D’Antoni, Johnson Are On The Market
NBA May 7th. 2008, 4:45pm
The fact that both he and Avery Johnson have been let go after being named Coach of the Year so recently (Johnson just 2 years back) is almost sad. The “what have you done for me lately” approach is ridiculous when you factor in what both those coaches had to deal with in the last couple years.
The Suns were an exciting team that couldn’t get past the Spurs dynasty. Some will argue that the Spurs had more than a little help from the league last season, but nothing can be done. This season D’Antoni made the best of the Shaq trade. A trade that was intriguing and interesting, but utterly ineffective. Amare Stoudemire played like a beast for a couple months and then as is customary in Phonix, the Suns were all-but-swept from the first round by the Spurs.
Johnson may have had it even worse. Matched up against his mentor and the perfect team last season the Mavs lost in 6 to the upstart Warriors. If nothing else, the series proved that Dirk might never be the number 1 guy that Mark Cuban dreams of. This season the Mavs ran into CP3 and another former COY, Byron Scott. Scott, of course, was run out of New Jersey under a hail of cookie fire by Jason Kidd.
The Mavs had their shot at a title 3 years ago, but we all know how that turned out. Dwayne Wade tossed his body around to the tune of something like 25 free throw attempts a game. Sure, Wade now spends most of his time fetching comfy socks for Charles Barkley, but that’s of little consolation for the Little General.
Johnson and D’Antoni will both end up back in the playoffs soon enough. Hopefully, they’ll win a championship wherever they sign. At least then they’ll have job security – for a couple years at least.
Also, Atlanta fans can celebrate while Bill Simmons weeps – Billy Knight is stepping down. Voluntarily. No word on whether or not he’ll take a position that allows him to continue organizing the Atrocious GM Summit. [The Sports Network]
31 Responses to “D’Antoni, Johnson Are On The Market”
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May 7th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I give blumpkins to LeBron James.
Playing the role of ombudsman, Golden State beat Dallas in 6 games, and Amare played like a beast, or a best, if that is some kind of wild animal.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
D’Antoni was also victimized by some whacky front office moves. The Suns sold three first round picks over the last two years to avoid the luxury tax. They didn’t sign Joe Johnson because they didn’t want to spend that type of money. They got rid of Kurt Thomas, who’s a good post defender and rebounder with a decent 12-foot jumper. I’m not gonna’ gripe about the Shaq trade because I think it was alright. But some personnel moves over the last few years have been shaky and I think led to the demise of the Suns.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Agree NDub
Shaq wasn’t the problem. How about Steve Nash couldn’t stop a soul, and “lockdown” defender Raja Bell had no idea how to stop Ginobli.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Agree NDub
Shaq wasn’t the problem. How about Steve Nash couldn’t stop a soul, and “lockdown” defender Raja Bell had no idea how to stop Ginobli?
May 7th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
@BobbyBeingManny – to be fair there are – what 3? 4? – people in the NBA would can stop Manu?
May 7th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
@bbm
yep. The blame needs to fall on Steve Nash. Let’s see, the Mavs are successful regular season team but flame out every year in the playoffs with Steve Nash at point. He leaves to go to PHX, they become successful regular season team, flame out in the playoffs. The Mavs end up going to the NBA Finals.
Whereas Nash makes guys better on offense. His porous defense made the interior defenders on his team even worse.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
CRM-Bruce Bowen…damn that doesn’t work.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:02 pm
D’Antoni himself made a lot of those moves. He was GM/Coach for two seasons post-Colangelo/pre-Kerr.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I like D’Antoni, he’s a good coach, no doubt. But after watching the Spurs/Suns series, it’s night and day how the two teams play defense as a whole. Yes, Nash can’t stop anyone, but the team as a whole doesn’t mesh well together on defense for some reason. Somehow, we need to meld D’Antoni and Mike Brown into a super know-it-all coach…
May 7th, 2008 at 5:11 pm
There’s a story on ESPN about Richard Jefferson being involved in an assault. Does this mean he’s not gay, b/c last time I checked, the “gays” don’t do that.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I like D’Antoni, but I think his approach is better suited to college (like the Grinnell run ‘n’ gun offense). On an NBA squad, the bench will never be deep enough to maintain the pace he wants to set.
And good luck if he goes to Chicago. Kirk Hinrich is a nice player, but a creative offensive threat, he is not.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
These guys disagree.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
I give blumpkins to LeBron James.
Bulls are a playoff team for the next however many years as long as D’Antoni is their coach. They won’t win a championship but they will be a playoff team.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
@Cursed
The incident happened awhile ago. He’s just now getting arrested.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Consultantnomo.. how about the fact that I knew what your link was before i clicked on it!! But that is a hilarious pull
May 7th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
It must be that Cleveland mind-meld, Cursed.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
I don’t think the Shaq trade is why they lost, but I do think it made them worse, only further distancing them from the Spurs. The final series tally would support that theory as well.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:22 pm
Is it possible to get compensation picks for a coach?
May 7th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
D’Antoni had to go. It’s not about what awards you won in the past, it’s about who gives you the best chance to win next year. Phx knows they can’t win without D. There’s 4 teams better than them now just in the West. He also dug his own grave with the moves he made as GM.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I don’t think anyone they bring in is going to make them a better team than D’Antoni did. I still think management in regards to coaching is far too shortsighted these days. You aren’t going to win a championship every year. If you are competing, that’s all you can ask for unless you have the opportunity to get someone better. Do they? I don’t think so.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I disagree. The Cavs have three former all-stars (Big Ben, Wally, and Z), and they’ve been playing like it all season long. Just ask Cursed.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Z’s been nothing short of fabulous for the Cavs all season.
The reason I mention the all-star thing is because you and RD made it seem all year that the Cavaliers were won of the least talented teams in the league, while the Lakers were the most talented team. I was pointing out that in all reality, situations matter more than the players. What would Sasha V and Vlad Rad be on the Bulls? Non entities is what they would be. But when they’re playing with Lakers and things are going well, they look a ton better than they actually are.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
If I were a recent CotY, I’d avoid the NYK job until some of their AWFUL contracts had rolled off (they still owe Jared Jeffries $18M over the next 3 years!). I’d take a year off playing golf, going deep sea fishing, and wiping my sports cars down with a diaper, like Cameron Frye’s dad.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
It always makes me chuckle when people talk about defense in the NBA.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Sean Jean-
Normally, I’d agree. But when you look at Shaq and Nash’s ages, don’t you have to go for it all now? Isn’t that one of the reasons they traded for Shaq in the first place?
May 7th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Captain Pants: I still have no idea why they traded for Shaq. I can’t figure that one out.
As for Nash, getting a new coach isn’t going to help that endeavor. Clearly he thrived under D’Antoni. It’s kind of like leaving a great job just because your buddy makes more money, when in reality you don’t have any better prospects out there.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Let’s get one thing straight: Phoenix didn’t get over the hump because their owner is too fucking afraid of paying the luxury tax to use a first round draft pick. D’Antonio had absolutely no say on selling their draft picks. The Suns will now fade to the 7-8 spot in the west (if they’re lucky) and the owner will realize that not making the playoffs hurts the bottom line a whole lot more than paying 5-10 million in luxury tax.
May 7th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
D’Antoni has never been a good defensive coach, in my opinion. That is where the Bulls really lacked this year. I’m not a big Avery Johnson fan either. I’d like to see them go with someone like Charles Oakley, someone that can bring some fire to the team like Skiles did. Someone who won’t tolerate BS.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:09 pm
Z’s been well short of fabulous. I love the guy but can think of about 10 centers I’d rather have.
May 7th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
He had something to say about signing Marcus Banks.
May 7th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
The Simmons Article on the decline of the Suns is a fantastic read. It outlines how the front-office screwed up what could’ve been a dynasty just to save some extra cash. The Sports Guy knows his basketball and its about time he wrote something on the NBA that doesn’t slurp Boston. The Suns really could’ve had a stacked team. What the hell is it with the stupidity of NBA GM’s?