A lot of things I take for granted watching other teams don’t seem to apply to MDA. Nor did they apply to IT, and Larry Brown was as random as I have ever seen him as the Knicks HC. Maybe the asbestos really does make them dumber.

rrude: I do feel strongly that D’Antoni has a pretty laissez faire style

I’ve never played for a D’Antoni team so I really don’t feel comfortable saying… But at some point if he’s not even designing an offensive structure or giving players feedback he’s not a coach… he’s a defensive coordinator or a highly paid fan.

rrude: Apparently the right way, by either of our accounts, is pretty passive and doesn’t instill me with much confidence.  

Yeah, even if he “only gets involved when players aren’t playing the right way” this seems to pretty clearly be the the time to get involved.

Ted, I get your point that if the team is consistently behaving a certain way, it must be by design. I guess I’m not sure. I do feel strongly that D’Antoni has a pretty laissez faire style, and only gets involved when players aren’t playing the right way. Apparently the right way, by either of our accounts, is pretty passive and doesn’t instill me with much confidence.

Ted, I appreciate how you have recognized the nuances of my comparison of Fields to the lifetime stats of the silky smooth Grant Hill, who happens to be one of my favorite players, in part for his playing and in part because of his class. Rare to see a man go through so much adversity and yet fight his way back, accepting his limitations and still contributing in a major way. Love the guy.
Having said that, his career stats fell well short of his ROY year plus five amazing years.

Hoola:
I recognize that I am being very optimistic about Fields, and I appreciate your appreciation for Hill. I’m not sure why you seem so strident about the whole thing. I have played basketball and watched it since the 1970s and recognize that, after all, we are just speculating about sports.
I really like Fields. After going virtually unnoticed, he was the the story in summer league, managed to win a starting role on an NBA team, and managed to put up some very nice numbers against tough competition early on.
Out of practically no where!
A great story at least. A fascinating subplot to this season, perhaps. And I also made note of some of his physical similarities to Hill and his surprising athleticism.
Hill’s career number, which include the post injury, are very good.
I just think Fields could be very good. Not as good as Hill at his best, because he was sublime, but certainly 18 pts, 7-8 rebounds, 5-6 assists, are not outlandish for him.
I mean, look at David Lee’s progression. It’s entirely possible.
We’ll probably have a decent sense of where he’s headed in two years. All I said was don’t be surprised if he is putting up numbers that rival Hill’s career numbers. Now, Fields probably couldn’t match career numbers with Hill because he was so good over his first six, but he could build to something like that.
Not crazy, wild-eye ridiculousness, in my opinion, or Ted’s.

As for Ted, you know, he and I have had some fairly passionate disagreements, in particular about our friend N8 the Gr8. But by no stretch of the imagination does anyone on this board – aside from you – believe Ted doesn’t know basketball.
I have wondered whether he is or has been an NBA scout, I confess. He knows players broadly, watches them fairly extensively from what I can tell from reading his stuff for these past few years, and has a very good understanding of advanced stats and the various systems used in basketball to assess player performance..
Indeed, he is clinical in his posts, and has grated on more than a couple of us, but his arguments are well-constructed rationale and informed. More often than not, I find myself either swayed or in agreement.
You don’t know me from Adam, and don’t agree with my comments about Hill. You’re entitled, but I agree with HCJ @112.

I leave you with a quote from Kurt Vonnegut from God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater:
Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth. It’s hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It’s round and wet and crowded. At the outside, babies, you’ve got about a hundred years here. There’s only one rule that I know of, babies — God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.
Cheers.

Z: He’s played 89 minutes. I don’t think saying he’ll “regress” to 13.5, 6.5, and 3 for a career is pessimistic. I think it’s optimistic. It’s a good career, which is what one should hope for from a good player.

The 6.5 and 3 I would agree are optimistic, but 13.5 seems pretty pessimistic to me. That would have put him at 13th on last season’s Knicks’ team, between T-Mac and Sergio Rodriguez. Given that he’s got a good shot and moves well without the ball, I’d expect scoring to be more of a strength.

You’re making this place smell like the ESPN “Conversation.” Stop.

Ted Nelson: I can’t speak for anyone else, but if you’re going to be a dick to everyone, say the Knicks suck without providing much of any (rational) reason why, and not add to the conversation… why are you here?

Ted, Again with your personal attacks.
Do I really need to be more clear why I think the Knicks suck. Watch the games. But, I’ll put it in your language, statistics. Their winning percentage .333. They sucked last year, the year before that, and the year before that. Because they were good ten years ago (yes i remember) that doesn’t mean they don’t suck now.

Here’s another stat. You’re 90% a–hole. I reserve the other 10% because I believe that behind every a-hole’s exterior is a nice guy with good intentions. You should work on that part of your game.