The number of Nellie apologists in this world dwindles by the day, but there are still some pretty loud ones. And the refrain they'll most often sing is, "What do you expect? This team is too young, too injured, too low on talent. It's not Nellie's fault we suck -- he's doing the best anyone can do."
Is this possible? Has Nellie's cupboard been so bare that we can't possibly expect more than he's given us for the last year and a half? Is a 38-77 record is actually the best anyone could have possibly managed under the circumstances?
One man, more than any other, demonstrates how ridiculous a notion this is. On October 29th, 2008, Nellie's first game of the post-Baron era, Mike D'Antoni coached his first game for the Knicks. Like Nellie, D'Antoni is an offense-first, sprint-oriented coach. And like Nellie, D'Antoni started the '08-'09 season without the maestro point guard he'd grown accustomed to, and without any accomplished post player through which to direct his offense. (David Lee is, like Biedrins, primarily a screen-and-roll/garbage guy.) D'Antoni has basically been a lame-duck coach since arriving, forced to twiddle his thumbs while Donnie Walsh cuts payroll for this upcoming summer. The Knicks, unlike us, have not been trying to get their coach talent to work with.
In the past year and a half, each coach has had to operate under adverse circumstances; Nellie has coached 115 games, D'Antoni has coached 116. Let's look at the players each coach has had on hand, and the number of games they've played. (Many of these guys have been available for more games than they've played, but trying to account for that will get impossibly thorny.)
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