A few weeks ago he made it seem like NY was a very Long shot..

Im not savvy enough to post the article

When Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert said Tuesday that LeBron James is not involved in the team's coaching search "in any way, shape or form," most considered his words either comical or preposterous.

But although Gilbert certainly laid it on a little thick, calling the notion of LeBron's having input "totally, 100 percent and patently false," believe the owner's hype. If only because LeBron doesn't want any input.

You'd better believe that if LeBron wanted to pick the club's next coach, Gilbert would be on the front step of the superstar's palatial compound with a dozen red roses, a chorus line of dancing girls, a contract extension and the keys to his private jet. Among other enticements.

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AP Photo/Mark Duncan
LeBron James wants a top GM and coach in place wherever he lands this summer.
But James is serious when he says he wants to keep his options open, and he realizes that committing to a coach is essentially committing to a franchise. So he's steering clear of the Cavs' decision-making process.
You also could consider this something of a test -- for the Cavaliers and for LeBron's other coachless suitors. Contrary to popular opinion, LeBron doesn't yet want to run a franchise from top to bottom, handpicking the coach and GM.

His ultimate desire is to have a coach and front-office personnel whom he knows can get the job done. He wants someone who has shown championship mettle on the sideline, someone who can pull off a Pau Gasol-for-Kwame Brown type of deal or add a Kevin Garnett-Ray Allen combo package to the roster. He wants a GM with juice and pull in NBA circles.

At age 25, he has enough on his plate -- leading the team in scoring, rebounding, assists, blocks and pregame skits -- without adding front-office duties to boot.

So with that in mind, let's look at the various brain trusts that are in hot pursuit of LeBron and see who's got the goods. For Knicks fans, this might finally provide some good news on the LeBron front.

But let's start in Cleveland, which -- according to LeBron's "Larry King Live" interview last week -- has an "edge" over the rest of the field. Gilbert has proved to be a good owner in that he's spent whatever amount of money necessary in his attempts to put a title team around James. It hasn't worked, but some may blame Danny Ferry, who recently stepped down as general manager.

The question in Cleveland is, How does James view Ferry's successor, Chris Grant? Grant is respected around the league, having spent 10 seasons in Atlanta before joining Ferry five years ago in Cleveland. But even if James likes Grant, Gilbert may be the one ultimately pulling the strings. For instance, he's the one in love with Michigan State coach Tom Izzo.

Whatever the case, the Cavs' situation is, to put it kindly, a bit muddled. We'll see how their coaching search plays out -- Byron Scott and Jeff Van Gundy also have the Cavs' interest -- but right now, all the uncertainty in the franchise can't be viewed as a plus.

As for the Knicks, owner James Dolan doesn't bring to mind Jerry Buss or Mark Cuban when it comes to success, but he is a big spender who gives his presidents an open checkbook. That, however, doesn't make him any different from Gilbert.

Where the Knicks look good is with team president Donnie Walsh, a basketball lifer who built the Indiana Pacers into a strong franchise during the 1990s and beyond. Walsh is a solid team-builder who follows his gut, which has proved to be correct more often than not. He went against the entire state of Indiana when he drafted noted Knicks killer Reggie Miller for the Pacers in 1987. Then, he put the right pieces -- Mark Jackson, Rik Smits, Jalen Rose, Antonio Davis and Dale Davis, among others -- around Miller to get the Pacers into the playoffs 16 times in 17 years. With the Knicks having several roster spots to fill, even if they sign LeBron and another star, Walsh's track record should bring comfort.

The LeBron Watch
ESPNNewYork.com looks at several key factors that LeBron James will consider as he approaches free agency.

Monday
Value play: Follow the money »
Tuesday
A revival at the Garden? »
Wednesday
Does a big fish need a big pond? »
LeBron certainly likes Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, who got close to James as an assistant with Team USA, but LeBron also recognizes the importance of defense. He understands you can't win big without an emphasis on stopping people, and that's where D'Antoni falls short. Being a good defensive team takes a strong defensive philosophy, not just throwing a few good defenders out on the floor. The Knicks would be wise to hire a defensive guru as an assistant coach for D'Antoni -- and wise to force D'Antoni to listen to him!

The attraction of the Chicago Bulls is in their roster, not in their front office. Jerry Reinsdorf hasn't proved to be the open vault that Dolan and Gilbert have been, especially when it comes to paying coaches. Meanwhile, vice president John Paxson and GM Gar Forman raised eyebrows around the league with their less-than-stellar handling of the Vinny Del Negro firing. Paxson also raised his fists, nearly coming to blows with Del Negro in a postgame meeting.

Newly hired coach Tom Thibodeau has been a terrific assistant, but his quality as a head coach is unknown. He's represented by William "Worldwide Wes" Wesley, however, and Wes is a member of LeBron's inner circle. One would have to believe that at the very least, the Bulls got assurances from Wes that Thibodeau wouldn't be a deterrent to LeBron's joining the Bulls.

New Jersey and Miami probably have the most attractive decision-makers in the LBJ sweepstakes. The Nets' new owner, Mikhail Prokhorov, is made of money, and president Rod Thorn is one of the most respected men in basketball. He turned Stephon Marbury into Jason Kidd and two trips to the NBA Finals, then turned a disgruntled Alonzo Mourning into Vince Carter.

Thorn showed more intelligence Wednesday by agreeing to terms with Avery Johnson as the Nets' next coach. Johnson coaches defense and led Dallas to its only appearance in the NBA Finals in 2006.

Miami's strength is Pat Riley. Owner Micky Arison lets Riley do as he pleases, and Riley has shown he can not only coach a team to a title but also build one into a champion as well. He brought Mourning to Miami in his prime, then Shaq to South Beach just in time to squeeze a ring out of him. Then, he was able to get rid of Shaq and clear cap space just as The Big Fella was exiting his prime.

Eric Spoelstra is a solid coach, but he hasn't proved to be anything special yet. That's OK, because one imagines that if the Heat can manage to get LeBron and Chris Bosh to join Dwyane Wade, Riley will be stepping back onto the sideline.

I wouldn't even mention the Los Angeles Clippers if there weren't news that entertainment mogul David Geffen wants to buy the club from longtime owner Donald Sterling. Geffen has already courted James and his business manager, Maverick Carter, so if he is able to get ahold of the club, the Clippers would become a player. But Sterling has given no indication he wants to sell, and LeBron won't join a club led by one of the worst owners in league history.

Washington has money, but why walk into that Gilbert Arenas-created fiasco? Sacramento also has max cash, but, uhhh, how to put this kindly? Let's just say nothing's going to get The King to join the Kings.

New York has plenty of off-the-court attractions to try to sell LeBron on -- lifestyle, marketing opportunities, celebrities, etc. -- and the Knicks should use all of that because that stuff holds some weight with LeBron.

But they also need to be careful: Don't try to fool him with all the bells and whistles. He's about winning first, so this ultimately will be a basketball decision for him. And if the Knicks' sales pitch has more to do with the city's glitz and glamour than with the team's basketball plan and potential, that won't sit well with him.

So with proven basketball men in Walsh and D'Antoni, the Knicks may want to focus on one of their few strengths: the quality and success of the men who would build the team around LeBron.

TMS wrote:

LeBron certainly likes Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, who got close to James as an assistant with Team USA, but LeBron also recognizes the importance of defense. He understands you can't win big without an emphasis on stopping people, and that's where D'Antoni falls short. Being a good defensive team takes a strong defensive philosophy, not just throwing a few good defenders out on the floor. The Knicks would be wise to hire a defensive guru as an assistant coach for D'Antoni -- and wise to force D'Antoni to listen to him!

MDA has already gone on record as saying there will be no way in hell he changes any of his coaching philosophy under any circumstances... DW even suggested he'd be open to the idea of hiring a defensive guru to help MDA & MDA shot down & dismissed that idea with a quickness during last season.

CrushAlot wrote:

TMS wrote:

LeBron certainly likes Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, who got close to James as an assistant with Team USA, but LeBron also recognizes the importance of defense. He understands you can't win big without an emphasis on stopping people, and that's where D'Antoni falls short. Being a good defensive team takes a strong defensive philosophy, not just throwing a few good defenders out on the floor. The Knicks would be wise to hire a defensive guru as an assistant coach for D'Antoni -- and wise to force D'Antoni to listen to him!

MDA has already gone on record as saying there will be no way in hell he changes any of his coaching philosophy under any circumstances... DW even suggested he'd be open to the idea of hiring a defensive guru to help MDA & MDA shot down & dismissed that idea with a quickness during last season.

That is also when he finally started playing Toney Douglas. Walsh needs to take off the kid gloves with D'Antoni and focus on what is best for the team. Walsh has spent the last two seasons protecting D'Antoni and allowing him to do damage to a roster that he was supposed to be coaching. D'Antoni has gotten what he wanted. Now he needs to show something and bring a team out of training camp that is prepared and well coached or it is time for Walsh to move on.

for all the talk of those 2 being on the same page, there seems to be some major points of contention... coaching philosophy sorta qualifies as a pretty major one.

nixluva wrote:DW said that he wouldn't tell MDA who to play etc. I think that he trusts MDA, but when a team is losing it makes it tough to just sit by and not butt in. He had to wonder why MDA made the rotation choices he did, but I'm 100% Positive that they talked about the reasons. DW is not a coach and he knows that MDA has had success in this league and has the trust of guys like Coach K and the entire Olympic team loved the guy. Until coming our "Coaches Graveyard" where great coaches go to die, he had a mostly positive rep.

Kerr wanted more D out of MDA and then went and added defensive players and a guy he went on record as saying was brought in to focus on D, in Terry Porter. The PLAYERS didn't respond to him and basically revolted but not because of defense! They didn't care about playing harder on D, they just wanted to get back to running. Now Kerr and company added more size and got Gentry to mix in MDA's O with more D and still the team didn't outdue MDA's smaller teams in terms of defense. In fact if Amare had tried as hard during MDA's tenure maybe they would've won even more.
This clown says this is the 1st time in his career anyone taught him D!!! What about Porter who said he was gonna focus on D and was brought in just for that reason? What about Gentry last year when he took over for Porter? Did Amare just ignore anything Gentry said last year about playing D? Why did he only just this year pick up his effort on D?

I'm bringing this up to say that it's not just the coach, but the players. KG demands that his teammates play hard on D and that is even more important than a coach yelling. When your best player demands D the rest fall in line and that's what MDA has been missing. Who has been the best player on the Knicks during MDA's tenure and did that player demand D and play hard himself? Statistically that would be David Lee!

When Gallo and TD show more guts on D than Lee it's not a good thing. This will change and you'll see better team D when we bring in leaders that will enforce what the coach teaches on the court. Ewing N Oak would destroy someone if they didn't fall in line. We need that kind of leadership again. Not just the coach, but the players.

As far as being able to coach a team with three hofs like Doc Rivers, D'Antoni had the opportunity but was not able to get those teams even to the finals. I won't dispute that D'Antoni likes the game, wants to win or has a system. However, the system doesn't win and is a system that allows its facilitator to not do a lot of work. There is no game planning when your offense or defense doesn't change. A defense based on keeping guys out of the paint because you don't have a big guy because they slow down the game will never be successful in the post season in my opinion.

I agree that D'Antoni has been exposed as a guy that needs a Messier type leader to manage the team, instill a desire to play defense, communicate the need for professionalism and compliance. However, I think that he needs to take on some of that role as the coach. I also think that he needs to coach, teach and communicate. There has to be a lot more to coaching than an offensive system. Communication, teaching, coaching, scouting, game planning are all part of the job description in my opinion. For the past two years I think it would be hard to make an argument that D'Antoni did or was good at any of those aspects of his job.

method wrote:

loweyecue wrote:IF we get Lebron + Bosh, will have one year to show what he can do. He doesn't need to win a chip but he needs to prove he can get the team to compete at the highest level. After that the gloves will come off.

Mike has proved what he could do with elite talent on the Suns.Dont get me wrong I want a defensive coach in the worst way.But I also think that Mike not teaching D is way overblown.

nixluva wrote:DW is not a coach and he knows that MDA has had success in this league and has the trust of guys like Coach K and the entire Olympic team loved the guy.

actually...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Walsh

Walsh played college basketball at the University of North Carolina for legendary coaches Frank McGuire and Dean Smith and was selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the NBA draft, but never played in the NBA. Walsh earned both a bachelor's degree and a law degree at UNC. He turned down opportunities to practice law in order to coach basketball.

Walsh served as an assistant coach for several college teams, including twelve seasons at the University of South Carolina, working with McGuire who was the Gamecocks' head coach. From there Walsh was hired as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets by Larry Brown. He became the head coach of the Nuggets in 1979 and held the position for a year and a half, being replaced with Doug Moe in 1980. In 1984, he became an assistant with the Indiana Pacers.

CrushAlot wrote:

nixluva wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

method wrote:

loweyecue wrote:IF we get Lebron + Bosh, will have one year to show what he can do. He doesn't need to win a chip but he needs to prove he can get the team to compete at the highest level. After that the gloves will come off.

Mike has proved what he could do with elite talent on the Suns.Dont get me wrong I want a defensive coach in the worst way.But I also think that Mike not teaching D is way overblown.

Mike has also proven what he can do without Steve Nash. In the four seasons that he coached without Nash he has won at a rate of 38%. I am not sure what the mystery is with him. He has a gimmicky system and can experience success if he has mvp type talent at the point that will also control the locker room. Without that he wins at a percentage lower than any other coach I can think of. When you consider his need for players that don't need coaching, display tremendous character on and off the court, and are fully evolved as players there doesn't seem to be a need for anything more than a babysitter on the bench. When you consider that he doesn't scout other teams, or change his offense or defense for any matchups, and doesn't like to hold practice, and he doesn't want to coach or play rookies, it is hard to justify his having a job. I think Walsh is caught up in showing that he made the right hire when he gave D'Antoni 5 mil a year for a three year rebuild. When you consider that all D'Antoni had to do for the last two years was teach and develop his young players with no expectations, it is amazing how bad he screwed up.

You really want to count the 2 years here as some kind of evidence of MDA's value? That seems a bit lame to me. Why should the 2 years here count so much more than the winning seasons in PHX? Also let's keep it accurate here. He didn't coach a full season in Denver (50 Games) and he didn't coach a full season in PHX (61) his 1st as headcoach before they added Nash. The Denver team was garbage and the Suns were in transition mode. Here we all know that DW was set on breaking this team down to nothing for this summer. Sure it would be nice if MDA pulled more out of the team, but i'm not ready to kill the guy when the vets knew they were out of here at the end of the year. It's real hard to get players to fully commit to giving everything they have.

MDA did teach our young players. To look at how they played at the start of the year and how much better they got as the season went along, it's clear that the young players did better. This is just a biased butcher job to suggest that he somehow failed to develop players. Plus he was successful at helping players to improve all of his time in PHX. His record is solid in that regard.

Now we a chance to test your theory and see what MDA can do with a team fully committed to playing team ball and winning.

I think you absolutely have to count the last two years in NY. If D'Antoni was just babysitting until next year then why didn't he play the rookies and start preparing the team for the future? How come during the moratorium on expectations for the coach to teach and prepare players D'Antoni devalued assets and forced Walsh into compromising positions where he had to defend him. I think a coach who comes out of training camp with the core players from his rotation the previous year and has his team go 1-9 and appear to be unprepared it is on the coach. Not sure how you dismiss all of that.

As far as D'Antoni teaching the young players, I think you need to be specific. Bender, Jeffries, Duhon etc were getting minutes on a 29 win team while Douglas and Hill sat. Douglas played great when Walsh traveled with the team in March and D'Antoni finally gave him minutes. Hill was much better at the end of the season but it was in Houston after he finally started getting minutes.

Totally agree. MDA has not impressed me at all, and instead of playing guys like Douglas and Hill, he spent most of the season letting the team waste away while Duhon, Bender, and Jeffries got significant minutes.

TMS wrote:

nixluva wrote:DW is not a coach and he knows that MDA has had success in this league and has the trust of guys like Coach K and the entire Olympic team loved the guy.

actually...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Walsh

Walsh played college basketball at the University of North Carolina for legendary coaches Frank McGuire and Dean Smith and was selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the NBA draft, but never played in the NBA. Walsh earned both a bachelor's degree and a law degree at UNC. He turned down opportunities to practice law in order to coach basketball.

Walsh served as an assistant coach for several college teams, including twelve seasons at the University of South Carolina, working with McGuire who was the Gamecocks' head coach. From there Walsh was hired as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets by Larry Brown. He became the head coach of the Nuggets in 1979 and held the position for a year and a half, being replaced with Doug Moe in 1980. In 1984, he became an assistant with the Indiana Pacers.

TMS, don't let facts get in the way of nix's propaganda machine.

Panos wrote:

TMS wrote:

nixluva wrote:DW is not a coach and he knows that MDA has had success in this league and has the trust of guys like Coach K and the entire Olympic team loved the guy.

actually...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donnie_Walsh

Walsh played college basketball at the University of North Carolina for legendary coaches Frank McGuire and Dean Smith and was selected by the Philadelphia Warriors in the NBA draft, but never played in the NBA. Walsh earned both a bachelor's degree and a law degree at UNC. He turned down opportunities to practice law in order to coach basketball.

Walsh served as an assistant coach for several college teams, including twelve seasons at the University of South Carolina, working with McGuire who was the Gamecocks' head coach. From there Walsh was hired as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets by Larry Brown. He became the head coach of the Nuggets in 1979 and held the position for a year and a half, being replaced with Doug Moe in 1980. In 1984, he became an assistant with the Indiana Pacers.

TMS, don't let facts get in the way of nix's propaganda machine.

I wasn't trying to say he never coached before! My point was that he's a GM and stays in his lane. He said he wasn't going to effectively coach from the front office. It's easy to take a statement and misrepresent what the poster intended to say. The context of my post makes it clear how I meant the statement. It was in relation to DW's promise to leave coaching decisions up to MDA, but you guys go on a twist it to make it sound like I was talking about DW's past career positions.

The thing is MDA was hired because he is a respected BB coach that many of the top players like as well. DW wanted him here for this summer and so far players are still saying positive things about the prospect of playing for him. MDA is a plus and not a negative.

Nalod wrote:SOme say guys like Phil Jax are over rated becasue of their rosters (like teams win without?), but when a good coach has a bad roster ts his fault.

Like Fishmike said, we had a host of good coaches who have had good careers but not with a starphuched roster as we have had.

Even guys like Rondo could not have developed without the support of 3 HOF's in the line up.

Playing rookies later in the season and they start to do well is a sign of development. Y'all assume they were ready to go and the big bad MDA kept them down?

MDA never lost his team. Blowouts were few and the team stayed in the game most of the time.

really? mr collins says hello... the reason some folks rag on mike is cuz this team was going nowhere and playing the rooks probably would have made the record worse, yet the young guys would have been exposed to games all year. rather have them take lumps at the start then at the end when many of the games had no value to the knicks or whoever they were playing. i really cant see how dnp-cds or garbage mins early in the season helped anyone.