Mike D'Antoni confident of being retained as New York Knicks Coach - NBA Update
Donnie Walsh took a mediocre team and turned it into a playoffs worthy unit. He also slashed the bloated wage bill by half while he was at it. However, the reward he got for his troubles was a boot from the owner, James Dolan, who wanted to slash Walsh’s pay scale down from $5 million a year to $3 million.
Immediately after the news of Walsh’s departure became public, attention turned to the fate of Head Coach Mike D’Antoni. Donnie Walsh was D’Antoni’s biggest supporter at the Madison Square Garden and he is gone now. Also on his side is Garden sports president Scott O’Neil, but there is no telling how much assistance he can be of if things take a turn for the worst.
D’Antoni’s has a large contract. There is no doubt about that but at the same time it is fact that he has turned around the on-court fortunes of a Knicks team, that was in disarray when he arrived. With two superstars, namely Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire leading the pack, D’Antoni has managed to hide the glaring weaknesses that this New York team is cursed with.
Mike D’Antoni is an NBA Coach of the Year award winner with the Phoenix Suns and the seasoned campaigner took the Knicks to the playoffs for the first time in seven years even with a lack of depth in the roster and persistent injury issues. All the above things considered, conventional wisdom states that he should be safe. The coach himself has said he is not worried about his job. Mike is reasonably confident that he will return as the Knicks coach next season. He is expected to meet James Dolan soon when a possible contract extension could come under discussion.
James Dolan is a fan of D’Antoni and has been impressed by the latter’s work so far. However Dolan has also shown himself to be irrational and rash, when it comes to making big decisions - the departure of Donnie Walsh as president being the latest example.
There are already reports that the ownership wants Mike D’Antoni to enlist an assistant coach who specializes in defence. D’Antoni is famous for his fast paced offensive approach and the Knicks seemingly don’t trust him to handle defence all by himself. Rumours are also circulating that his opinion is not heeded when it comes to making the big decisions about the running of the franchise.
In such circumstances, and with Donnie Walsh’s completely unexpected exit in the backdrop, D’Antoni still could have a cause for concern. What ultimately is going to happen though is very uncertain, especially with the unpredictable James Dolan in charge.
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