Individual defense is hard to quantify, but that doesn’t mean you should just rely on your eyeballs. You can watch a whole season and not know the difference between a .200 hitter and .300 hitter if you don’t quantify it, so how are you going to tell the difference between a below average defender and above average defender. The difference between Eddy Curry and Hakeem, sure, but most cases are not that cut-and-dry.

“You could make a case for Hill. I’ll buy that. In his 6 percent of the time on the floor, the Knicks are net +6.5. Maybe he helps, and maybe he should play more minutes.”

Yeah, that’s the one I mentioned as the one I would put in.

re: respect for players

These guys interact every day, or at least could interact every day. I’m not saying that D’Antoni is doing this (I doubt it, in fact), but a coach could act one way in front of the cameras and completely different in the locker room, practice, team flights, meetings, etc.

re: Gallo

Yeah, he could call for it and Duhon should get him the ball, but at the end of the day when a trend emerges over the whole season the coach has the ability to make a change.

http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/knicksblog/antoni_mulling_whether_to_play_nate_1rcr5GC9S9byajgfylq28M

Happy New Year!!!

Ted, I agree that there could be modifications to D’Antoni’s approach. But broadly, I think his approach is having a positive effect…
In October the Knicks were 0-3.
In November the Knicks were 3-11, a .333 winning percentage
In December, the Knicks were 9-6, a .555 winning percentage.
That is a significant reversal of fortunes, and because it was sustained over a month, not necessarily a fluke…
It was in December that D’Antoni made some very tough decisions. There are a lot of beatable teams, 13 or so, in the January schedule. Another 9-6 month and they’re 21-26. Pretty amazing given the 3-14 start.

Ted, I agree it would be nice to have a House-like bench character to inject into a game when a little adrenalin is needed. Nate could be that guy, and I wanted him to be that guy, but I’m pretty fed up with him. Maybe that’s harsh, but that’s how I feel. And, while not everyone feels this way, I trust D’Antoni’s judgment more than the performance of a 25-year-old combo guard who is most known for his immaturity and antics than for his well-rounded basketball savvy and skill. You can’t honestly back a person and then sharpshoot his decisions when his team loses games, when overall D’Antoni’s approach appears to be working. Modest middling teams in the NBA lose some 40 games a year.
And perhaps he could have gotten more from Nate, but every one of Nate’s coaches has complained about the same things. D’Antoni’s the first coach to finally hold him to account. I respect that.

Ted, I think assessing anyone’s defense is a hip shot for the most part. As has been noted here time and time again, there really aren’t good advanced stats to help assess defensive impact. One must rely on the eyeballs. Mine says this guard who runs under picks, switches off badly, and often loses track of his mark, is generally a poor defender, made worse by the fact that he sometimes is a foot shorter than his mark…

As for using the big men, when inserting Curry, the Knicks have been decidedly worse. Curry impact on the Knicks has been a net -15.9, according to 82games.com.
That inauspicious accomplishment is matched only by Darko.

You could make a case for Hill. I’ll buy that. In his 6 percent of the time on the floor, the Knicks are net +6.5. Maybe he helps, and maybe he should play more minutes.

The biggest problem with the loss to the Nets was an inability to execute in the 4th, where they suffered five consecutive turnovers at the same time their defense made six consecutive defensive stops. We can all agree the Knicks are still climbing the mount to respectability. Certainly they are not there yet, and perhaps this loss was a teachable moment.

I think there are team-building aspects to trying to win now, as they have decided to do in December.
StevenU, what I mean by win now, is the decision not to showcase Curry, to go with expiring guys over developing future players, and, generally, making decisions based on winning now with this team, rather than forfeiting the entire season and then praying a max FA comes to a 20-win team.

Ted, there are players that could return next year. Douglas, Landry, Gallo, Hill, Chandler, Jeffries, Duhon, and I think the Knicks will resign Lee, and even Bender. Teaching those guys to win is important. Most of those guys don’t yet understand what it takes to be consistent winners in the NBA. That is something D’Antoni understands. You can’t take that away from him for the same reason you can’t give him all the credit for Phoenix’s successes. There have been plenty of coaches who could not win with good talent.
Conversely, a team lacking talent, but that fights and wins is an attractive place for a max FA. Showing Lebron or Wade or Bosh that this team as constituted can win say 35 to 40 games, makes it easier to take the mental leap of them improving the team, say, 15 or 20 games…and therefore making New York a more attractive landing zone.

Ted, regarding D’Antoni being respectful of the guys on the bench, my note was getting long and I cut out my explanation to support that statement. I felt it could stand on its own.
D’Antoni has not trashed these guys in the press. He, in fact, has only reluctantly explained why they are benched, and he has kept it simple: he felt the team was better with them not playing and they did not fit; and he felt playing them minimal minutes was disrespectful of them because they are players that could demand, indeed, require, more minutes to be effective.
He didn’t say Curry was unfit or dumb or often injured. He has made a point of saying Robinson was gifted, although he has not been shy about calling out Nate on court for his antics.
No, I think he has been very level in how he went about it.
He has been uncompromising on this issue, however. Frankly, given the heat a coach of the Knicks takes, I think the decision not to equivocate, to stand by his decisions, is the best course. Nothing worse than taking shit for equivocating. May as well go down, if you must, doing what you think is best. One sleeps easier that way.

I am mystified by the Gallo situation. I think it is probably on-court decisions that causes Gallo not to receive the ball. I don’t know if D’Antoni is saying during timeout “get him the ball.” But as the field general, Duhon needs to see who is hot and who is not and make sure that man gets the ball. Great point guards – great players – understand where the ball needs to be. The Knicks are still suffering from growing pains, I suspect. I hope they improve in this area. Oh, and Gallo needs to call for it.

Jon, I agree with your overall assessment of D’Antoni.
But I pose this question: when was the last time you could say something like that about anything Knicks-related?
Not a bad way for a Knicks fan to end the year. :)

Happy New Year, k-bloggers, I’d like to say I’m optimistic about our first game of 2010, but I have a strong feeling the Hawks are going to come out and pummel us.