Depending on what report you read in each respective market -- and each market has its own conflicting reports -- the Knicks are either hotly after Mike D'Antoni or being used as leverage to get D'Antoni's only legitimate option, the Chicago Bulls, to ante up.
Then comes another late-night report by ESPN.com, which said the Knicks are preparing a "staggering" offer to D'Antoni to make him their next coach.
Staggering? While they are laying out $18.5 million to Larry Brown, who, technically, would still be the coach? While they are still paying $18 million to Isiah Thomas, who, technically, still has a job in the organization?
They just print money out there in Woodbury, don't they?
But we know how much Garden chairman James Dolan loves big names and, even if he personally likes Mark Jackson, Dolan knows D'Antoni is a marquee name and knows D'Antoni plays a very entertaining style. Never mind the idea that the current Knicks roster doesn't fit the style...and we've already seen the result of an easygoing coach who doesn't practice a lot and leaves it up to his players to police themselves.
Ugh.
Perhaps Donnie Walsh has full autonomy over the Knicks, but the final decisions still have to be OK'd by Dolan.
And Warren LeGarie is a smart agent. He knows he has the attention of the media, which is hungry for morsels as this story continues to develop. He knows he has the attention of the New York market and that he can use the involvement of Dolan's money as a wild card to his advantage, whether it is serious or not. Agents do what's best for their clients, so you can't expect full disclosure, nor candor.
Bottom line, what kind of negotiations can you have when there's only one team in the competition? D'Antoni will have to walk away from $8.5 million in Phoenix to take another job. You want to make that money back somehow. The Knicks throw money at everyone with a big name, that's the history. And as long as there is an opening in New York, D'Antoni has to be considered a serious candidate, regardless of how poorly his style fits with the current roster.
You have to expect Walsh wants to name his coach sometime before the end of May, preferably before the Pre-Draft camp in Orlando after Memorial Day weekend. Teams are allowed to bring in potential draft picks after the Pre-Draft camp, so you would want your coach in on those workouts.
Walsh also may still be waiting on the opportunity to talk with Celtics associate coach Tom Thibodeau.
And, when all is said and done, I am still of the belief that Walsh's instinct tells him Jackson is the right man for this job, which doesn't mean Jackson is the best candidate available. The Knicks job is very specific and can not be treated as if it is the same as coaching in Milwaukee or Memphis or even Chicago. There are peripheral issues the coach has to be able to handle, including the media intensity (which is why I can't take Avery Johnson seriously for this job...but can see him in Atlanta).
But aside from the need for thick skin is a need for someone who can get this franchise through what will be some challenging seasons in the next two years as Walsh attempts to get this team's payroll to a more manageable number.
And, let's be honest, under the cap by 2010? The more you research the numbers, as some of you Fixers have, the more it seems unlikely the Knicks can be in position to be a player for LeBron, et al - unless you do a slash and burn.
As always, stay tuned.
Comments (31)
Alan, why do you and so many reports keep stating that the Knicks current roster is not a good fit for D'Antoni? Their current roster is not a good fit for any coach. And, I don't think Walsh is thinking about next year exclusively, but rather two or three years as they have a top five pick this year, and probably a top five pick next year.
Then you can start to think seriously about playoffs and building a "style."
And Mark Jackson is a local hero, but let's face it, the last time we hired a former point guard as our coach, one with little experience, it didn't turn out all that well.
And also, Mark Jackson was never a good defender and he always focused on offense. So how is he any different than D'Antoni?
im still so angry how isiah has ruined this team for the next decade, all the choices he made have negatively impacted this team for the future and there isn't a coach that can effectively right this sinking ship
Guys,
Why so down?
1. If Wilson Chandler turns out to be a legitimate player he looked like late in the season, that gives us one good long term chip.
2. If we draft well this year, that gives us 2 long term chips.
3. It only takes 3 high level chips and a few solid role players to be a major contender.
4. The Knicks have plenty of good role players.
5. So we may only be one solid player away from having a very good team by the end of this year.
I have been told that DAntoni coached an entirely different style in Italy and won a championship. So the idea that he HAS to coach small fast players and a wide open offense may be more a matter of the players he had on the Suns than the only style he can coach.
want to read something interesting KD? Check out Alan’s recent blog and how the entire blog focusses on knocking Peaceman off his reverse-racist soap box. You were so right about that dude it aint even funny.
Comment by johnQ — May 1, 2008 @ 9:25 am
alan,
would you still say the knicks roster is a bad fit for d'antoni if they win the lottery? having a point guard like derrick rose running an up-tempo style sounds attractive. eddy, jamal, zach -- those guys can be moved.
IF IT COMES TO A BIDDING WAR
WALSH HAS MORE AMO IN THE TANK THAN THE BULLS
dolan will spend!
that is the one positive that dolan has.
he will spend money and he will never be outbidded by another team
money talks,BS walks
allan says that this team is ill fitted for d'antoni's style but we have been playing an uptempo style for the past few seasons
the knicks have been playing organized street ball without X and O's
say we trade away randolph or curry for some scraps and a draft pick
pick up an athletic 4 or 5
draft a rose or a bayless as PG(even mayo)
and the knicks are an uptempo team
I completely forgot: Anyone else know Isiah traded our 2nd round pick, 36 overall, for Nichols, who got cut before the season?!?!?
Thanks, Isiah!!!
This is very exciting!! I'm having fun, as a Knicks fan, for the first time in a couple of years.
I'd prefer a coach with something to prove. Looks like there are several available. The reason I have always like Don Nelson is that he seems to fit a system around the players he has. If D'Antoni is also of that mind, I'd love to see him and Walsh work together to form a team.
Offense/defense - who cares. Get us a TEAM that can play together well, and who make the game fun, again.
@WC - What you "heard" was reported in other places, which was echoes of the agent's thoughts. If you are saying D'Antoni only coached that system in Phoenix because that was the type of players he had you are drinking the Kool Aid. If that was the case, why is D'Antoni so against changing his style at the request of the Suns' management??
The Knicks played a lot of wide-open, one-on-one freelance, yes, but what did it result in? 23 wins.
D'Antoni could certainly coach the Knicks better than Isiah Thomas -- that goes without saying -- but don't any of you cringe at the idea of seeing more wide-open free-for-all basketball with little to no emphasis on defense? Eddy or Zach barely getting to halfcourt most of the time? For D'Antoni, the Bulls have far more potential for him to win immediately and build a solid team that could contend in the East (they were believed to be already there two years ago).
So backload the contract so the Bulls can get out from under Skiles' deal. Or if the Bulls won't give up a guaranteed long-term, then have an opt-out after the third year.
I just think Jackson is the right personality for the Knicks job. His staff will be critical, obviously, to help him through the in-game management part. But Jax will be good for a Derrick Rose (if they get so fortunate) and unquestionably good for Nate. If Ewing shows up, perhaps he'll be able to reach Eddy.
And, as I've said also, I wouldn't sleep on Tom Thibodeau, either. He's paid his dues, been around for a long time and has earned great respect around the league.
Enough re-treads....
@flybanjo - As much as Derrick Rose is a no-brainer, I don't think a 20 year old rookie point guard comes in and changes everything that quickly.
@Jeff - yes, that was known. They lost the second-rounder to get Demetris Nichols. I was told they were supposed to get Taurean Green from Portland as well, but it fell through after the Blazers got fed up with dealing with the Knicks on draft day.
Alan,
Mark Jackson = Marbury "Light."
He was a worse defender than Crawford! The only reason the knicks had a winning record was Ewing and Oak's help defense,
Not exactly Curry's and Zach's strong points! Curry would have
no place on a D'Antonio. He's beyond any help Ewing can provide!
To give Mark Jackson the head coaching job would be equal to
pushing him in front of the "E" train at rush hour! These Knicks
will eat him alive!
PS. Please ZAP the troll, or send him over to the Fanatics?
I would love to toy with the troll! He's keeping good posters like Trane and others away!
Peaceman, is that really you, saying something nice about Trane? Shocking...unless I misremember.
Besides, a guy's playing ability doesn't translate into his coaching ability. After all, Isiah could probably outdo Byron Scott on the floor back in the day. Phil Jackson and Riles weren't even starters.
@ Mike,
I always respected Trane's posts! Even though we disagree
98% of the time, doesn't mean I dislike him! It's good to have different opinion's .....it would be boring as hell to see CLONE
postings! The troll is another subject! His main cause in life is
to remind people that BIRTH CONTROL is a good thing! LOL
What's disturbing me a lot is the fact the Knicks throw money around like its going out of style. Mike D'Antoni is a good coach. But, you don't give him a huge contract and expect great change with the 08-09 Knicks??? Brown, Isiah, Wilkins, ect.ect. Don't let me started with players that are not worth a single penny of their contracts. This franchise is a disgrace from coaching to administration. Cablevision is really cursing this city and franchise with their stupendous economic moves and WAIST of money $$$. Give it to the survivors of the monsoon. They deserve it more than these bums....
that’s great Peaceman.
after you slandered Trane viciously on KnicksDefense while he was not able to defend himself, now you respect him. that’s great Peace. nice job.
let’s see how Peace will do a tap dance this one
PS
watch ur backs. be very wary of the da Peaceman.
...Does a rumored 30 million dollar offer for a coach named D'Antoni(plus of course two former coaches) at all count towards the salary cap in 2010, should it happen? I was thinking it was just the players' salaries that counted towards the cap, but I admit I am not very familiar with these salary cap rules.
@ The troll......Trane has always been in a position to defend himself! He's never been banned from Alan's like you!
You want to turn this blog into Berman's so I won't further comment with Snake shyt the like of you!
@ Mike,
"Besides, a guy's playing ability doesn't translate into his coaching ability. After all, Isiah could probably outdo Byron Scott on the floor back in the day. Phil Jackson and Riles weren't even starters"
I had season tickets and saw up close and personal....
Mark Jackson the PERSON! He was the FIRST Knick ever Booed
off the court in MSG! There is a saying that success and money
bring out the person you really are! Well after his ROY....he became arrogent....disrespectful to fans and Rod Strickland, who was a much better point guard who happened to be drafted one year later than Jackson! Everyone at the Garden Loved Strickland's speed and game! In fact I remember one game where Jackson was getting Killed by Ainge, Pitino subbed Strickland for
Jackson and Strick turned our 12 point deficet into a ten point lead, when Jackson came back in for Strick he was booed so loud that when he was fouled and went to the FT line the Booing continued as Jackson almost had a Nervious breakdown at the line! Ewing turned to the Crowd and made "STOP" gestures..to no avail. Jackson's biggest enemy is "STU JACKSON" ....
because Mark cussed him out in front of the team which led to Stu being replaced! With Stu now Stern's main Shyt stain....
you think Stu will ever forgive Mark Jackson? Will the Knick's ever get a fair shake from Stern's office from Stu? Mark Jackson is a Cancer = to Marbury!.......Let's count Mark Jackson's Rings?
.......................ZERO!!!!!!!!!
also, what is the latest on the GM search?
don't tell me Walsh is settling for a yes man named Grunwald.
the Z-Bo trade merits sending him packing now.
tabula rasa.
a clean slate.
the last president of this organization got to hand pick every single component.
why shouldn't this new one?
Fire Dr. Lisa!
Dolan,
If Walsh says to get D'Antoni then get him no matter how much it costs. He's a winner and has turned the Phonix franchise around.
Nate, Balkman, Chandler, Lee, Crawford even Marbury LOVE to run and can play sporatic situational defense.
Let's have some fun and win some games. It's the East for goodness sake.
Amen to " President and CEO"
Except leave Marbury out of that post.....and your on to something!
I disagree that Derrick Rose will not have an impact if not in his first year at least in his second. Chris Paul, Derron Williams, Dwayne Wade, Jason Kidd, Jason Williams (pre-injury), etc. all of these great can't miss in the draft PGs had a tremoundous impact on their team in both their first and second years. They were all young PGs as well. Don't know if Derrick Rose is as good as them yet but he seems like it and hopefully will have the same impact.
@ WC: I can't believe the Knicks are 1 year away. I have believed that for the past six years and look where it has gotten me. As Nasty Nas would say it is destroy and rebuild time, starting with Rose, Bayless, or Mayo; a bruiser like Evans, Wilcox or Dorsey; and a legit stud free agent in 2010.
Yeah, D'Antoni is the guy to make the current Knicks team a playoff team with a losing record in the weak East.
That's not doing anything for me. I'd rather break this thing down and rebuild. And when you do that, you've got to have a coach that is going to instill work ethic and defense in young players. Can D'Antoni be that guy too? I'm not sure...
12 days till ping pong balls. I bet we'll have a coach by then..
go to da Possette's website, KnicksDefense dot com and see da archives of Peaceman butchering and knifing Trane in da back for everyone to see
poor Trane, not able to defend himself because he probably did not even see those postings at KD
watch ur backs with da Peaceman
Knicksdefense is trying to premote his "DEAD" blog!
He use's the Handel "Anonymous at posts 16:18 & 17:42.
The troll only refers to Peaceman as "Peacewoman."
Stop embrarassing yourself Knicksdefense! Your Blog is dead, you have one post...to yourself in the last two days!
This is one time "the Troll" is innocent! Only a retard pretending he can handel being a Blog host would ask such a stupid question as " Does the Coach's salary afect the CAP?"
FYI ....the answer is no Retard! Unbelieveable!!!!!!!!
The legendary statement is that there is no such thing as a "Stupid"
question! Knicksdefense has just proved that wrong with his quest for " does the Coach's salary count on the teams Cap?"
Knicksdefense is the reason why there's a reality show called
" are you smarter than a 5TH grader?"
So..pray tell me...what do you call a "STUPID" question?
D'Antoni is a terrible choice. Terrible.
Something to think about ....from agent Zero!!!!!!!!
The Future
The future is the future. I want to be back in Washington, but weird things happen in free agency. If Antawn is not back, then there’s no point in me coming back because he’s part of my success, too. When you’re doing pick and roll with a player like him, they can’t double you, they can’t trap you because you have a pick and pop guy who can shoot the three at your four position. My success is because of him too. If he doesn’t come back, I’m not coming back.
I know everybody is focusing on whether I’m coming back, but I’m focusing on what he’s doing. If he doesn’t come back, then I’m not coming back.
I'd like to see them both in the O&B!!!!!!!!!!!! Healthy!!!!!
RPOY = Retarded post of the Year.....
goes to .......Knicksdefense! For the following:
Posted by knicksdefense | May 8, 2008 16:25 ...Does a rumored 30 million dollar offer for a coach named D'Antoni(plus of course two former coaches) at all count towards the salary cap in 2010, should it happen? I was thinking it was just the players' salaries that counted towards the cap, but I admit I am not very familiar with these salary cap rules.
CONGRAT'S KNICKSDEFENSE!
Points taken, Peace. I honestly don't know if Jackson will be a good coach or not. Clearly he's been promoting himself for the job. I didn't have those season tix you did, so I can't contradict. Besides, my instinct is not to toss a total rookie into the head coach's seat. (And that was a good one about the birth control, too.)
In the NBA, 2s and 3s can and should run. So what Phoenix had, that NY needs to run like Phoenix, is a distributing point guard and one big to trail. I don't know if Stephon's up to it--I'm not high on him, but I'm not as down on him as Peace is--and other than Lee, no bigs on this team can even think about running. So if they get D'Antoni, at least one of Zach or Eddy will be gone.
wow, I'm sure you've heard this before, but you really illustrate your low level of education and maturity with each and every post.
don't think I don't know who you are, littleman. fake names fool nobody. must be a small person on the other end of that computer, mentally, physically, or spiritually, take your pick.
but lets go into it. alan's post, which you did not bother to read obviously, was about the multi millions of dollars being thrown at the past two coaches in addition to the bids for a new coach this offseason. he concluded his post with the suggestion that the knicks would never get under the cap by 2010.
so my question was merely following the logic of alan's post.
you see that's the problem with uneducated people, they're utterly unaware of their level of ignorance. they think they know, but when it is time for them to talk, only the most base and meaningless stuff comes out.
And trying to explain yourself to said ignorance? Not worth the time. Life is too short. That's why I kicked you off my blog to begin with, littleman.
"D'Antoni could certainly coach the Knicks better than Isiah Thomas -- that goes without saying -- but don't any of you cringe at the idea of seeing more wide-open free-for-all basketball with little to no emphasis on defense?"
Hahn,
An English sheep dog could coach the Knicks with more acumen than Zeke The Workplace Sexual Freak.
And just which of the overpaid Knicks do you expect to play defense? Marbury? Lazy Eddy? Fat Zach? Break A Backboard, the one-dimensional player who only lacks one (sic) skill: defense? Little Man Nate? Jerome James? An ailing Q? An aged (not aging) Rose? Randi?
Save Lee, Balkman, Jeffries and maybe someday Chandler and/or Collins, no Knick can play defense.
Peaceman,
I didn't post above. I'd ask why you're always wrong, but then again you're always wrong. That's what's so right about you. Endless, persistent failure.
here we go
dantoni style is fun it would be nice but remember defense makes u the champs we don't wonna be chumps..
jackson all the way
dantoni would make the knicks fun to watch but at the end itz gonna be dammmm...
give jax a 2 year deal see what he can do i think he can reach marbury being from bk..
so no to dantoni...unless tom is his assistant.
beasley all the way....