Knicks Ring in New Year in Atlanta
Dec 31 2009 2:34PM
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Atlanta native Toney Douglas is the lone rookie seeing action in the Knicks tight rotation.
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There was a point in November, somewhere around the Knicks’ 1-9 start, when Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni was openly thinking about starting a lineup that included his three rookies along with young forwards Wilson Chandler and Danilo Gallinari. It probably was an unrealistic thought at the time, but he was just searching for any combination to prevent the season from ending before the New Year.
Although he never executed his idea of going with the youth movement, D’Antoni did eventually find the right rotation and has stuck with the same eight or nine guys over the past month. The results have been remarkable. The Knicks finished December with a 9-6 record and find themselves within striking distance of eighth seed in the early Eastern Conference playoff race entering Friday’s matchup in Atlanta.
Last season, D’Antoni was already new in New York and two waves of big trades made it even more difficult for him to find the right combinations throughout the season. Thirty-two games into this season, he’s already comfortable with the players he has chosen to play each night and those players are more confident knowing that they are set in the rotation.
“To me it’s very important to give the guys a defined role and make sure that through thick and thin we’re going to stick with until you get to the point when you’re going to make a change and then you stick with that change for awhile,” D’Antoni said before Wednesday’s 105-94 loss to the Nets in New Jersey.
“I just think as a player that if you know your role and you know the coach is not waiting for you to mess up a couple of times to change something else up it makes it a lot easier to play and I think you see a lot of the guys’ confidence getting a little bit stronger.”
Right now, out of the three rookies – Jordan Hill, Toney Douglas and Marcus Landry – only Douglas has been seeing playing time lately. He is often joined in the eight- or nine-man rotation by Gallinari, Chandler, Chris Duhon, Al Harrington, Jared Jeffries, David Lee, Larry Hughes and Jonathan Bender.
The Knicks ended a streak of 11 consecutive games playing only eight players when D’Antoni went with all nine of the players listed above in the 104-87 win in Detroit on Tuesday and they played nine for a second straight game against the Nets. There have been 14 times this season when only eight players have played and the Knicks are 7-7 in those contests.
“You look for combinations with the chemistry, you look for guys who take to coaching and you look for what you think you could build on,” D’Antoni said. “Some combos are better than others. It’s not against the player or anything, but you have combinations that work for whatever reason. I don’t think you can define why it works but it just does and as a coach you have a feeling and you want to see that.”
D’Antoni is hoping he won’t need to change the rotation again this season because that would mean the Knicks are winning and heading towards the postseason. Right now they are in the right direction after getting within a game and a half of eighth in the East
Although he never executed his idea of going with the youth movement, D’Antoni did eventually find the right rotation and has stuck with the same eight or nine guys over the past month. The results have been remarkable. The Knicks finished December with a 9-6 record and find themselves within striking distance of eighth seed in the early Eastern Conference playoff race entering Friday’s matchup in Atlanta.
Last season, D’Antoni was already new in New York and two waves of big trades made it even more difficult for him to find the right combinations throughout the season. Thirty-two games into this season, he’s already comfortable with the players he has chosen to play each night and those players are more confident knowing that they are set in the rotation.
“To me it’s very important to give the guys a defined role and make sure that through thick and thin we’re going to stick with until you get to the point when you’re going to make a change and then you stick with that change for awhile,” D’Antoni said before Wednesday’s 105-94 loss to the Nets in New Jersey.
“I just think as a player that if you know your role and you know the coach is not waiting for you to mess up a couple of times to change something else up it makes it a lot easier to play and I think you see a lot of the guys’ confidence getting a little bit stronger.”
Right now, out of the three rookies – Jordan Hill, Toney Douglas and Marcus Landry – only Douglas has been seeing playing time lately. He is often joined in the eight- or nine-man rotation by Gallinari, Chandler, Chris Duhon, Al Harrington, Jared Jeffries, David Lee, Larry Hughes and Jonathan Bender.
The Knicks ended a streak of 11 consecutive games playing only eight players when D’Antoni went with all nine of the players listed above in the 104-87 win in Detroit on Tuesday and they played nine for a second straight game against the Nets. There have been 14 times this season when only eight players have played and the Knicks are 7-7 in those contests.
“You look for combinations with the chemistry, you look for guys who take to coaching and you look for what you think you could build on,” D’Antoni said. “Some combos are better than others. It’s not against the player or anything, but you have combinations that work for whatever reason. I don’t think you can define why it works but it just does and as a coach you have a feeling and you want to see that.”
D’Antoni is hoping he won’t need to change the rotation again this season because that would mean the Knicks are winning and heading towards the postseason. Right now they are in the right direction after getting within a game and a half of eighth in the East
