NBA: The Knicks Don't Need Chris Paul. They Need a New Head Coach.

Defense! Clap Clap Defense! Clap Clap Defense! Clap Clap

It’s one of the most common cheers in sports. Fans chant this and players usually reward them with a little sweet vindication on defense. It’s “ask and you shall receive” in the simplest form. But for New York Knicks fans, it’s more of a desperate plea than a simple request.

It’s no secret that defense isn’t first on D’Antoni’s mind.

It’s probably not second or third either. The only thing he worries about is scoring at a pace that even the Oregon Ducks would be jealous of. His mantra, "seven seconds or less," describes his offensive mindset perfectly. If we don’t worry about defense and just shoot more shots than them, we’ll score more points than them.

Sounds logical at first, but like many ideas, they sound worse the more you think about it.

In spite of his “Just Say No to Defense” campaign, he had success during the regular season in Phoenix. He even won coach of the year in 2005 after leading the team to 33 more wins than the previous year.  But during the playoffs, his coaching style usually caught up to him by way of a vastly superior defensive team like the Spurs.

During D'Antoni's three years with the Knicks so far, it has been the same run 'n gun strategy, but with worse results.

During his first two seasons as coach, he missed the playoffs completely. But during the summer of 2010, the Knicks acquired Amar'e Stoudemire.  Although fans wanted LeBron, they were happy with the addition of Stoudemire.

They thought it would be a magical story about a former player and coach reuniting in the Eastern Conference and finally bringing the Knicks back to relevancy, but I knew better.

I knew that even if they added Jesus Shuttlesworth to the roster, they weren’t going to win until they got serious about defensive play. Halfway through their mediocre season, they got the brilliant idea that adding another superstar that doesn’t play defense would help them get deep in the playoffs.

In comes Carmelo Anthony.  Fans once again thought it was going to be a magical story about the hometown kid coming to the Knicks and helping them win a championship. They even started a “Welcome Home” campaign for Anthony. But for the second time this season, the fans were let down after being swept by Boston in the first round of the playoffs. 

Now there is another big free agency summer ahead in 2012, and fans are once again getting excited about acquiring superstar player Chris Paul.

I think the thin crust pizza has gone to your head New York. 

You can add as many superstars as you want, but if the defensive mindset doesn’t change, you’ll be in the same position in 2013. To be fair, Chris Paul is a pretty good defensive player; however, he’s not going to make that much of a difference when you give up 105 points per game.

A defensive coach can make all the difference. We saw it with the Bulls this year. Last season, they were ranked 13th in opposing teams' points, at nearly 100 a game. They hired Tom Thibodeau, and they moved up to second in the league in opposing teams' points with only 91 points a game. And that’s only in his first season.

The Knicks have two of the best scorers in the league in Anthony and Stoudemire. Scoring points isn’t their problem. Stopping people from scoring is their problem.  

They don’t need Chris Paul to win a championship. They need a coach who can come in and cement a defensive mindset into the players.