{"id":189,"date":"2012-03-16T01:49:29","date_gmt":"2012-03-15T21:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/?p=189"},"modified":"2012-03-16T01:51:55","modified_gmt":"2012-03-15T21:51:55","slug":"189","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/?p=189","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Since explanations surrounding Mike D\u2019Antoni\u2019s sudden departure as head coach of the Knicks were so convoluted the last 24 hours, let\u2019s try to lay down some truth as we know it and saw it.<\/p>\n

Carmelo Anthony came to the Knicks a year ago at a steep price in a trade that both D\u2019Antoni and then-GM Donnie Walsh opposed.\u00a0 The transaction was forced on them by team owner Jim Dolan.<\/p>\n

The dopey son of a cable TV magnate, Dolan knew what was better for a team gifted to him than two respected basketball lifers trying to rebuild the mess left by Dolan yes-man Isiah Thomas.<\/p>\n

Mike Francesa calls it \u201crevisionist history\u201d to say there was an outcry when the Knicks acquired Melo.\u00a0 That\u2019s not true.\u00a0 Plenty of Knick fans feared Walsh\u2019s methodical effort to clear cap space would be harmed by adding a max-contract guy who was seen as interested only producing max-contract stat lines.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Antoni quietly worked with what he had and tried to contain frustration with Melo\u2019s tendency to pitch a tent on the wing and demand that the ball run primarily through him.<\/p>\n

When the bottom hit rock for D\u2019Antoni and the team six weeks ago, there was an out-of-nowhere happenstance that played out.\u00a0 Melo put on street clothes to rest nagging pains and Jeremy Lin put on a superman\u2019s cape.\u00a0 A Lin-led comeback win at home against Jersey likely saved D\u2019Antoni\u2019s job.\u00a0 The ensuing seven-game win streak that brought Linsanity proved that an old school point guard leading an offense that rewarded hustle with inclusiveness was both an entertaining and effective style of playing the game.\u00a0 A broad smile appeared on D\u2019Antoni\u2019s face.\u00a0 It was a form of basketball that was pleasing to the fan\u2019s eye and one that could finally be embraced by other Knick players who had grown tired of suiting up for roles that were mostly confined to getting out of the way of Melo.<\/p>\n

When Melo returned from injury to join Linsanity already in progress, the team went into a tailspin.\u00a0 Yeah, the schedule during that 2-9 stretch was tougher, but it was easy to see that the plug-in of a me-first superstar shot-taker didn\u2019t mesh with a blossoming motion offense.\u00a0 Melo\u2019s shots clanked way more than they swished and Linsanity went down with it.\u00a0 So did D\u2019Antoni\u2019s smile.<\/p>\n

Howard Beck of the Times said the team\u2019s nucleus enjoyed the style of play during Linsanity so much, there was building resentment over Melo\u2019s disruption of it.\u00a0 Said Beck in Thursday\u2019s newspaper:\u00a0 \u201cAnthony never fully bought into D\u2019Antoni\u2019s system and frequently broke plays to create shots for himself.\u00a0 The tension between Anthony and D\u2019Antoni – and more broadly between Anthony and the rest of the team – was undermining the Knicks\u2019 cohesion and morale.\u00a0 Most of the team preferred to keep playing the way they were during the so-called Linsanity streak.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the trade deadline looming and this bad-apple dynamic infecting the team, D\u2019Antoni had a chat with his immediate boss Glen Grunwald (who it should be said has a ridiculous interim tag on his GM title) Wednesday.\u00a0 Grunwald called Dolan.\u00a0 And then Dolan dragged his droopy self in for a pow-wow that ended with D\u2019Antoni packing up his stuff along with his brother and other trusted assistant.\u00a0 They walked out the door and agreed to call it a \u201cresignation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Melo stayed because Dolan said so.\u00a0 It was Melo\u2019s way or the highway. Melo and the team owner now have the peace in knowing Melo can clank all the shots he wants while Linsanity goes back into a box for safe keeping until he and the others interested in a team game are freed from this mess.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since explanations surrounding Mike D\u2019Antoni\u2019s sudden departure as head coach of the Knicks were so convoluted the last 24 hours, let\u2019s try to lay down some truth as we know it and saw it. Carmelo Anthony came to the Knicks … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[23,33,32],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s28tEv-189","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=189"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":193,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189\/revisions\/193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesauerbrunreport.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}