CrushAlot wrote:tkf wrote:Nash is smart and content, he just wants to compete. I love the guy, just a great person and player... A close source to him said he didn't like the way the knicks treated dantoni.. I don't blame nash...
I would expect Nash to side with D'Antoni as he is a high character guy and loyal to his friend and former coach. That being said I have posted several times that I don't think Melo was aware that there was a 'rift' between himself and D'Antoni. I think Melo, like the other olympians, saw Mike as a laid back guy that didn't sweat things. I think the reality was that Mike really did sweat things but he also struggled to communicate and take an authoritarian role with some of his players. I remember when D'Antoni first resigned Melo was interviewed after the game and said he was going to text him to see how he was doing. He seemed to genuinely be concerned about Mike and also seemed shocked that he had resigned. Just my take and it might be wrong.
I could go on and on about the issues between Melo and MDA. There was a sort of passive aggressive fight going on and if you read thru the statements and actions of the key players on the team you can tell that it was mostly about Melo and MDA. Melo feigns ignorance but he knows what the deal was. As i've posted many times, Melo admitted he wasn't giving his all for MDA. What else are we to understand that to mean?
Amar'e: Players made D'Antoni 'look bad'
FRANK ISOLA
Thursday, March 15, 2012Amar’e Stoudemire believes that Mike D’Antoni resigned because “everyone wasn’t buying into his system” and that it made the Knicks former head coach “look bad.” The implication, of course, is that D’Antoni resigned on Wednesday because he could no longer work with Carmelo Anthony, who had struggled under D’Antoni since last year’s celebrated trade with the Denver Nuggets. Tyson Chandler, however, defended Anthony, saying that his All-Star teammate had become an easy scapegoat with the Knicks getting off to an 18-24 start. After beating Portland to snap a six-game losing streak Wednesday night, Anthony refused to accept responsibility for D’Antoni abruptly stepping down.
LUPICA: DOLAN - NOT LOGIC - IS KING AT MSG “It didn’t have anything to do with that,” Anthony said. “That was Coach’s decision. I really don’t know where his mind-set was at, what he thought, what he’s thinking as far his decision to step down. Anything about me and Mike he’ll tell you we never had any issues. Any disagreements he had with us as a team we talked about and we went from there.” For several days there were rumblings of unrest in the locker room with some players unhappy with Anthony as well D’Antoni. Before resigning, D’Antoni told reporters that he felt he still had the support of his players. “But you have to ask them that,” he said early Wednesday. “I’m confident. I think they’re great and have been great and we’ll battle through this.”
TIMELINE: D'ANTONI'S TIME RUNS OUT AS KNICKS HEAD COACH Stoudemire, who was an All-Star under D’Antoni in both Phoenix and New York, became less and less of a factor after Anthony was acquired. The Knicks were a dynamic offensive team in the pre-Melo days, but in the 74 games they played since the Anthony trade and with D’Antoni as the coach the Knicks went 32-42. Last week, Anthony admitted that he was struggling to adjust to an offense in which Jeremy Lin, and not he, was the primary ball-handler.
“I know he tried to implement a certain system,” Stoudemire said. “And everyone wasn’t buying into it, so he may have been a little frustrated so he felt stepping down was the best way for him.” When asked if the locker room was divided, Stoudemire said: “It’s never easy. Whenever you’re losing ballgames, frustration sets in. The ultimate cure to anything is to win. And at that point in time we weren’t doing that.”
Stoudemire defended his coach, saying the Knicks' struggles are not D'Antoni's fault. He said it's up to the players to do more and that he's not the only one who would like D'Antoni to remain the Knicks' coach."I think we all do," Stoudemire said. "We'd all love to have Mike coach us. We don't want to go through a drastic change midseason like that. We just got to play hard. We've got to give him the best opportunity to coach us and be coachable. We have to be coachable."
Stoudemire said he was unaware of reports that D'Antoni could have been coaching for his job this weekend. He said his only thought Saturday was getting a win. And the Knicks got one, beating the Nets, 99-92, behind backup point guard Jeremy Lin's 25 points and seven assists.
Lin's performance supported what Stoudemire, who also played for D'Antoni with the Suns, has been saying all season.
Stoudemire believes in D'Antoni's system, which is predicated on ball movement, point guard penetration and a heavy dose of pick-and-rolls. But the ball has stuck and there have been more isolations for Carmelo Anthony and Stoudemire because they haven't had a point guard who can break down defenses consistently.
"You can see night in and night out how the system works," Stoudemire said. "If we keep that going, we'll be good."
http://www.newsday.com/sports/basketball/knicks/stoudemire-believes-in-d-antoni-s-system-1.3506863Stoudemire ripped some of his teammates for not studying the game plan and “reading the board’’ before games. Stoudemire, who mostly has been upbeat, is calculating in what he says to the media and his accusations serve a purpose. Time is running out on D’Antoni.Chandler said the team has resorted to excuse-making and players have to “man up.’’ It was unclear if Chandler was referring to Carmelo Anthony or Baron Davis, both of whom sat out this weekend due to injuries.
“We all have to look at ourselves and figure what we can do better to help the team,’’ Chandler said. “Everybody’s banged up. It’s times like this you have to dig deep. It’s about the team that wants it more.’’
For now, D’Antoni has a lifeline in Anthony’s sore wrist and Davis’ sore back. The promise of those players’ returns are keeping him employed.
If Davis’ debut was not on the horizon and Anthony was healthy, the Knicks’ 7-13 record and 1-9 stretch in their past 10 games would not have been tolerated and he would have been fired, considering owner James Dolan’s high expectations.
Anthony, who rested his ailments the past two games, including Friday’s showdown with the Heat, was not in the locker room after the Houston loss. He was not on the bench for either game because he was getting treatment, but should be back at practice today and play tomorrow.
Anthony never has appeared to be a big fan of D’Antoni’s speedball offense, which he has mockingly referred to as “D’Antoni’s quote unquote system.’’ After last season, Anthony seemed ambivalent compared to Stoudemire when asked if he wanted D’Antoni back.
D’Antoni and Anthony rarely are seen talking to each other, not nearly as much as D’Antoni talks to Stoudemire, Chandler, Davis and rookie Iman Shumpert.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/sports/knicks/hot_mike_seat_MHIml1AsgX9reKfLPjntdM#ixzz1ysGnwWbH
6/26/2012 1:37 AM