ESPN.com: Knicks Preparing “Staggering” Offer to D’Antoni; Walsh Refutes

by Tommy Dee on May 9th, 2008 at 6:56 am

Ric Bucher of espn.com is reporting that sources close to Mike D’Antoni are telling him that Donnie Walsh is preparing a “staggering offer” to the former Suns coach.

I like Bucher, he seems to have a pulse on the western conference, but I’m not sure I’m buying this one. I’d be shocked if they make D’Antoni an offer.

Stay tuned…

According to the Daily News, Walsh refutes the report.

Donnie Walsh refuted an Internet report that the Knicks were preparing to make Phoenix Suns coach Mike D’Antoni a “staggering” offer to succeed Isiah Thomas.

The Knicks president has not given any indication that D’Antoni has supplanted Mark Jackson as the favorite to become his team’s next coach. Instead, Walsh is doing what he normally does: playing it close to the vest. Jackson, according to sources, remains Walsh’s top choice while D’Antoni could emerge as a candidate as well.”

First, let me go on record as saying I don’t want D’Antoni. Jax is the guy to lead this team until 2010, then when the roster situation is clearer, we can make a decision moving forward. D’Antoni would be a disaster, it’s just not the right fit in my opinion.

Secondly, I’m going to trust Isola on this one. He’s been on Jax’s radar and probably has as good a feel for anyone based on the fact that he’s been in his corner the whole time. Media speculation is often inaccurate and annoying, so I’ll continue to use my own common sense and logic. It’s proven me right before.

Jax will be the next Knicks coach and Isiah’s not running the team anymore.

…Andrew Smith writes….

ESPN “analysts” are notorious for this type of reporting. If they are right, kudos to them because they broke the story first. If they are wrong, millions of people still watch SportsCenter every night and they keep their job because there is no oversight over their misinformation.

I’ll believe this when I see it, and I am also on the record as being against the hiring of D’Antoni. The Suns are not successful because of D’Antoni, he is just a very good coach who is fortunate enough to have Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire, et al. Anyone involved in the game of basketball their whole life gets their own, unique understanding of the game and how to go about spreading their knowledge. A winning record with one team should never be the ultimate barometer of whether or not someone is a good fit with a completely different group of players in a completely different situation. 

Here’s a video from SNY on the D’Antoni situation.
  • vino

    This might be a stupid way to look at this situation, but what happens if we give D’Antoni a monster offer and we still have an awful season next year? Do we cut him slack because the players are awful?
    I think that if he gets that kind of contract, he should have no excuse if they tank. He will not get paid to mold young players. He will get paid to win if he is making that much money. It was the same type of situation with Larry Brown. His team was terrible. That team was filled with a bunch of high-paid talent that could not get the job done. It turned out that Larry Brown was the absolute same. He had the talent and the resume, but he couldn’t get the job done.
    What makes the D’Antoni situation different?

  • chris_w

    i think d’antoni’s a good coach, but this situation looks like gasoline and a match to me… mike should go to chicago, that’s a good fit for him, and the knicks should take the less sexy route and hire jackson. the knick fans will love him, give him the slack and leeway he’ll need with a young a roster, and hopefully in two or three years time, something will pan out. but i think d’antoni, and any high profile candidate for that matter, is a dangerous for the knicks. this is a name that needs to severely shrink it’s ego, and i think jackson’s a good guy to start with.

  • http://ww.myspace.com/deejaykilla playgroup

    i think donnie is doing the right thing takin to all these coaches… perfect fit for knicks would be jackson and bring in ewing to help coach the big men and also bring in del harris type as head asstiant to help out jax .

  • KNICKSNBLOOD

    We don’t know who is going to be on our roster next year. The team is made up of mostly offensive players!!! So why not hire the leagues best OFFENSIVE guru!!!

    That would only help make Nate Robinson, Chandler, Lee and Marbury and Crawford, look good in the eyes of GM’s around the league.

    It makes no sense to hire a coach to “learn on the job” while contracts cycle out only to fire that coach in 2010.

    We need someone to give life to the assets we already have so that they CAN be traded for good players. D’antoni can do that in one season. Barbosa, Nash, Marion were just OK players until he put his system in play.

    If the Knicks get Beasley or Rose in the draft, then there is no reason not to expect them to win more games than they did last season. I think this “rebuilding” is going to go faster than people think. I think Walsh see’s the talent and has decided that this team need to be instructed well and not completely dismantled.

  • vino

    KNICKSBLOOD- You make a good point in saying that we do not know who will be on our roster next year. That is why I cannot wait until actual player transactions start happening.