FYI this is the most I ever plan to write about Coach K, Mike D'Antoni, and the "System"....
Phil McCracken wrote:
How long of a leash do you think D'Antoni is on over there? Dolan is an idiot so its kind of a hard thing to predict but I dont know if the 7 seconds or less thing is gonna work out in NY
D'Antoni is on the clock at the beginning of next season. The Knicks have to have an above average offseason for his job to be secure by winning percentage alone.
I've always been an outside believer in D'Antoni's system. He was an assistant coach on the '08 Olympic team. Coach K supposedly borrowed offensive sets and spacing techniques from D'Antoni. These offensive adjustments no doubt assisted Duke in winning the 09-10 national championship. In that sense, Duke's last championship team is a template for how a D'Antoni type system should win big. However, the lack of talent in the one and done era of college basketball makes the objective view of that Duke team sort of impossible.
Still the meaningful variables can be seen. A quality back court with a shooter (Scheyer) and a combo guard (N.Smith). A do it all scorer (Singler). And just raw size on the front line (Zoubek, Plumlee bros.) to basically play defense and grab as many rebounds as possible. Statiscally, the Blue Devils mastered the two most important things in the D'Antoni system, rebounding (39rpg) and shooting 3's (38.9%). IMO, the assists are crucial, but secondary to converting 3 pointers and controlling the boards in an up tempo offense.
The biggest difference between D'Antoni and Coach K is unmistakably in their defensive approaches. Duke forced a highly effective 14 turnovers a game and held opponents to 28% from 3 point range. They also outscored their opponents 77ppg to 61ppg, but that disparity is more skewed due to lack of competitive talent compared to other statistics. Creating turnovers and limiting open looks on 3 pointers seem to be as important or more important than efficient offense in this system.
D'Antoni now has the best player on the '08 Olympic team in Carmelo, and the best post player he's ever coached in Amar'e. 2 players more effective than anyone Coach K had on his 09-10 Title team. Instituting a defensive presence along with at least one reliable 3 Point shooter in the 2011 off season will be the only hope D'Antoni has to compete with the top 3 in the East next season and beyond.
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Nardi wrote:
Weird, I see Dolphin looking in my asshole