Steve Kerr Credits Nash And D'antoni For Warriors Championship

I've already posted at length about why I don't think gs is anything like phx.

I think kerr is just being nice, frankly. he knows the difference, and he stated it.

I did think it odd that he (and everyone else, btw) mentions that teams are playing shooting bigs...um, no. draymond green isn't a shooting big. neither are bogut, mozgov, or Tristan Thompson. or Dwight howard or Terrence jones or joakim noah or pau gasol (whom dantoni tried to turn into a three point shooter because he lacks ANY SENSE of flexibility or creativity) or al horford or blake griffin or deandre Jordan or marcin gortat or nene...I think you know where I'm going here. all the teams that advanced played bigs, most of whom were shaky shooters even from the elbow. gs had two ELITE three point shooting guards and were able to invert the traditional offensive system. phx played at almost comical pace and had a wizard in his prime at pg. they're exceptions, not rules. teams can try to copy that blueprint at their own peril.

 

GS won because they were able to throw different lineups at opponents defensively ... 6'7-6'8 guys who are able to switch everything and cover ground with their length and speed ..... Suns never had this type of versatility .

Suns and "adjustements" couldn't be mentioned in the same sentence too

 

This was a well-thought out post, so I had some time this morning, and mind you, I haven't watched that Suns team for a very long time. I think D'Antoni does get a lot of misplaced blame for his lack of emphasizing defense in practice and within a team concept. You're absolutely right, though, his teams have farmed middle of the pack in the regular season for the most part. No argument there. Should Woodson get the same blame for a defense that fared worth statistically? Probaby. But that year particular year where they placed 18th defensively, did he not take them to the 2nd round? I'm not sure. If he did, I'd argue that people tend to focus more on the results and the success of the Knicks getting into the PO's rather than defensive efficiency. If I'm mistaken on the year, then he should get the blame as much as D'Antoni.

No, they didn't have the defensive talent that GS had; no argument there. I would say they fared about as well as they could defensive during the regular season with their defense and a very talented, offensive unit. Sure, they had a defensive plan in the regular season. I think what they opted to do was to foul less, contest shots, and I'm not certain what they were doing specifically on something's; I don't remember. Whatever the plan was happened to place them in the middle of the pack defensively. I brought up the Jalen Rose story to make a point; Amare said he had never been taught defense. Lebron reportedly didn't want to go to New York because D'Antoni teams don't 'play defense.' It's not something he's impassioned about nor do I think he emphasizes, but he does manage to get average results from his teams during the regular season.

Gentry was more of an offensive guru; Porter is just a bad coach. As you probably know Gentry just got hired in NO because of his offensive genius; then what did he do; he brought along a highly sought after defensive mind to help him. Porter isn't even coaching now.

My problem with Brown, D'Antoni, Scott? Scott's, Brown's, D'Antoni's teams, have all had average to very good defensive teams, right? However, all 3 are horrible in at least one facet(s) of what they do; D'Antoni is a horrible leader, didn't get along with Kobe, Melo, got ousted out of Los Angeles and New York. D'Antoni was also bad at in-game adjustments.

Byron is a horrible with X's and O's, horrible tactician, doesn't make in game adjustment, and his attached to his 'old school' mantra resorting to caveman like conditioning drills in training camp.

Brown? Nothing more needs to be said. I just want a well-rounded coach that can emphasize both proven offensive and defensive concepts, be in tune with the modern day coaching principles, embrace analytics, and be a good leader. Is that too much too ask?

 

Mike Dan Tony will never receive congratulations from me after running Kobe into the ground to the point of causing career threatening injury. His tenure withthe Lakers was too long, but someone had to be a punching bag after Phil left. Since Brown was too easy to pick on, glad we had Pringles.