I think D'Antoni is doing a good job with very little for the Knicks, but don't attribute all of the Knicks' relative success to their new head coach.
Anybody who has paid any attention to the NBA over the last 10 years should easily be able to see that the Knicks' success should be hoisted on the shoulders of the very guy who has received so much blame for their failures.
Stephon Marbury is easily having the best season of his NBA career. All of the so-called "experts" that have claimed that you can't achieve anything above mediocrity with the self-proclaimed "Starbury" must feel awfully rotten. The talking-heads who called Steph a "loser", who said the simple act of getting rid of Stephon Marbury while asking for nothing in return was addition by subtraction - boy, do they all have egg on their faces or what!
Now, don't get me wrong. I agree that it is always best to get rid of Stephon Marbury at any cost. However, my opinion of there being no alternative route to success has been weakened by the performance he's been able to muster in this admittedly still-young season. I do still believe that getting rid of Marbury is the best bet - not only do you benefit by not having him on your team, but assuming another team acquires him in the process, another team automatically becomes less competitive - but now, I'm at least willing to begin to accept an argument that a team can be successful with Marbury, so long as he doesn't actually play. I used to think that his mere presence could turn a playoff contender into a lottery favorite, but who knows? Maybe he can't titanic an entire team's morale with nonsequitors alone. As Steph might say, "It's not really the way that we played that was the reason we lost. But the question isn't... it's just a game. Basketball is just a game. That's the message that I try to, with my movement, the Starbury movement, that I am trying everyday to do. The most important thing that I care about and for the fans is to win. Turtlenecks faint in the showercap with stucco walls."
