D'ANTONI (FORMERLY OF THE SUN)

[shocker_90]

D'ANTONI

I understand Woodson has coached his team well in the past two games but damn we can not discount his his entire tenure due to a couple of great games. Why not at least take a look at this guy and please get us a new GM?

[Swatguy]

Woodson out-coached D'Antoni twice in four games with less talent. When the DAntoni's, Carlyle's, Karl's, Brown's, Johnson's of the League get Fired, why do their names pop up?

I'll keep Woody and add pieces.

When the guys do what Woody prepares them to do, they win.

[exodus]

I guess it is Avery's fault that they made a dumb trade (Kidd) and that Dirk is soft as tissue paper. Not to mention Howard spouting off in the papers and then shooting 25% on the series.

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Just hours after the New Orleans Hornets eliminated the Dallas Mavericks from the playoffs, Mavs' owner Mark Cuban has fired head coach Avery Johnson, ESPN Radio-Dallas reports.

Johnson, the 2006 NBA Coach of the Year, was let go after the team struggled to compete with the younger and less experienced Hornets in the first round of the postseason. In the final game of the series, the Hornets led the entire way and at one point were ahead by as much as 17 points before taking the series four games to one.

After Dallas struggled to secure a playoff seed in the tough Western Conference during the regular season, rumors started circulating that Johnson could be on the hot seat.

Despite taking the Mavericks to the Finals two years ago—where they lost to the Miami Heat—Johnson has struggled in the playoffs in recent years.

Last season, the Mavericks were upset in the first round by the eighth seeded Golden State Warriors despite having the league's best regular season record and the league's Most Valuable Player in Dirk Nowitzki.

This postseason, Johnson couldn't find an answer for point guard Chris Paul who averaged a remarkable 24.8 points, 11.3 assists, and two steals throughout the series.

Even though New Orleans was the higher seed, many people thought this would be a very close series because for many of the Hornets' starters (David West, Tyson Chandler, and Paul) this would be their first time starting in a playoff series. Meanwhile, Dallas had playoff veterans Jason Kidd, Dirk Nowitzki, and Josh Howard who had a combined 224 playoff starts between them. Despite their experience, the Mavericks couldn't find a way to keep up with the Hornets and obviously, Cuban thinks it all begins with the coach.

Watching his team get knocked out of the playoffs early for two straight years must have been the last straw for Cuban, who is one of the game's most active owners.

While other teams continue fighting for a championship, Cuban will be at home looking for potential coaching candidates. It's going to be a long offseason for the Dallas Mavericks.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/20516-B...e-Avery-Johnson

[Dsinner]

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Woodson out-coached D'Antoni twice in four games with less talent. When the DAntoni's, Carlyle's, Karl's, Brown's, Johnson's of the League get Fired, why do their names pop up?

I'll keep Woody and add pieces.

When the guys do what Woody prepares them to do, they win.

2 games? LOL! D'Antoni has won more games in 1- 1/2 seasons, than Woody has his whole career (I know that's not correct but you get my point). I'd take him and Avery in a heartbeat over Woodson.

This team is winning right now on emotion, NOT coaching. As soon as the past two games got into a slow down half-court game our offense struggled BIG TIME. You can not win on a consitant basis in a season on emotion alone. At some point you have to have some kind of offensive strategy. Not to mention, we have a very legit bench not getting any burn whatsoever. Even Solo preformed decent in his 2 mins only to not get any action for the rest of the game. Even when the starters played the entire 3rd period while the Celtics extended their lead.

I will give Woody credit for putting Smith back in the 2nd even though he had 2 fouls. Sad when you have to give a coach credit for simply not doing what he NORMALY does.

[Traceman]

Our bench has ONE guy in Chillz who would get any real playing time if he played for the Suns.

Give Woody the roster D'Antoni had this year and I think he could do every bit as well as D'Antoni has done. You think Woody couldn't win with a lineup of:

Shaq/Skinner

Stoudamire/Diaw

Hill/Giricek

Bell

Nash/Barbosa

Heck, I could win with that lineup!

[TheNorthCydeRises]

D'Antoni is an average coach at best. He is NOT a bad coach, but he isn't a good one either. This team does not go to some "next level" with D'Antoni as coach, compared to with Woody as coach. D'Antoni's philosphy is to try to outscore everybody, not play intense defense to keep your opponent from scoring. We don't have the PG, the shooters, nor the low post presence for D'Antoni's style to work here.

Avery is a different story. I think Avery could drastically improve us because he coaches the Mavs like Pop coached him. Avery's problem is that he has a team full of players that would rather play offense, than commit to defense.

As I've said many times, the Hawks are built to DEFEND, not to run. They definitey have the athleticism to run, and they should when the opportunity presents itself. But it's defense and rebounding that wins games. And that has won these last 2 playoff games. As great of a quarter as JJ had, we don't win that game unless we absoultely shut down Boston offensively at the same time.

The Lakers, Hornets, Spurs, Pistons, and even the Cavs all defend. Boston does it. Houston, Philly and Utah can do it. And the Hawks are doing it in this series.

A cat like D'Antoni would be treating Salim like he was Barbosa, because he'd fall in love with Salim's potential explosiveness on offense. He'd opt to play Salim at times, over Chill and Marvin. And he'd tell Salim "it's OK, keep shootng", even after Salim would be 0 - 5 FG.

[coachx]

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Our bench has ONE guy in Chillz who would get any real playing time if he played for the Suns.

Give Woody the roster D'Antoni had this year and I think he could do every bit as well as D'Antoni has done. You think Woody couldn't win with a lineup of:

Shaq/Skinner

Stoudamire/Diaw

Hill/Giricek

Bell

Nash/Barbosa

Heck, I could win with that lineup!

I agree.

When Stave Nash or Chris Paul or even a younger Jason Kidd is leading your team the coach does not have to alot of coaching b/c the true coach is the PG on the floor.

When Royal Ivey ,Tyron Lue, Anthony Johnson, a rookie in Acie Law, and a gimpy Speedy Claxton were your starting PG for all but 35 out of 328 games your in big trouble. Especially considering the young babies the out matched PG and coach were leading into battle each night.

Mike Bibby is no Nash, Paul, or a young Kidd but he has made Woodson look like a pretty decent coach. Plus the babies are maturing.

[thefloydian]

You guys can rag on D'Antoni all you want, but at least he understands the concept of foul trouble, and doesn't sit people until the third quarter with 2 fouls.

Those are the things that kill me about Woodson. It seems like he just doesn't understand the basics of basketball.

[Traceman]

D'Antoni doesn't have to worry about foul trouble, he doesn't expect his team to play any D anyway! Why worry about your guys fouling out if you don't expect them to contest any shots when players penetrate into the lane? Why worry about fouling out if you don't expect your players to take any charges?

He understands foul trouble, he just doesn't understand DEFENSE!

[dig]

It seems like people here don't really watch the NBA outside of the Hawks... we would be lucky to get a coach like D'Antoni. He is one of most intelligent coaches in the league and knows how to uncover new aspects of players' games (Hill, Diaw, Barbosa, Marion, even Nash)... Yes, the PHO D is terrible but Sarver has handcuffed them for years by giving away picks and players (i.e. Rondo, Kurt Thomas) and until Shaq they had no Center, and they gave away their best defender and an All-Star to get him. They had a window with Nash, Marion, Amare but made some d-ass decisions...

The problem is we won't have a chance b/c Colangelo will hire him in a heartbeat in Toronto, and if not NY, CHicago, even Dallas would make a run at him. We'd be last on his list, but I would take him over anyone else available b/c I think he'd be perfect for us.

[Fetawhey]

Antoni shouldn't have a "D" in his name because he doesn't know how to play D. His coaching style has been proved not to work in the post season; he would not be a benefit to the Hawks.