we debated the merits of Alvin Gentry vs. D'Antoni and how Gentry gets the Suns to play defense and D'Antoni did not. Well I looked at the Stats and Gentry did do a better job than D'Antoni; on Offense! Gentry's team's Defensive numbers were worse than any full season under D'Antoni in PHX but the one that counts the most is PHX gave up 110.2 points a game this year, the Knicks for what it is worth gave up 111.6 per game. So PHX did not turn into a defensive juggernaut. No the number where Gentry blows D'Antoni away is on on offense. The Suns averaged 115.3 pts this year a game. In D'Antoni's best offensive year in PHX the Suns averaged 114.5 (his first full year in PHX). It should also be noted that the Suns defensive performance got worst after D'Antoni left not better. In the two years since D'Antoni has left PHX the Suns gave up an average of 111.6 (same as the Knicks this year) in 2008/09 and 110.2 this year. The Suns success did not come from improved defense as everyone seems to believe, but greater offensive efficiency. The Suns simply put are a better offensive team than they were last year or any other year under D'Antoni for that matter. The Suns returned to elite team status not because of Gentry's prowess as an defensive coach but because he is apparently a good offensive one.

While there are things that D'Antoni needs to clean up on the defensive side, What D'Antoni needs to do is improve the Knicks offense. The Knicks lost 50+ games this year because they were 4 points in the negative in point differential. Every team with an SRS of -4 or more last season lost 50 or more games and every team with a +4 or more won 50 or more games this season. Now I am sure there are some things That D'Antoni can get the Knicks to improve on the defensive side of the ball, but the fact is where D'Antoni needs to get better is offense. He needs to get the Knicks to run his offense better. Literally as Gentry has proven you can score your way to a 50+ win season ans the conference finals. Note to D'Antoni fix the offense dude that is the only way you are gonna win next year.