LeBron: D'Antoni is an Offensive Mastermind

[Mr. J]

LeBron James said on Tuesday night that he sees Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni as an "offensive mastermind".

James played under D'Antoni with Team USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"We got really close," James revealed. "Coach D'Antoni gave me a lot of freedom, he allowed me to play every position I wanted to play; I was the leader of that team, but I was also like the overseer of some offensive plays.

"He gave me a lot of freedom, it was great to be out there. I watched that system all those years in Phoenix; how they got so many shots and easy baskets. To be a part of that chemistry, be part of the offensive mastermind that Coach D'Antoni is, that was great."

New York famously cleared out cap space at the end of last week in hopes of signing James in the summer of 2010.

"It would be unfair to bring that kind of distraction to our team," James said when asked if he would like to play for the Knicks. "I am flattered that teams want me to be a part of their team but right now I'm with the Cavs."

http://www.nypost.com/seven/1126200...cks_garden_______heaps_praise_on_d_140925.htm

We don't hear him talking about Lawrence Frank like this.

 

[Master Shake]

Cause Frank is a shitty coach. And he's short. And he's white.

 

[Денг Гордон]

What about offensive mastermind Mike Brown?

 

[#1_War_Poet_ForLife]

Probably because D'Antoni coached in the Olympics.

 

[Денг Гордон]

Probably because D'Antoni coached in the Olympics.

But Mike Brown is coaching the top offensive team in the league this year, by a pretty margin as well!

 

[Mr. J]

Probably because D'Antoni coached in the Olympics.

More reason for him to choose the Knicks over the Nets.

 

[JE]

The evidence just keeps piling up.

 

[Moo2K4]

Offensive mastermind that knows nothing about how to play defense. Well, I guess you have to take the good with the bad.

 

[Mr. J]

^To be fair, he hasn't exactly had many defensive players.

 

[BasX]

*sigh* this is never going to stop....

 

[Moo2K4]

^To be fair, he hasn't exactly had many defensive players.

Touche.

However, I'm a believer that you don't need great defensive players to be a remotely okay defensive team. Defending is the most fundamental thing you can do in the NBA, and regardless of the talent you have on the defensive side, you shouldn't be giving up 105+ppg. D'Antoni's teams have never been good on defense, and it's not just because of lack of talent, it's because he's a horrid defensive coach.

For a case in point, look at the Suns. Essentially the same roster as last year (post-Shaq trade of course), and they're a much better defensive team this year under Terry Porter. They still aren't a great defensive team by any means, but they're not giving up 105+ppg like they did under D'Antoni.

 

[Jurassic]

Did anybody else notice that Lebron said he was the leader of team USA? I wonder what Kobe has to say about that.

I don't think D'Antoni is an offensive mastermind. Phoenix wasn't anything special offensively (in this era) before Nash. With Nash, Marion, Amare, Diaw, Bell, Joe Johnson, etc of course the team was going to be great that's an offensive allstar team. Same thing with team USA, of course they were going to be great offensively, this is silly.

A lot of the time Nash wasn't even running plays, he would just improvise. Why should D'Antoni get credit for all this?