Mike D’Antoni says he wasn’t forced out of New York Knicks, coy on Carmelo Anthony role – NBA Update
New York Knicks former head coach Mike D’Antoni has lifted the lid from his departure mid way through the season. The coach resigned after a string of bad results and amid speculation that the management had pressurized him to do so.
Anthony however has refuted such suggestions. The coach exonerated Knicks owner James Dolan of any blame in the episode and said that he resigned without any pressure. D’Antoni said at the time it seemed the right thing to do because the team wasn’t showing
any improvements under his stewardship.
“I absolutely resigned,” D’Antoni said in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “I was in my car driving to shoot around and it just came to me. That’s it. It’s inevitable. I have to resign. We’re not going anywhere. I made the decision then and there. I
called Glen (Grunwald) and told him that I was coming in to do it. Then I called Laurel (his wife) to tell her. Glen called in Mr. Dolan and I met them after shoot around and told them that I was resigning.”
D’Antoni had been given the reins of the franchise the previous season and did well to revive the fortunes of a perennially underperforming Knicks side. He did well with Amar’e Stoudemire as his power forward, with whom he had spent fruitful years at the
Phoenix Suns.
Things though started to go wrong for New York and D’Antoni with the arrival of super star small forward Carmelo Anthony. It was no secret that bringing in Anthony was the decision of solely the owner and many were not happy with the number of players New
York had to give up for his services.
This year, with the rise of Jeremy Lin, Mike was able to use a fast paced system that ran things through the young point guard. Anthony was reportedly not happy with the system and tension between him and D’Antoni was believed to have been behind the coach’s
departure.
When asked if Anthony had any role to play in his resignation, Mike did not commit to a clear answer.
"I'm just not going to get into specifics. It came to the point that I had to resign, that's all. It was time. We weren't going anywhere and I was the coach."
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