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crzymdups
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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/sports/basketball/11knicks.html?_r=1&ref=sports&oref=sloginD’Antoni Accepts Offer to Coach Knicks
By HOWARD BECK
Published: May 11, 2008
Mike D’Antoni likes his basketball to be fast and furious, entertaining and effective — in essence, everything the Knicks are not. In the most counterintuitive move of the year, D’Antoni agreed Saturday to become their new coach.
Donnie Walsh, the Knicks’ president, concluded a methodical three-week search by landing perhaps the best coach on the market, selecting D’Antoni, the celebrated Phoenix Suns coach, out of a field that included Avery Johnson, Rick Carlisle and Mark Jackson.
Neither D’Antoni nor Walsh were available for comment. The Knicks, in response to widespread news reports, confirmed Saturday evening that D’Antoni had “agreed in principle” to become their coach. The 57-year-old D’Antoni is expected in New York on Sunday to sign a four-year deal worth $24 million. Contract details were still being worked out, and a news conference was not expected until Tuesday at the earliest.
D’Antoni and the Suns agreed to terminate the final two years of his contract in Phoenix with no obligations. Under the terms of that agreement, the Knicks will not have to provide the Suns with compensation.
At a glance, the marriage of D’Antoni — an offensive innovator with a fondness for up-tempo basketball — and the badly constructed roster of the Knicks seems problematic. But D’Antoni, who helped transform the Suns into a Western Conference power, is known to like a challenge.
A former associate of D’Antoni’s referred to him “the world’s greatest contrarian,” a view that makes his decision to join the Knicks a little more sensible.
“Mike’s looking forward to the challenge, and he feels he has the right resources to take it on,” D’Antoni’s agent, Warren LeGarie, said.
The Knicks have not had a winning record since 2001 and have not won a playoff series since 2000, despite a payroll that is annually among the league’s highest. They have cycled through five head coaches and dozens of players in the last four years.
The Knicks won just 23 games this season, leading to the eventual removal of Isiah Thomas as the team’s president and coach. The rebuilding plan is not clear, but Walsh’s first major move was a striking one.
D’Antoni, the 2005 coach of the year, has been one of the league’s most successful coaches over the last four seasons. The Suns averaged 58 wins in D’Antoni’s four full seasons and made the Western Conference finals in 2005 and 2006. They were one of four teams — along with Detroit, San Antonio and Dallas — to win at least 50 games in each of the last four years.
D’Antoni’s run-and-gun offense, a throwback to the 1980s, helped reinvigorate the N.B.A. after years of plodding, slow-down basketball.
The Knicks do not have the point guard, the athletes or the wealth of shooters that made D’Antoni’s frenetic offense hum in Phoenix. But Walsh was already expected to make substantial changes to the roster in the next two years. With D’Antoni on board, substantial may give way to radical.
Under D’Antoni, the Suns’ goal was to shoot in seven seconds or less, before defenses had a chance to set up. Transition 3-pointers were encouraged, and every open shot was deemed to be a good one. D’Antoni designed the offense, but point guard Steve Nash made it sizzle.
The Knicks’ incumbent point guard is Stephon Marbury, who was traded by the Suns a month after D’Antoni became their coach. Marbury, whose contract expires in 2009, did not figure to be in the Knicks’ long-term plans, regardless of who was hired.
A handful of Knicks, notably guards Jamal Crawford and Nate Robinson and forwards David Lee and Wilson Chandler, may flourish in D’Antoni’s free-wheeling system. Quentin Richardson had perhaps his best professional season playing for the Suns in 2004-5, although he has since been slowed by injuries. The Knicks’ two lumbering big men, Zach Randolph and Eddy Curry, are probably a poor fit in D’Antoni’s offense, but Walsh already seemed intent on trading at least one of them.
It is likely that D’Antoni and Walsh discussed a vision for overhauling the roster before striking the agreement. Walsh has said he wants the Knicks to be competitive immediately, although the rebuilding process is likely to be messy for a year or two.
It is in 2010 that D’Antoni may be most valuable. Walsh wants the Knicks to be under the salary cap by that summer, when LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will be free agents. Having D’Antoni, a player-friendly coach with an easy-going demeanor and an offense that players love, can only help the recruiting process.
D’Antoni became available after Phoenix lost its opening playoff series to the San Antonio Spurs — the Suns’ only first-round exit on D’Antoni’s watch. Tensions had been simmering between D’Antoni and the front office, specifically the new general manager, Steve Kerr. D’Antoni reportedly has been resistant to Kerr’s suggestions and to placing more of an emphasis on defense.
The Suns granted D’Antoni permission last week to interview with the Knicks and the Chicago Bulls. D’Antoni reportedly met with Jerry Reinsdorf, the Bulls’ chairman, on Friday in Phoenix and discussed the outlines of a deal.
The Bulls have more talent and seemed to be a better fit, but they were not willing to match the Knicks’ offer. At $6 million a season, D’Antoni will be the third-highest-paid coach in the league, behind the Los Angeles Lakers’ Phil Jackson ($12 million) and the Spurs’ Gregg Popovich ($7 million).
It remains to be seen whether Walsh will ask D’Antoni to bend his style or make defense a higher priority. But D’Antoni showed his flexibility in February, when he pushed for the trade that brought Shaquille O’Neal to Phoenix and effectively ended the seven-seconds-or-less era.
His greatest adjustment is yet to come. Some of this article is reassuring. It feels better to think that Walsh was the driving force behind this decision and that both he and D'Antoni discussed the roster beforehand. I still don't think it's the best move at all, but it should be an interesting summer, to say the least.
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5/11/2008 12:59 AM