Jim Cavan: and they cut some of this stuff out for length purposes

odd that a blog has length issues… NY Times seems to be confused about the internet.

nicos: He handed the entire offense over to the guy early in the year- that may have pushed Melo out of his comfort zone but it sure as hell must have shown him the coach appreciated his skills- you make it sound like Melo has been an afterthought since he’s been here rather than the guy the offense absolutely ran through for 90% of his time here.When he came back from injury that did change but it took all of four or five games before Melo stopped trying to fit in- that’s pathetic.

Losing streaks, the scapegoat of the media, trying to make the playoffs, the pressure of the trade, the contract….Like I said, if none of those things were the case, and if Mike had done more to embrace the things Melo does well when he came back, Melo would have focused much more on being just another cog in the machine.

Doug: If you haven’t been reading Seth Rosenthal’s pre-game posts at P&T, you ought to. Before every game he goes on Omegle and chats with a random person impersonating a player on the other team. Today talked with a guy from Turkey pretending to be Tyler Hansbrough.

I second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and one millionth this. Absolutely hilarious.

ruruland:
MFC, I think you’ve got to take into account the compounding effect losing has on a player’s mindset in terms of fitting in with the team concept.

I think there are two things that were great detriments to their working relationship from

1) I never got the sense that MDA was appreciative of Melo’s skills. It’s not coddling, it’s more of embracing the things Melo can do and putting forth the effort to try to incorporate them into the team concept. Sure, MDA would let Melo iso, but it always felt more like a concession or at best acquiescence, then it was, “we’re going to work with your skills Melo and help them make this team better.”

He handed the entire offense over to the guy early in the year- that may have pushed Melo out of his comfort zone but it sure as hell must have shown him the coach appreciated his skills- you make it sound like Melo has been an afterthought since he’s been here rather than the guy the offense absolutely ran through for 90% of his time here. When he came back from injury that did change but it took all of four or five games before Melo stopped trying to fit in- that’s pathetic.

nicos:
Nice piece, Jim.I think D’A’s stubbornness was exacerbated by circumstances this year- he was a lame duck coach heading into the year (and upper management hiring a possible mid-season replacement in Woodson to start the season didn’t help).He was certainly on the hot seat prior to Lin taking over when the Knicks reeled off 7 straight playing the closest approximation of SSOL since D’A arrived.My guess is he knew nothing short of an Eastern Conference Final’s appearance was going to save his job (especially with the specter of Phil Jackson looming in the background) so by favoring Lin and his system over Melo he was in effect auditioning for his next job.

I completely agree. Reading the subtext and between the lines in the things he said post-Lin, some of the places he used past and future tense, I think he knew he was gone during the season, and probably soon.

In fact, it may have surprised him that he hadn’t been canned when he expected to. Maybe that’s why he quit.

If you haven’t been reading Seth Rosenthal’s pre-game posts at P&T, you ought to. Before every game he goes on Omegle and chats with a random person impersonating a player on the other team. Today talked with a guy from Turkey pretending to be Tyler Hansbrough.

jon abbey: yeah, I love how this part is totally overlooked, and D’Antoni still only did it because it was the third game in three nights and he was desperate.

Honestly, for those who are really depressed about losing Mike (and there’s a lot to like about the guy and coach), how inexcusable is it that it took him months to figure out Lin could work in his system, given how pitiful the guys playing it were?

That, to me, is a pretty severe indictment on Mike’s ability to think outside of the box, and of course, on his talent evaluation.

When you’re losing as bad as you’re losing and the ways that you’re losing, the good coaches tinker and obsess over everything. That’s when you see the coaches creative juices manifest in lineup changes, scheme changes, strategy and tactics.

All of the very good coaches do it. I’m just not sure Mike had those qualities.