What Mike D'Antoni Really Wants: A Renewed Reputation

[NJNJ]

The wonderful Howard Beck of the New York Times has an analysis of Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni's insatiable need to make the playoffs. The argument is that all the latest New York drama -- specifically the benching of Nate Robinson and Eddy Curry, along with the burying of rookies Toney Douglas and Jordan Hill -- has come as D'Antoni desperately tries to get this malformed bunch to the postseason. And Beck makes a solid case.

 

But I think the playoff drive is only part of the story. A big part, yes, maybe 75 percent of the reasoning behind D'Antoni's decisions. But from my seats, it looks like the coach is really trying to redefine his NBA reputation.

 

D'Antoni, as Beck writes in his piece, has always been seen as a player's coach. That's an easy rap to draw in Nash-era Phoenix, where the best player is a consummate professional and the team is set up to share the ball and score a ton. Lots of points to go around make for happy players, typically. Add in a string of 50-win seasons, and even players like Shawn Marion (who felt undersung) and Amar'e Stoudemire (previously problematic) can get along.

 

But "player's coach" isn't always a positive tag in the NBA. It's worked for D'Antoni and Rick Adelman, among others. But it's also become a euphemism for "mental weakness." Being a player's coach on a talented team is a lot different from being a player's coach with a bad roster. And guess where D'Antoni is stuck until at least next season and possibly for the rest of his New York tenure? With a bad roster.

 

No one wants to be the smiling ringleader of a circus in professional sports, and that's exactly what D'Antoni was last season and the start of this year. With the Knicks struggling, and with a fun-loving, excitable player like Robinson getting heavy minutes (not to mention Stephon Marbury's presence a year ago), D'Antoni's image was seriously trending toward Barnum and Bailey.

 

CONTINUE READING