Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Saturday, May 10, 2008
We Say: Dave Myers on Mike D’Antoni
Mike D’Antoni is one very hot coaching commodity these days. The fact that his Phoenix Suns squad exited the playoffs the same way they would a burning building — fast — doesn’t seem to make him any less desirable to NBA teams.
The early front-runners to secure his services are the Chicago Bulls and the New York Knicks. Both jobs have appealing aspects and one thing that they have in common is a desire to give Mr. D’Antoni a significant pay raise. That being said the Knicks have made it abundantly clear that they won’t be outbid by a “second-city” franchise.
However, if I were to offer Mr. D’Antoni some friendly advice (and I know he’d love to hear from me on this) it would be if he sees the Knicks’ owner James Dolan coming he should turn and run away as fast as he can.
In addition to having a roster filled with overpaid, underachieving malcontents the Knicks will be
crippled for years because of the ridiculous contracts that many of their players have received over the years.
If D’Antoni really wants out of Phoenix he should call the Bulls (a young and talented team) and politely accept the first reasonable offer they send his way.
I realize that wherever he winds up D’Antoni will say it wasn’t about the money, and if he lands in Chicago that actually will be true.
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