“We literally never did anything for defense. Like nothing. Never practiced a rotation, nothing…Like we wanted to f**king win bro, we’re the Knicks man, we’re in New York” — Al Harrington on his Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni (2008-10)
by Shot_Bank_5843
@National Basketball Association
38 Comments
Theres no D in Mike O’Antoni
Definitely wasn’t a coincidence how much better everything looked the moment he left.
I miss Game of Zones, that shit was legit more insightful into the NBA than ESPN could ever hope to be
Definitely BS
Teams has assistant coaches who r like D Coordinators
Sure his focus is O but they have a D plan
Jalen rose said the same thing 😂. How Phoenix D’antoni didn’t even practice defensive sets against the spurs.
Based mike d’Antoni , he don’t get paid to coach defense
All the offense, all the time
I feel like if I were ever a coach at any level that would be my exact philosophy.
According to KD you don’t even need defense. Just score lol
Mike was working on a football system, he was just waiting for the defensive coordinator to do his job.
“Half the Defense, DOUBLE the Offense”
The dantoni love fest by bloggers and media people never made sense to me
I fucking hated dantoni on the lakers …. guy couldnt make it work with dwight, kobe, pau, artest and a shitty version of nash … ruined kobes late career and drove dwight to houston … one of the biggest fuck ups in laker history was ever hiring this guy
Super over rated coach
The most ironic thing is that the last time the Knicks enjoyed continued success, it was the hard-nosed defensive 90s Knicks.
But not once did the Knicks upper brass decide to return to that.
How tf did Mike get this far in the league 😭
Not surprised that Mike wasn’t about defense.
“Offensive Coordinator” Mike D’Antoni
Al also played for Don Nelson. Did he bring that up at all in the podcast? I bet it was a very similar experience but I wonder if he compared it?
Nothing surprising here that we didn’t already know. Mike started that whole “shoot the ball under 10 seconds and play super fast” style with Steve nash
The opposite of Nick Nurse
Lol he got all “offensive” when they were complaining that they played no D.
Guess they never heard “offense wins games and defense wins championships.”
wasnt al their starting big? defensively, the buck stops with him.
There’s a reason he’s called Mike Antoni. Most overrated coach of all time
Imagine D’antoni with Suns with KD
Stories like this make me laugh at how people will say “are you a NBA coach?” When you criticize coaching decisions
I am not defending Mike d’antoni but I would like to hear from the players that had success with Mike d’antoni, as opposed to guys that were either on bad Knicks teams with him like al Harrington or guys that didn’t play at all like Jalen rose when Jalen was in Phoenix.
And people wonder why the nfl crushes the nba in the US
What did the defensive assistant coach do? Just sit around and get no input. “Hey so uhh can we practice some defense?” “Are they paying you?” “Yes.” “Ok then be happy you don’t have to do anything.”
Noted defensive savant, Al Harrington.
“Why would we play defense? The longer we play defense, the less offense we get to play!”
That’s insane but also not surprising and very obvious lmao
MdA reminds me of a coach in European football who was the archetypal journeyman bohemian called Zdenek Zemen. His philosophy in a nutshell is summed up in an interview where he said: “A 0-0 is boring — it’s better to lose 5-4”. From a neutral perspective these kind of coaches are pure entertainment, however entertainment and winning aren’t synonymous.
About 23 minutes into the conversation:
Kev: Who was the guy that was part of that Melo trade? He was a forward… The light-skinned guy that borderline could have been an all-star?
Al: Gallinari?
Kev: NO!!!
🤣🤣🤣
Declining a team wanting to do extra practice is insane
D’Antoni didn’t believe in defense. He believed in a fast offense. If you can get more possessions than the other team, while shooting at a decent clip, you can simply outscore them.
Works well and fun to watch during the season, but defenses tighten up in the playoffs. Could at least have hired a defensive coach to do some defensive drills.
No need for defense when you can just score more points than the opponent
get paid to coach defense
7 second offense