Mike D’Antoni opens up about his time with the New York Knicks – NBA Update
On Thursday, Mike D’Antoni led his Los Angeles Lakers to Madison Square Garden for the first time since he quit as the New York Knicks coach.
Mike D had a torrid time at the Knicks and eventually deemed it appropriate to quit as the head coach in the middle of last season with the team at 18-24. In an interview with ESPN last month, D’Antoni had admitted that coming
to New York was a mistake. However on Thursday morning after his team's shootaround at New York Athletic Club, D’Antoni said that those comments were taken out of context;
"It was reported that I said I wouldn't, shouldn't have gone to New York," D'Antoni said. "No. I said I shouldn't have left Steve Nash. It's a little bit different on the meaning. It was a story about Nash. Now, if I could have
brought him to New York, maybe that would've been ideal.
"I shouldn't have left Nash in the sense that he's special as a player. You've got to nurture that. But New York was great for me."
It is a hard fact that Nash was the man responsible behind D’Antoni’s success at Phoenix Suns, where the duo did wonders. During that stretch, Mike won the coach of the year award and Nash picked up two regular-season MVP’s, making
the Suns a formidable title contender along the way.
That chemistry was very much the reason why the Los Angeles Lakers opted for Mike D over the legendary Phil Jackson as the head coach, after Mike Brown was fired five games into the season. It is the same reason why the Lakers
hierarchy still believes that their struggles will end once the guard recovers from a fibula fracture in his left leg.
D’Antoni didn’t have the luxury of Nash at the Knicks. In fact, he didn’t have a quality pass first point guard during his entire tenure. While Chauncey Billups was the best Mike had, he was shipped away abruptly, and the coach
had to switch between Toney Douglas, Iman Shumpert, Mike Bibby, Jeremy Lin and Baron Davis. Given that D’Antoni’s system requires a quality playmaker, he never had a decent shot and perhaps that is why he does not look back at his time with the Knicks with
fondness.
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