Bye bye, Mike

[capologist]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/20...um/04/30/suns.dantonio/index.html?eref=sircrc

SAN ANTONIO -- Mike D'Antoni, the NBA's Coach of the Year for the 2004-05 season and the man credited with re-invigorating fast-break basketball in a league gone stale, will not be back to coach the Phoenix Suns for the 2008-09 season, SI.com has learned.

D'Antoni deferred questions about his job status after the Suns were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series on Wednesday night at the AT&T Center in Alamo City. "I'm just really proud of my guys," D'Antoni said after the Spurs' 92-87 win that marked the third time in four years that San Antonio has ended the Suns' season. He did not address his own situation. But sources within the organization confirm that D'Antoni feels he does not have the backing of upper management--specifically owner Robert Sarver and general manager Steve Kerr -- and considers the situation irredeemable.

The Suns have long been one of the NBA's model franchises, and both D'Antoni and Kerr, for whatever differences they might have about the direction of the team, are respected around the league. It's hard to believe, then, that D'Antoni's situation would devolve into an ugly, protracted war, New York Knicks style.

How exactly the scenario unfolds depends largely on whether or not D'Antoni gets another job offer. The most palatable scenario for all in Phoenix would be: Team A asks the Suns for permission to talk to D'Antoni, who has two years left on his contract; Suns say OK; D'Antoni interviews and is hired.

One landing spot for him would seem to be Chicago, where general manager Jim Paxson has not yet replaced Jim Boylan, who himself replaced Scott Skiles (now in charge in Milwaukee). The Bulls underachieved this season under both coaches but would seem to have the kind of offensive nucleus (Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni) with which D'Antoni could build.

One other possibility is New York, where new GM Donnie Walsh is taking his time making a head-coach decision despite speculation that the hiring of former point guard Marc Jackson is a done deal. There has also been whispers of D'Antoni taking over in Toronto, where Sam Mitchell's coaching future is an ongoing discussion and where Bryan Colangelo, D'Antoni's former boss in Phoenix and still a close friend, is calling the shots. But Toronto doesn't seem as comfortable a fit for D'Antoni as Chicago or even New York. Don't look for that to happen.

As is the custom with all NBA teams, D'Antoni will meet soon with Sarver and Kerr, together or separately. Kerr said before Sunday's Game 4, which turned out to be the Suns' lone series win, that D'Antoni's departure was not a fait accompli as far as he is concerned. He would not comment on D'Antoni's status after Game 5. But a source said that Kerr would make a few demands in the postseason debriefing: that D'Antoni devote more practice time to defense; have more confidence in his bench players, i.e., go to an expanded rotation; develop a clearer plan for a point guard to back up Steve Nash; get more planned touches out of Amare' Stoudemire in post-up situations.

D'Antoni, sources say, believes that the situation has been festering all season and that nothing would be accomplished in the meeting. Whatever the circumstances of his departure, it will probably be presented as as a rift between coach and GM, and to a large extent that's true. But when Colangelo left for Toronto, mostly because he and Sarver were doomed not to co-exist harmoniously, D'Antoni lost his biggest booster in the front office, as well as a friend. It's what happens in the NBA and in all pro sports.

Over four full seasons D'Antoni racked up a 232-96 record, made the Western finals twice and changed the way that observers both in and out of the league thought about the game. Management might have some legit gripes about his defensive coaching, and remember that D'Antoni was a bigger booster of the trade for Shaquille O'Neal than Kerr was.

But Suns' management now faces one extremely formidable challenge in l'affaire D'Antoni: Finding someone better.

 

[GorrilaLips]

Pretty dang fast, this will be all the talk of Phoenix now that we are out of the playoffs.

 

[Cheesebeef]

good. one down, two to go. sadly, I think it'll be a while before we get to say goodbye to Sarvkerr.

 

[Bayless2Budinger]

But a source said that Kerr would make a few demands in the postseason debriefing: that D'Antoni devote more practice time to defense; have more confidence in his bench players, i.e., go to an expanded rotation; develop a clearer plan for a point guard to back up Steve Nash; get more planned touches out of Amare' Stoudemire in post-up situations.

I LOVE STEVE KERR!

 

[Mike Olbinski]

Wow...

 

[elindholm]

Wow. It must be a pretty bad schism if this leak has come out already. I think the relationship between D'Antoni and Nash has completely fallen apart, and that, more than anything else, is what doomed the Suns in this series.

 

[WuRaider]

Wow that was fast. I thought Kerr would at least give it some time and try to evaluate all of his options like finding a suitable replacement before letting DA go. Right after the game? Thats harsh but you know what, nows not the time to get sentimental.

DA had all of the talent a coach could ask for for 4 years and came up short. There are probably 5 million instances of "DA is a moron" posts on this board over the past years. Time to move on.

 

[D-Dogg]

Wow! That was freaking FAST!!


I hope the 'Antoni to NY Knicks rumors have legs, because damn if that trainwreck isn't going to be first class entertainment.

 

[WuRaider]

Wow. It must be a pretty bad schism if this leak has come out already. I think the relationship between D'Antoni and Nash has completely fallen apart, and that, more than anything else, is what doomed the Suns in this series.

Did you mean DA and Kerr? I doubt there was any rift between Nash and DA, DA always seemed to cater to Nash and never held him accountable for any mistakes.

 

[AfroSuns]

I LOVE STEVE KERR!

Well it is easy to say now but i guess we will have to wait and see, if the Fans clamouring for D'Antoni to be fired will be satisfied by his succesor.
Personally, i dont like the move, not giving him one full season to try coach these guys is wrong and we may come to rue the day, come next season

 

[GorrilaLips]

Wow. It must be a pretty bad schism if this leak has come out already. I think the relationship between D'Antoni and Nash has completely fallen apart, and that, more than anything else, is what doomed the Suns in this series.

elindholm...what was this relationship between Mike and Nash? Didn't think it was that bad....

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Do they keep records for fastest firing after a season?

 

[elindholm]

Did you mean DA and Kerr? I doubt there was any rift between Nash and DA, DA always seemed to cater to Nash and never held him accountable for any mistakes.

No, I meant D'Antoni and Nash. Kerr doesn't have this much clout. I think Nash is fed up with getting run into the ground and with the team not having anything more than a one-paragraph playbook. When he says he felt lost in the offense, that's about as direct a condemnation of D'Antoni as you can get.

 

[cly2tw]

But a source said that Kerr would make a few demands in the postseason debriefing: that D'Antoni devote more practice time to defense; have more confidence in his bench players, i.e., go to an expanded rotation; develop a clearer plan for a point guard to back up Steve Nash; get more planned touches out of Amare' Stoudemire in post-up situations.

It's exactly what most DA-critical fans here wanted. The team's core is too damn good that we deserve to lose due to stupid stubbornness of its head coach, year after year.

 

[CardinalsFan11]

This is a terrible move by management. What coach is out there that will come in and make us a better team, maybe we should figure that out before we kick out a coach with a .700 winning percentage.

Just my two cents.

 

[Haren]

Do they keep records for fastest firing after a season?

If they did, I'm sure Isiah Thomas would hold the record.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

To be completely honest, I think Dantoni would do great in Chicago.

 

[hafey]

Good.

Mike D'Antoni has done an excellent job as the Suns coach, but ultimately he wasn't the man to get them over the top. He is still better than 80% of the coaches in the league and will have plenty of chances to continue his quixotic quest to win with offense.

I wish him absolutely no ill will, and success in the future. It was however, time for a change.

 

[elindholm]

It's exactly what most DA-critical fans here wanted.

Of course. But when we said it, we were ignorant armchair quarterbacks who were only fantasizing about having a clue. Nothing we said was based on any understanding of the situation at all until it was -- purely by coincidence, you realize -- echoed by the team's GM.

At least, that's what some of the enforcers on this board will maintain.

 

[mojorizen7]

That happened in 7 seconds or less......
Thank god.

 

[dodie53]

DA -- chicago bound

 

[WuRaider]

No, I meant D'Antoni and Nash. Kerr doesn't have this much clout. I think Nash is fed up with getting run into the ground and with the team not having anything more than a one-paragraph playbook. When he says he felt lost in the offense, that's about as direct a condemnation of D'Antoni as you can get.

When Nash said he felt lost during Game 3, I thought he was commenting on the Shaq trade and the complete change of his style that he was the quarterback for the past 3 years. He may have been unhappy without a legitimate backup but he probably doesn't put that strictly on D'Antoni.

 

[HardBall]

That was incredibly fast. If the Cards would do this with their lame GM, we might be able to win more than 8 games.

Gonna be a long plane ride home for the SUNS.

 

[BC867]

This is a terrible move by management. What coach is out there that will come in and make us a better team, maybe we should figure that out before we kick out a coach with a .700 winning percentage.

How about one who is aware of the term defense?

One who spends the .700 season getting his team ready for the post-season?

One who includes developing young players among his priorities?

One who includes the last 4 or 5 players on his bench, to be ready for foul trouble, injuries, flexibility, cold spells, etc.?

 

[mjb21aztd]

nice see ya later mike d you tried here but failed played our starters to many hurt getting hill hurt before the playoffs etc best of luck to ya on whatever team hires u