Nixing D'Antoni

Mike D'Antoni/AP Images

With D'Antoni's resignation came change for the Knicks, the team is now up .500 and Matt tells us how they got there.


By Matt Rose


When Mike D’Antoni resigned from the Knicks on March 14, change was certain. D’Antoni would surely have been fired had he not resigned. He lost the players—most notably Carmelo Anthony. The players simply did not buy into his system, which allowed for equal distribution of scoring, rather than riding Anthony and Amare Stoudemire. Thus, interim Head Coach Mike Woodson decided to cater to his stars upon taking the reigns. It has worked, but not for that reason.

The Knicks are 8-1 under Woodson, and have crawled above .500 for the first time since January. Interestingly, the key players for the Knicks are all scoring within a point of their season average.

There are two differences.

First, the Knicks gave up on D’Antoni. The players stopped putting effort in, and Anthony was vocally upset about D’Antoni. Rumors emerged that Anthony requested a trade and went to management asking for D’Antoni to be fired. While he denied those rumors, the damage was done. Also, Amare Stoudemire was quoted as stating, "He had a certain idea of a system that we were supposed to implement. We didn't all quite buy into it and he got frustrated and I think that's why he took his way out,” (ESPN.com). Translation: they did not exert full effort because they wanted to do it their way. Stoudemire and Anthony are among the highest paid players in the league. They are paid to play, regardless of the system. D’Antoni inherited immature and selfish players who wanted to play their own way. In the NBA today, the player—in this case players—always win.

The second reason the Knicks have turned it around is because of their impressive defensive efforts. They have held opponents under eighty points in four of the nine games, and held opponents to an average of 84.1 PPG- 10.5 PPG less than their season average. Defense is a product of effort, so it can be argued that effort is the sole reason for the Knicks troubles.

Ultimately, the Knicks have turned things around. If the Sixers continue to falter, the Knicks have a chance to catch them and capture the Atlantic Division. Mike Woodson is doing everything he can to remove the interim label from his coaching position. Carmelo and Amare—when he returns from his bulging disc in two to four weeks—will carry the Knicks. But before condemning Mike D’Antoni remember something: the players that fit his system left for Denver when Carmelo arrived at the deadline last year.