D’Antoni Deserved Better. Bruce’s Thought Of The Day

Ok Knick fans you got your wish..Again. The coach has been dispatched. So all is right now in Knick-land right? Wrong. In fact the fish reeks worse today then it did yesterday. Hey at least Carmelo Anthony knows as long as James Dolan is calling the shots if he pouts, disrupts, tunes out, or basically sabatoges the next coach well the coach will go and the fans will cheer. By the way Knick fans hows the revolving door of coaches working out? Not a banner in the rafters that matters since 1973 but hey let's FIRE THE COACH!

Don't buy into this D'Antoni resigned stuff. Sure that's the way it is being painted but make no mistake Melo and a few others got this coach fired and sadly they will get the next fired and then the next while the fans yell FIRE THE COACH.

Mike D'Antoni is a great basketball coach and has the resume to prove it. He made the Suns winners, got to within 1 play of the NBA championship round. Beaten on a great play and a once in a lifetime play by the former player known as Ron Artest. Throw out the 1st 2 years of his Knick tenure and look at the body of work left. Got the Knicks to the playoffs last year and while we will never know if Amare was healthy and Chauncey Billups was healthy they would have given the Celtics a better run.

Does D'Antoni have short comings? Of course. We all do. He disdains defense in favor of high octane offense. Can that win a title? Well he hasn't so far. But then again how many coaches have that are in the league right now. So if your judgement is only those that win titles are great then you have few to annoint. I tend to look at what does a coach get out of the talent he has. For my money D'Antoni squeezed all the juice out of the Knick orange and certainly the Suns as well.

Now Mike Woodsen gets the job. Good luck Mike. You will need it. Some will of course look at last nights blowout of the slumping Blazers and say " See it was D'Antoni's fault. Bolderdash! The new coach good feeling will wear off and Anthony and others will undermine Woodsen. This is how it works.

If it were me I would have  kept and signed D'Antoni to a 2 year extension and would have either dealth Carmelo or sat him on the bench with his long frown and bad attitude. So bad that Melo wouldn't run the plays called opting to do his own thing. That made Pt Guard Jeremy Lin unsure and well the ball rolled down hill. The numbers say the Knicks were well above 500 when Anthony missed time and well below when he played. Hmm I wonder why that is.

To be fair it shouldn't all fall on Melo's lap. While he is the 1st offensive player to balk at D'Antoni's offensive system (what does that tell you) he wasn't the only under performer. In fact I would claim that Amare Staudemire's poor play was worse then Anthony's. The difference is Stat didn't tune out D'Antoni and decide to do his own thing. He gave effort.

I have no doubt D'Antoni will resurface and soon. He is talented, smart, and his offensive system works. His biggest problem besides not doing more on the defensive end is that he is too soft on players. Many players have claimed they wanted D'Antoni to crack the whip on Anthony and well that's not Mike's style. It will cost him again.

As for Woodsen he has a nice resume, getting the long woe be gone Atlanta Hawks to the post season back to back years after many losing years. But it really isn't about Mike Woodsen. It is about when will the players, or some of them start stabbing him in the back or when will idiot owner James Dolan get the bug to do something stupid as he has always done. D'Antoni, former President of Basketball operations Donnie Walsh and current Gm just not  in name Glen Grunwald didn't want Carmelo but Dolan did. Big name. Local guy some what having played at Syracuse. Flashy offensive game. So Dolan who has won NOTHING over ruled his managment team and made then make the deal. the Knicks soon went downhill. Now Dolan will chase Phil Jackson and that's great. Why would Phil, the best coach in the history of the NBA in my opinion work for a total joke like Dolan? Well money for sure and Dolan will spend. He is clueless but not cheap. Maybe Phil wants 1 more shot at the ring because  his collection isn't filled up yet. Maybe he wants to return to the place he played and won 2 titles.

But what happens when and if Phil takes the job and Melo or others say "hmm don't like him or his system it's quitting time". Dumb Dolan will probably side with the players and Phil's great legacy will take a huge hit in the eyes of some. I say it's 50-50 Phil takes the gig, maybe 40-60.

Poor Mike Woodsen. When the rumors really get hot over the next 2-3 weeks the players will see him as lame duck and some will just start doing their own thing. AGAIN. Woodsen, originally drafted by the Knicks will have no shot just as D'Antoni had no shot at the end

For the fans  get the pipes ready. At 1st sign start yelling FIRE THE COACH because it has worked soooo well over these last 39 years. Heck just look at the rafters of MSG and see all the banners. Oh wait there aren't any banners. Never mind.