Posts tagged MikeDantoni at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

Crystal Ballin' takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.

It's almost sad that, with the NBA Draft in New York, we won't get to see Knicks fans freak out and boo whoever they take simply because Isiah Thomas is in charge. They still might boo, but it will likely be a force of habit thing rather than because they think Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni will screw this thing up. But to think that the Knicks will be a quick rebuild seems a bit too much to ask.

Picks: #6

Needs: They're gonna need a new point guard (Stephon Marbury "might" not use that option, but he's still gone sooner than later), they need a tough inside presence (Zach Randolph/Eddy Curry = notsomuch) and they need players that fit D'Antoni's system. Good thing they have so many picks.

Best case scenario: Jerryd Bayless falls into their laps at six, which is looking more and more likely as word seems to slip out that Seattle is interested in Russell Westbrook. On the other hand, there wouldn't be anything wrong with getting someone to take #6 and Zach Randolph (contract that lasts past the two year window they're clearly eying) in exchange for a move down the board.

More likely scenario: Zeke calls Donnie and offers him Marbury and the number six for Randolph. Things get awkward. Then, the Knicks take Bayless or Eric Gordon, depending on how the top five shakes out.

O! how wonderfully the sun could have shone in Chicago. If only ...



John Paxson was knocking on Kobe Bryant's door in October. Next thing you know, Larry Hughes is the savior. Meanwhile, in May, Pax had a clear shot at Mike D'Antoni before the franchise mucked things up and led Mike D to believe THE NEW YORK KNICKS! would be a more stable situation. Where's that leave the Bulls? In Vinny Del Negro's stunningly moisturized hands.

It'd be funny if it weren't so dang sad.

That Eddy Curry might have trouble melding into the 'perfect machine' offense of Mike D'Antoni is far from an original thought. No less a basketball strategy authority than Isiah Thomas famously claimed the modern pro game had rendered Curry irrelevant.

But as optimism in New York reaches a new high daily, it's worth taking a step back, for perspective's sake. Thanks be to Newsday's Alan Hahn for offering a sentence which forces the observer to do just that:

All the D'Antoni system calls for from Curry is to remain in constant motion.

That's it?! Eddy Curry just has to run around, keep his feet moving, be active, and expend energy? Brilliant idea!

If Curry, in any of his previous seven seasons, had remained in constant motion for more than five seconds at a time (that's enough time to get up a shot, I suppose) we wouldn't be laughing hysterically at the suggestion Curry is capable of existing on the same plane as D'Antoni.

Perhaps emboldened by Steve Schonwald's incredible gulliness, Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf on Friday renewed his character attacks on would-be Chicago coach Mike D'Antoni. (Reinsdorf, you'll remember, called D'Antoni "rude" for picking the Knicks after telling the Bulls New York did not interest him.)

Jay Mariotti of the Chicago Sun-Times transcribed some comments Reinsdorf made on a local radio show. The damning quotes:

Quoting his directive to D'Antoni, Reinsdorf said he told the exiting Phoenix Suns coach, "If you come to Chicago, the only way I see this wouldn't work out would be if we didn't play defense the way you say we're going to play defense." ... "And then I think that scared him. I think that was the closer with the Knicks," he said.

Mariotti does a fine job (!) eviscerating Reinsdorf for this ridiculous (and unnecessary) line of attack, though it's a much simpler equation than the one our fearless columnist lays out. Look at the rosters. Chicago has defensive talent -- the Bulls finished with the 14th best defense statistically (despite not trying much of the campaign) and had the absolute top defense in the league in 2007 (with the only two key talent losses there being 4,000 minutes of P.J. Brown and Ben Wallace).

The Knicks? 25th in 2007, 30th in 2008. One player (Renaldo Balkman) with a decent defensive reputation. If D'Antoni were afraid of teaching defense, yet knew he'd need at least a bit of defense to win, why would he pick the team with almost no defensive talent or no record of defensive success? D'Antoni's D would have been better in Chicago regardless of his own repressed defensive skills. Reinsdorf's barking up the wrong tree here.

Well, that didn't take long. It was just a few months ago that the Knicks were the laughingstock of the entire league, but after hiring Donnie Walsh and Mike D'Antoni, it sounds like they're quickly becoming a chic destination for free agents.

Alan Hahn of Newsday cites "a person with knowledge of the situation" who claims Baron Davis has made inquiries around the league, including with the Knicks, to gauge interest should he opt out and test free agency. Hahn also has "a league source" who tells the (shocking!) news that the Warriors' other guard, the uber-athletic Monta Ellis, would also enjoy playing in D'Antoni's system.

Could both Warriors end up trading the Bay Area for the Big Apple? Actually no, that would be just about impossible -- it's be an either/or scenario for New York, and that's if they're somehow able to dump enough salary to get into the hunt. Plus, Ellis is a restricted free agent, meaning the Warriors have the right to match any offer he receives, and if Davis walks, there's not an offer big enough that the Warriors wouldn't match.

Billy Witz has a rather fantastic story from Sunday's New York Times (via BallHype) talking with various NBA stars about how much playing soccer as a kid influenced their basketball abilities. That Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash are soccer fiends is a well-known fact, but Witz takes it further, discussing internationals like Hakeem Olajuwon, Pau Gasol, and Ronnie Turiaf.

My favorite quote comes from new Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni:

"The whole culture is they appreciate the guy who passes the ball to the guy who gets the assist and passes to the guy who scores," D'Antoni said in an interview Thursday. "They appreciate the work that went into it. Even the guy who is not getting the stat is important in the whole function of the team and the goal that is being made. That, to me, is fundamental."

It's dead simple, but it's sort-of brilliant. Comparisons between the sports have always been made, but the discussion always seems to center around the obvious logistics. That soccer theory and basketball theory should collide -- and in effect have collided under D'Antoni -- is a rather fresh thought, at least in my eyes.

And if this results in Eddy Curry The Goalkeeper, my year has been made.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Need4Sheed: The patented 'Sheed foul reaction, endlessly looping for your enjoyment.

2. Tim Kawakami's Talking Points: Presenting the first annual NBA No-Defense team.

3. Brian Windhorst on the Cleveland Cavaliers: LeBron James is glad this didn't happen on Mothers' Day.

4. Mitch Lawrence, NY Daily News: Starbury, meet coach D'Antoni. Now pack your bags.

5. Mike Bresnahan, L.A. Times: Ronny Turiaf won't be suspended for that Game 4 flagrant foul.

6. CelticsBlog: I knew Ray Allen was Jesus, but Wally Szczerbiak as Blue Steel?

With the recent news that Mike D'Antoni has accepted the offer from the New York Knicks to be their head coach, you would think the pressure would be on the man that chased him out of town to look for a replacement. If there is any pressure, Steve Kerr isn't feeling it yet, as he's stated there's "no huge rush" to get someone in place.

"We're going to make sure we cover our bases," he said. "There's not a huge rush because we're not one of five or six teams out there looking for someone, so we don't feel like we're competing with other people."

Kerr went on to say that he thinks the team's personnel is geared towards an uptempo style, but that he wants a coach who will emphasize defense and make sure the team improves at that end of the floor.

I hate to break it to Kerr, but D'Antoni wasn't the reason the Suns were knocked out of the first round of the playoffs in five games: he was. You can't expect to blow up a team's core that has essentially been together for more than three and a half seasons, and leave the coach just 28 games to figure out how to play with his new players. Especially with someone like Shaq, whose game (for better or worse) can't help but alter a team's style.

Whoever the Suns get to be their next coach, the fact that he has a defense-first mindset won't be enough. Unless Kerr makes some roster moves to get some perimeter defenders, the team is likely to end up finishing worse than they did this season.

If you think Bulls fans feel a little jilted by Mike D'Antoni, well, they're not the only ones. Both GM John Paxson and chairman Jerry Reinsdorf left their meetings with D'Antoni last week thinking their discussions were fruitful only to be surprised when D'Antoni agreed to the Knicks job. From K.C. Johnson in the Chicago Tribune:

"I'm disappointed in him," Reinsdorf said. "I don't know what else we could've done. He chose to go to New York knowing there was a good chance we would make him an offer. If he had really wanted to be in Chicago, he would've waited. Instead, he misled us. It's not the end of the world, but it is somewhat rude."

[...] "The second subject, I said if we need to get something done this weekend we shouldn't even bother talking because it will take longer than that," Reinsdorf said. "He said nothing had to be done over the weekend.

"I also said if this proceeds to where we want to make an offer, we don't deal with coach's agents. He said that's not a problem and that money wasn't the most important thing anyway. He said he wanted a job where he was going to be happiest. He said he didn't want to coach the Knicks."

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. FreeDarko: Why Deron WIlliams has it in for Chris Paul.

2. Third Quarter Collapse: Looks like the ref got cold feet on the final play of the Pistons-Magic Game 4.

3. Alan Hahn, Newsday: Did the Knicks hire Mike D'Antoni to entice LeBron James?

4. Ross Siler, Salt Lake Tribune: Ronnie Price doesn't think Ronny Turiaf should be suspended.

5. Hardwood Paroxysm: "I never noticed the Maginot line had rims on it."

6. The Hype Guy: A singing Shaq comes to Will Ferrell's rescue.