In a pair of unrelated but unexpected developments, Mike D’Antoni has stepped down from his head coaching position with the Knicks and Dwight Howard has reportedly informed the Magic that he plans to play in Orlando for at least one more season.
Here’s the scoop on Mike D’Antoni, via Yahoo! Sports…
Mike D’Antoni has resigned as coach of the New York Knicks, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
D’Antoni and Knicks owner James Dolan agreed on Wednesday to end his four-season run as Knicks coach, a source said. “It was a mutual decision to no longer coach the Knicks … conflicting visions of the club’s future,” the source said.
D’Antoni had clashed with Carmelo Anthony after the trade brought the All-Star forward to the Knicks a year ago, and he could never get Anthony to buy into his system.
The Knicks have lost six consecutive games to nearly drop out of the Eastern Conference playoff race.
Assistant Mike Woodson, who formerly coached the Atlanta Hawks, will take over as the interim coach.
The article goes on to report that Amare Stoudemire, Tyson Chandler, Baron Davis, and Jeremy Lin are “pissed.”
As for Dwight Howard… this via CBSsports.com…
Magic officials have been told that Dwight Howard informed teammates he won’t opt out of contract in July, a league source told CBSSports.com’s Ken Berger.
The Magic would require written documentation that Howard will waive his early-termination option before deciding against trading him.
The team has received no such documentation, which would need to be signed by Howard and his agent, Dan Fegan, source says.
This is the commitment — in writing — the Magic apparently need to suspend efforts to trade Howard prior to Thursday’s 3 p.m. ET deadline.
Whether Howard and his agent, Dan Fegan, will agree to surrender their leverage in writing and call off the sweepstakes remains to be seen.
Howard will make about $19.5 million with the Magic next season if he goes through with his new reported plan.
First, my thoughts on D’Antoni: this certainly doesn’t solve New York’s short-term problems. It’s already been a turbulent season for the Knicks, and yet another change just hinders their shot at making the playoffs. Mike Woodson isn’t exactly an offensive genius, and I doubt that he can help Carmelo Anthony and Amare Stoudemire discover some sort of sudden chemistry. To bring out the best in Amare and Carmelo simultaneously, while also advocating defense… that will we D’Antoni’s long-term successor’s task. I don’t expect management to blow up the roster until at least one more coach has taken a crack at it.
Who could this next coach be? Knicks fans would like to think it will be an established winner… maybe Phil Jackson. None of my “sources” seem to be informed as to whether or not these hopes are completely false. Sorry.
Oh, and my thoughts on Dwight Howard: can we just get that paperwork signed and temporarily end the madness? Until ink has been put on paper I suppose this is really another non-story.
