D-Day for Mike D'AntoniIn the final days of his empire, Mike D'Antoni changed significantly. He became sullen, withdrawn, abrupt with the media. He played hurt. He took on the role of martyr, a man who felt betrayed by his own organization.
Sorry, coach, but some meddling is necessary if the Suns are ever going to win a championship.
Once upon a time, when he was fostering a dynamic run-and-stun style of offense, D'Antoni needed a certain type of player to succeed. The short bench and limited rotation was a logical residue of the system. After all, not everyone in uniform had the speed or athleticism for such a novel approach.
That's no longer the case. D'Antoni's innovative style was compromised long before Shaquille O'Neal arrived in a trade for Shawn Marion, and the head coach's skittish nature and small circle of trust when it comes to the bench is no longer acceptable. In today's NBA, you just can't have half the team acting and feeling like useless sparring partners, and D'Antoni has grown reckless in this regard.
You can argue all you want about who he had on the end of his bench, but I'm guessing if D'Antoni coached the Spurs, guys like Ime Udoka would never see the floor.
Defensively, General Manager Steve Kerr has every right to ask for more. Despite their soft image, the Suns have shown an amazing ability to play lock-down defense when absolutely necessary. They did it in those last two playoff games against the Spurs. But they won't do it consistently because their coach doesn't demand it, teach it or drill it into their heads.
So, after their fourth consecutive bout of playoff failure, Kerr has every right to ask D'Antoni to adjust, and it could be an easy fix. Kerr can bring in a few operational bench pieces and a defensive specialist as a head coach, a guy that can take over the last 20 minutes of practice.
This shouldn't be such a terrible blow to the ego, and if D'Antoni wanted to be a championship coach and not a gimmick coach, he should embrace Kerr's input.
But here's the real issue: D'Antoni can't control his best player, Amare Stoudemire, and both men know it. Stoudemire has tested D'Antoni's authority at least two times in the past, and never faced serious reprimand. And near the end of the playoff series against the Spurs, Stoudemire made his thoughts about D'Antoni implicitly clear.
That situation is not an easy fix, and it's that dynamic that probably spells the end of D'Antoni's run in Phoenix.
