This was the headline on the front of the NY paper this morning. For a second I thought it was Newsday, but quickly realized that's Dolan's paper-the Knick's owner, so maybe they wouldn't put such a negative headline.
The Newsday headline was perhaps a little tamer-"Knicks Shake-up." The back page-the sports page, was very different. While Newsday's headline blared in captial letters, "BLAZING START" ballyhooing the Knicks blowing out Portland 121-79 in the first post-D'Antoni game with interim coach Mike Woodson.
The Daily News on the other hand chose for the back page headline a quote of Carmello Anthony claining he had nothing to do with D'Antoni's quitting with the words "NOT MY FAULT."
Between the the two selective headlines you got the whole story. Yes the Knicks did win big time last night which was nice. But they had lost 6 in a row, they were due for it.
Meanwhile big questions remain as to what happened. Melo may say it wasn't him but this will be viewed skeptically by many. Whether or not he wanted D'Antoni gone, did anything to make him be gone, one suspects that he's a large reason the coach made such a choice.
Who do we blame? You've got to wonder where Dolan is coming from. I'm used to troublesome owners-I am a Yankees fan. The thing with George Steinbrenner though is he won championships. Dolan hasn't won anything.
There's the common belief by many who may know that he remains very friendly with Isiah Thomas who continues to be a major influence. That it was his influence that lead Dolan to go for Anthony last year.
Whether or not that's true, the fact is that when Dolan did this he undercut his coach. That's not really smart if the goal is to win basketball games. And that's the trouble with Dolan. It seems he went after Anthony because he believed that he needed a star in NY something to justify more ticket hikes and to compete with the Nets if they come to Brooklyn.
The best way to compete, to grab headlines and gain revenue is to win. The Knicks were winning last year before they got Carmello. They have not won since. Stoudemire is not the prolific scorer and player he was before Anthony arrived.
What made D'Antoni leave? Probably the last straw was after the Lin fueled run while Melo was out, he came back and the team went 2-8, losing the last 6.
D'Antoni never wanted Anthony. He doesn't fit into the system. He made little effort to fit in. Then in Lin, the coach had exactly the kind of player he needed to make his system work. Then Anthony came back and the wheels fell off the wagon again.
So whether or not it's Anthony's fault, I suspect he's the reason the coach left. So how do I, a Knicks fan feel about that? What I care about is simple-I want a winning Knicks team. I sort of feel like the Knicks might have had a chance if Melo wasn't the proverbial square peg in the round hole.
There are other ways to look at it. Some have said that D'Antoni made no effort to work with Melo. Maybe, but it's his team. If the coach can't choose his own system it's problematic. Yes you should get a system for your players rather than the other way around but he had never wanted D'Antoni for a player, he had players that he wanted and could play his style. I don't know. The new coach who for now is only the interim, of course can be upgraded with more success like last night.
The word on Woodson is that he favors more of the run game-Melo's style. But could this mean Lynn gets put on the shelf? Yesterday he took only 4 shots. Ultimately it's about the bottom line-winning. The one thing I'm not interested in is a style that gets Melo the ball a lot and he gets his points but the Knicks get few wins.
We'll see.
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