After the Knicks 6th straight loss (4-straight at The Garden) to the Denver Nuggets in double-overtime on Saturday, I gave head coach Mike D’Antoni the benefit of the doubt. It’s not like his team got blown away, in fact, every time they were down, they battled their way back up. That was until New York decided to play “Melo-Ball’ (Iso) and lost their rhythm. Not to say that Carmelo didn’t make some huge shots (a crucial 3-pointer and an even bigger 23-foot jumper over Danilo Gallinari), but in the end, he ultimately shot too much.
Anthony’s stat line against Denver: 25 points (10-for-30), 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 turnovers.
Amar’e Stoudemire’s stat line: 12 points (4-for-9), 11 rebounds and 4 turnovers.
There’s absolutely no reason that Amar’e should have only attempted 9 shots throughout the first four quarters of play, plus the two extra quarters in overtime. Before ‘Melo arrived, Stoudemire was the one who signed the $100 million deal to be the face of the franchise. Last season, when the Knicks started off blazing, Amar’e was the lead candidate for the MVP award. Crazy? No. What’s crazier is how quickly things can change for a team with just a single player.
Carmelo is now the focal-point of the offense, it runs through him. He’s basically playing their point guard throughout the course of the game except he has no idea how to run an offense (i.e. Chris Paul, Steve Nash, ect.). It’s not his fault, that’s just not how his game operates. When Melo has the ball in his hands, it’s to score, not to pass to another teammate. That’s the Knicks ultimate weak spot. They have no one capable enough at the PG position that can lead them past Miami, Chicago, Boston or hell, even Charlotte in the playoffs.
The Knicks lost once to the Bobcats already this month, and if they end up losing to them on the road this Tuesday, I don’t see D’Antoni making it to the end of the week. He’s already on the hot seat — no question — because he’s just not getting the job done. What good is it to have an offensive coach when his players can’t even score the basketball?
Offense will get you there but it’s the defense that will let you go just a little bit further.
D’Antoni knows he’s on the hot seat and so does everyone else in the basketball world, even retired coaches. And veteran NBA scribe Mark Heisler of the New York Times believes once D’Antoni’s gone, expect former Lakers coach Phil Jackson to get a call from the Knicks front office:
“With the Knicks slouching under .500 and Coach Mike D’Antoni’s offense having gone missing since Carmelo Anthony arrived, Jackson’s name resounds louder and louder in New York. … The city remains so special to Jackson that his girlfriend, Jeanie Buss, the daughter of the Los Angeles Lakers’ owner, is always wondering whether he will end his career where it started in the 1960s.”
It makes perfect sense: Jackson was in uniform from 1967-1978 and won two championships there in a three-year span, and when he became head coach of the Chicago Bulls in ’89, he faced his old team plenty of times during his tenure with Michael Jordan. No coach wants to retire, sometimes they just need a year or two to catch their breath and remember what life was like outside of coaching. Look at former Florida Gator’ coach Urban Meyer; he retired once, came back, retired again, took a few months off and is now the head coach of the Ohio State Buckeyes. The same could be said for, God rest his soul, Joe Paterno. He coached Penn State until he was 85 years old, possibly longer had it not been for the Sandusky scandal.
He won’t admit his desire to coach again, at least not yet, so instead he’ll leave us with this:
“I have no desire to coach,” Jackson said, per The Times. “You never say never, right? I mean, there’s always something that might change my mind — but I just don’t see it.”
I’ll give you three reasons to change your mind: Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler. That’s easily the best front-court in basketball right now. All they need is to somehow conjure up a few trade options to try to acquire either Steve Nash from Phoenix (where he’s slowly deteriorating), or Deron Williams from the Nets (reports say he will leave via free agency in the summer if Dwight Howard isn’t in uniform by March). But even without an elite PG, how could this team not be appealing to a Hall of Fame coach?
Jackson could come on in make this offense work around Carmelo because D’Antoni can’t seem to figure it out (maybe it’s because he never had to coach Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant). The thing is, though, the Knicks don’t exactly have to sign an ‘elite’ point guard, they just need someone who knows how to run an offense correctly and just let Amar’e and ‘Melo score the basketball. You don’t have to worry about Tyson Chandler, he’s there strictly for defensive purposes only.
If I’m Phil Jackson and I saw seen on ESPN that Mike D’Antoni was fired as the Knicks coach, I’d be sitting near a phone expecting a phone call from Glen Grunwald.
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