Sarver Responds to D'Antoni article....

[da_suns_fan]

D’Antoni takes shots at Suns; Sarver responds

December 12th, 2008, 3:43 pm · Post a Comment · posted by jerrybrown

With his return to Phoenix with the Knicks fast-approaching on Monday, Mike D’Antoni got the first shots in on the Suns in an interview with Peter Vescey of the New York Post. Vescey pumps up the quotes with his own lead-ins, but there is some meaty stuff there nonetheless. Have at it:http://www.nypost.com/seven/1212200...ch_rips_old_phoenix_bosses_143879.htm?&page=3
And in an interview with Gambo and Ash on KTAR (620 AM) this afternoon, Suns owner Robert Sarver reacted in detail:
His reaction to D’Antoni’s comments in the Post:
“I was very close to Mike and it kind of hurt, but as I’m learning it’s just part of this business. I don’t know if he’s just frustrated because he’s on a team that’s not winning and it’s an adjustment or what. In life, at times we all think the grass is greener on the other side. The comments about (GM) Steve (Kerr) are really inaccurate and untrue. Steve really let Mike do whatever he wanted.”

Sarver on when things started to change in the summer of 2007 when Kerr became GM:
“When Steve first came on board, he felt we needed a defense-minded assistant coach to replace (the departing) Mark Iavaroni. Steve called around the league (and) Tom Thibodeau was the name that Steve decided on. He came into Phoenix, we were going to hire Tom … and Mike decided he’d rather have his brother (Dan D’Antoni) at the front of the bench than Tom Thibodeau. Instead, he hired a relatively inexperience coach to sit at the end of the bench (Jay Humphries).
“Thibodeau went to Boston, they became the best defensive team in the league and they won the championship. In some ways, I think if Steve was more forceful with Mike it would have worked out better or us.
“No moves were made without Mike’s approval. The (Shaquille O’Neal) trade was made at the insistence of Mike and myself. Steve was on the fence for a long time about it … I had complete trust in Mike. He’s a super-smart basketball guy and we never did anything without his approval.”

Was D’Antoni too lenient with his players?
“The problem was the other players looked at it and felt it wasn’t good. I’m not going to name any names, but players on the team felt all the players should be held accountable. That was a concern among the players.
When you look at the negative issues with our team and the organization (this season), these aren’t new this year. These are issues that started festering last year. And a couple of the issues our players in general felt strongly about were: We need to defend better, we need to be able to stop teams at the end of the game, and we need to hold everybody accountable.”

On how the end came about after the loss to San Antonio last May:
“Mike decided to leave on his own. We didn’t want Mike to leave, we asked him to stay. I wanted Mike to stay. The only thing we asked was to add a defensive coach to the staff. When you have a boss, you kind of have to listen to him a little bit. If the GM can’t make any recommendations about anything, why would you even have one?”
“I was shocked. I had no idea Mike wasn’t interested in staying. And then (Sports Illustrated writer) Jack McCallum spent three days with Mike and the coaching staff (during the playoffs) and I sit down in my seat before (Game 5 in San Antonio) and I pull up an article from Sports Illustrated that talks about how Mike’s not coming back. That was the first I knew about it.”

On D’Antoni’s feelings that since the Suns didn’t win a championship “We didn’t do nothing.”
“Not true. I told him several times that wasn’t the case. I think some of that is coming from Mike. He is an extremely competitive guy. He wants to win more than anybody. And when we lost that overtime Game 1 to San Antonio and then got blown out in Game 2 and came out flat in Game 3, he was devastated.
“Only one team can win. I’ve always said to Mike and I’ll say to our fans: If you’re a top four or a top eight team every year and you compete every year and you’re really good – that’s doing pretty good. Yeah, you want to win, but I think a lot of that frustration … our whole team and organization it was part of all that – the injuries, the suspensions. Somehow, we all feel as a community that we’re entitled to a championship and we’re not.”

Couple of things:

1) I doubt Mike is frustrated that he's not winning as much considering his team's current record is viewed as a success and he's a candidate for coach of the year.

2) The Knicks only have a couple more losses than the Suns.

3) Sarver sounds like his usual whiney self when talking about Tom Thibodeau.

 

[da_suns_fan]

Another observation; it appears that the Shaq trade is now accepted as a failure and everyone is trying to point the finger. D'Antoni is trying to say that Kerr was heavily involved and Sarver is saying it was all him and Mike.

 

[msdundee]

Now that I've overcome the dizziness from all that spinning, I have to chuckle. Sarver's "kind of hurt"?

No problem. Tell him to have that foam finger reconfigured before the Knicks game Monday. Then he can look even more goofy.

 

[hsandhu]

Did anyone know about the Thibodeau thing in 2007?

 

[Errntknght]

There was some talk about Thibodeau but I don't recall knowing that Kerr brought in him for an interview. My recollection of the time that Mike hired his brother is that there nothing like a competition for the coaching slot. The first I knew about it was when it was a done deal. There was more chatter here about the slot that Jay Humphries was given... along the lines of thinking a defensive guru or a 'big man' coach was far more what the team needed. Thats probably when Thibodeau's name came up.

 

[Chaplin]

Typical Suns fans... Turning it around on Sarver.

EVERYTHING he said made sense. You may not agree with him, but it makes sense. DA whining about his time in Phoenix is the dumbest thing he could have done before Monday's game. I thought the goal was winning a championship--if DA is too stupid to understand that, he shouldn't be a head coach.

But this "D'Antoni is God" complex is ridiculous. Get past it for chrissakes!

 

[TJ]

I did not know about Tom Thibadeau. Holy crap, if D'Antoni would have had half a brain, he would have added him to the coaching staff.

Dammit!!! Now im sad

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

you know what? the only thing that bothered me was the last part. we should just be content with being a runner up?

"Somehow, we all feel as a community that we’re entitled to a championship and we’re not.”

F - U sarver! it's not entitlement, it's desire. as a community we yearn for a championship and an owner that will usher that into the valley. you want to talk entitlement? you want to talk about settling for second (or 8th) banana? get outta sports. boob.

 

[Nostradic]

you know what? the only thing that bothered me was the last part. we should just be content with being a runner up?

"Somehow, we all feel as a community that we’re entitled to a championship and we’re not.”

F - U sarver! it's not entitlement, it's desire. as a community we yearn for a championship and an owner that will usher that into the valley. you want to talk entitlement? you want to talk about settling for second (or 8th) banana? get outta sports. boob.

That made me sick as well. WTF.

 

[MigratingOsprey]

I listened to the interview on the radio and although I've never been a sarver fan I was really impressed by the whole thing

he did mention that they work for a championship, but the question was specifically is anything less than a title "a bust" and reason to blow things up and find a new coach ...... he basically said no - you have not entitlement to a championship, if you are consistently competing for one that's great and then you need some tweaking and some breaks

you always work for the title, but are never due one just because you put together a good team

 

[carey]

Typical Suns fans... Turning it around on Sarver.

EVERYTHING he said made sense. You may not agree with him, but it makes sense. DA whining about his time in Phoenix is the dumbest thing he could have done before Monday's game. I thought the goal was winning a championship--if DA is too stupid to understand that, he shouldn't be a head coach.

But this "D'Antoni is God" complex is ridiculous. Get past it for chrissakes!

Chap, the voice of reason.

Sarver bashers think he's the king of spin, but mark my words... Sarver shoots it pretty straight and D'Antoni was the spinmeister around these parts. Knicks fans will realize it and Suns fans will too when enough time has past.

 

[SirStefan32]

I am really sick of D'Antoni and his followers. D'Antoni, while clearly an offensive genius, is a stubborn, arrogant jackass and I am glad Kerr/Sarver fired his ass. I only wish they would have done is sooner and been less diplomatic about the whole thing.

 

[mojorizen7]

I am really sick of D'Antoni and his followers. D'Antoni, while clearly an offensive genius, is a stubborn, arrogant jackass and I am glad Kerr/Sarver fired his ass. I only wish they would have done is sooner and been less diplomatic about the whole thing.

Really? Ya think?

I switched shifts just to watch this upcoming game Monday night.
D'Antoni never coached a bad game because the only excuse for losing he ever gave(talking playoffs here) was "We've just got to play better." or "We've got to shoot the ball better." or "We've got to play with more energy." Gee Mike...thanks for that insight.
Laying it at the players feet, or the refs, or the opposing head coach....it always seemed....but the players loved Mike, and they loved the style & light practices so it was a perfect symmetry of "I'm a genius so It ain't my fault" and "I wouldn't want to play for anyone else so i'm not complaining."
As long as we can get Shaq back and play w/our full roster we're gonna smoke the Knicks.

 

[Ouchie-Z-Clown]

Chap, the voice of reason.

Sarver bashers think he's the king of spin, but mark my words... Sarver shoots it pretty straight and D'Antoni was the spinmeister around these parts. Knicks fans will realize it and Suns fans will too when enough time has past.

c'mon, that's way too simple. they ALL spun the hell outta everything. kerr was always preaching "flexibility!" and they loved lopez as a "rebounding" 7 footer. dude can't rebound for his life. sarver spins just as much as dantoni did. they're both guilty of the stupid, "here's our first round pick this year!" [pointing to amare coming back from surgery].

 

[D-Dogg]

Obviously, I'm no Suns fan. I also think Sarver is pretty much a douche.

However, I heard that Gambo and Ash interview today with him, and he came across very well. I tended to find his logic in his answers to be very credible. Most telling was when they asked him if he would seek out Mike before the game and if they were cool, and he first said "I don't know...uhm...uhm...." before he said that Mike was always good to him, supportive and a friend and that he would. The pause beforehand was awkward. He was clearly insulted by the comments Mike made, but didn't seem like he was mad. He seemed like he felt betrayed. I know, I'm no psychologist...it's just the vibe I got from it.

I also liked his explanation of what Kerr said to marion about being a max player, in that Kerr didn't say Marion wasn't worth it, but that he said the market dictates, but in his opinion there were only a few players worth max, Kobe, KG and Duncan. Gambo and Ash chimed in with "what about LeBron" and he said "I'm just saying what Kerr said...those are guys who have been around a long while and are at the top of the game." I can TOTALLY see that point of view in "who is worth max money." Not talent alone, but paying your dues, earning seniority before you get max contracts. I could see Kerr thinking that way. Hell, the NFL is the polar opposite of that with first picks overall getting enormous contracts before proving themselves. You should get paid on a history of work. 3 or 6 years is nice, but is it worth the max? Or should the max be given to someone who has performed at a high level for 9-10 years? It jives with the normal world of working your way up the ladder. Not saying it is right, but saying I believe that it was what Kerr said, and not that "marion isn't worth what he thinks he is." Kerr wouldn't say that, but if he said that max isn't bestowed, but earned, Marion sure would take it that way.

Overall, it was a VERY interesting interview, and usually I hate when they have Sarver and Kerr on the air.

 

[carey]

c'mon, that's way too simple. they ALL spun the hell outta everything. kerr was always preaching "flexibility!" and they loved lopez as a "rebounding" 7 footer. dude can't rebound for his life. sarver spins just as much as dantoni did. they're both guilty of the stupid, "here's our first round pick this year!" [pointing to amare coming back from surgery].

It fits for me because I feel that Kerr honestly belived that's what he was getting in Lopez. Who knows about the "first round" thing. Sounds like D'Antoni for me. He was full of that kind of ******** all the time.

 

[da_suns_fan]

The idea that Sarver doesn't "spin" might be the dumbest thing Ive ever heard in my entire life.

If you believe that, you must believe that the only reason Joe Johnson isn't a Sun is because Joe "didn't want to be here".

Same with Bryan Conlangelo.

You must also be confused as to why he called Amare Stoudemire our first round pick in 2006 (after we sold away our real pick but we were expecting Amare back from microfracture surgery).

 

[DeAnna]

Typical Suns fans... Turning it around on Sarver.

EVERYTHING he said made sense. You may not agree with him, but it makes sense. DA whining about his time in Phoenix is the dumbest thing he could have done before Monday's game. I thought the goal was winning a championship--if DA is too stupid to understand that, he shouldn't be a head coach.

They were both in full-spin mode so it's become a game of "he said, he said." Who is telling the truth? Who is lying? My guess is each of them is only telling partial truths.

Sarver was "hurt?" Oh, boo hoo ... one guy called up to complain that season tix holders no longer get free parking at the 3rd St. garage. Guess who just bought the building? Sarver.

 

[DeAnna]

Sarver strikes me as a guy who is out to make a quick buck (hey, you don't get to be a young millionaire by accident).

I don't think he has any kind of long-term vision for the team; he just sees it as an investment and wants to get a ring so he can sell the team at its peak value. Which really wouldn't be a bad thing. Oh, how we yearn for the Colangelo days!

 

[Cheesebeef]

Typical Suns fans... Turning it around on Sarver.

EVERYTHING he said made sense. You may not agree with him, but it makes sense. DA whining about his time in Phoenix is the dumbest thing he could have done before Monday's game. I thought the goal was winning a championship--if DA is too stupid to understand that, he shouldn't be a head coach.

But this "D'Antoni is God" complex is ridiculous. Get past it for chrissakes!

while I still think Sarver is a colassal boob, I do agree with the above. The deification of DA and taking his word as if it's gospel is just incredibly perplexing to me. both sides are spinning, but the problem is that DA's comments wreak of a jilted ex-girlfriend, while Sarver's comments actually make sense.

 

[msdundee]

while I still think Sarver is a colassal boob, I do agree with the above. The deification of DA and taking his word as if it's gospel is just incredibly perplexing to me. both sides are spinning, but the problem is that DA's comments wreak of a jilted ex-girlfriend, while Sarver's comments actually make sense.

You made that same comparison earlier and it does fall right in line with the longstanding fire-the-coach crusade. But Sarver's saying they wanted him to stay. So if you really take Sarver's comments at face value and remember how it all went down, DA was not the jilted one, he was more the jilter. He could have stayed on and given their way a try, but instead he took off for a new job and more money--not a bad choice at all under the circumstances.

D'Antoni had roughly a quarter of the season last year to see how it went with Shaq in the middle, and toward the end of that season things were actually starting to look more promising. But he also had four long years to get to know his team and his individual players' attitudes and personality quirks. It's a good guess that over those last 20 games he got a feel for the locker room atmosphere that was building and a pretty good sense of what to expect down the road.

The fact that Sarver/Kerr/Porter had to reevaluate and regroup at this point in the run is significant and DA may be the only one who wasn't surprised. I really doubt he's missing anything in Phoenix except the weather.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

Did anyone not think Shaq was a Sarver and investor move? Shaq is essentially the rich persons equivilent of a birthday clown. As I am sure the first thing Sarver and friends did was bring their families in to get pics with Shaq.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

while I still think Sarver is a colassal boob, I do agree with the above. The deification of DA and taking his word as if it's gospel is just incredibly perplexing to me. both sides are spinning, but the problem is that DA's comments wreak of a jilted ex-girlfriend, while Sarver's comments actually make sense.

Yeah but come on, Sarver is a business person first, I am sure he has skills in getting rid of people. You know how it works you give someone a **** review, tell them they are getting less autonomy and then they "leave on their own", the manager always has the HR chick coaching them, writes a nice email thanking them for their "service" and the guy who gets F'ed just has bitterness.

 

[Cheesebeef]

You made that same comparison earlier and it does fall right in line with the longstanding fire-the-coach crusade. But Sarver's saying they wanted him to stay.

actually, Sarver's saying they wanted him to CHANGE and stay. That was part of them pushing him out and what made DA feel like the jilted ex-girlfriend. They were criticizing him, a man of obvious arrogance and I believe that in doing so, they knew he wouldn't stay, thus they wouldn't have to pay two coaches salaries if they ended up firing him.

So if you really take Sarver's comments at face value and remember how it all went down, DA was not the jilted one, he was more the jilter.

but I don't take Sarver's words at face value, just as I don't take DA's. He was pushed out and everyone knew it. The reason why he's the jilted one is because they said you need to start coaching D and he flipped out because DA is an arrogant SOB who thinks he's always right. But the Suns wouldn't fire him because the Suns are cheap and they weren't going to pay two contracts so they basically forced the "parting of the ways."

He could have stayed on and given their way a try, but instead he took off for a new job and more money--not a bad choice at all under the circumstances.

I don't buy it. A guy as arrogant as DA could NEVER try someone else's way. He took off because the Suns called him out on the carpet about coaching defense and he left on his terms. I think that was all a calculated way for Sarver to keep only one coach on salary at a time.

D'Antoni had roughly a quarter of the season last year to see how it went with Shaq in the middle, and toward the end of that season things were actually starting to look more promising.

besides two games against the Spurs, I don't agree at all. The writing was on the wall after that horrific collapse against Dallas, followed up by a horrendous performance against the Rockets that blew the 3 seed followed up by a royal ass-kicking at the hands of the Spurs again.

The fact that Sarver/Kerr/Porter had to reevaluate and regroup at this point in the run is significant and DA may be the only one who wasn't surprised. I really doubt he's missing anything in Phoenix except the weather.

if he's not missing anything, why is he whining in the press? He's being a complete and utter bitch because he got pushed out and blamed and he knows it. otherwise, why say anything at all?

 

[Cheesebeef]

Yeah but come on, Sarver is a business person first, I am sure he has skills in getting rid of people. You know how it works you give someone a **** review, tell them they are getting less autonomy and then they "leave on their own", the manager always has the HR chick coaching them, writes a nice email thanking them for their "service" and the guy who gets F'ed just has bitterness.

that's why I'm saying DA's playing the role of the jilted ex-lover. I don't believe everything Sarver says. I think it was pretty clear they were forcing DA to leave so they wouldn't have to pay him. But the rest of the stuff about hiring coaches back in 2007 and the Shawn Marion thing just sound ridiculous when you listen to DA's POV.