Mike D'Antoni The Fall Guy For MSG's Mistakes

NBAE/Getty Images

Blame Mike D'Antoni, blame Carmelo Anthony, blame
Jeremy Lin, blame Amar'e Stoudimire, blame the
defense, blame the lack of offense, but no matter
who you blame, just realize that their is more than
enough blame to go around. I blame the hierarchy
at MSG, whether that means Jim Dolan, Glen Grunwald,
or some other exec I have never heard about, that
is not as relevant as the fact that they never let
Donnie Walsh finish the job he started. That being
said, along with the fact that D'Antoni was brought
in by Walsh to do that job, the coaches resignation
surprises no one. No matter what anyone tells you,
no one was surprised. This is a case of you doing
the breaking up, before you get broken up with.

MSG and Co. got what they deserved, and this is what
happens in any and all team sports when ownership
throws money at their problems, and has ZERO patience.
The Knicks can still make the playoffs this year,
Mike Woodson is a fine coach, and their is talent on
this roster, but the Knicks just did the NBA East a
favor and made themselves fairly irrelevant for any
sort of Championship type push, but that's not a good
thing for the NBA in general. Phil Jackson you say?
The body is still warm, so don't count any chickens
before those eggs hatch, it work out too well when
those eggs were labeled LeBron, did it?

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Did The NY Knicks Get Too Melo To Keep Linning?

Jeff Haynes/Reuters

It wasn't too long ago that there was alot of
Linning and Linsanity around the NY Knicks,
but now they are almost exactly where they
started after Jeremy Lin took New York City,
and the NBA by storm. All of that being said
I'm not ready to start pointing fingers on
who's fault it might be, or if this is a little
bit of a coincidence with the return of Carmelo
Anthony, but you can't help but see that things
have changed a bit.

I hate calling for a coaches job, I've done it,
but I hate doing it, and I won't do it here.
Mike D'Antoni is easy to pick on here because
many fans think that he should be the one to
fix their offensive struggles with Anthony in
the lineup, but the truth is D'Antoni never
asked for Carmelo Anthony to begin with, it was
Jim Dolan who force fed him to Donnie Walsh and
D'Antoni, and even though I don't want to call
out Carmelo either, the numbers don't lie.
You might wonder why he wouldn't want Anthony,
and that basketball is basketball, but apparently
this system that D'Antoni runs hasn't been a good
fit for this coach and player. Before Anthony's
return to the lineup the Knicks went from 7 games
under .500 to .500, and today find themselves at
six games under .500, in the middle of a six game
losing streak, and all those gains and momentum
just about lost.

Did the Knicks get too Melo? I think the answer
here is yes, but I also think it's fixable, IF
Melo wants to be part of the solution, AND if
D'Antoni can come up with enough adjustments to
make these parts work as one. The Knicks have
many good players on this team, and that is a
problem at times, but if Coach D'Antoni can make
sure he puts the lineup on the floor that best
matches up against the other team, logic will
tell you that if everyone is on board this will
work. The thing is, everything logical doesn't
always work that way. I heard NY Knicks TV man
and legend Walt "Clyde" Frazier say that he never
saw a team that got along as good as this bunch,
and that they seem to genuinely like each other,
well if that's the case, then this logic might
just work here.

Their are very few games left this season, and the
Knicks need to turn things around ASAP it's true,
but not just to make the playoffs, which I think
they will, but to avoid the seventh or eighth seed.
Should they land in the playoffs as either of those
two seeds, they better be hot and clicking as a unit,
because knocking off either Chicago or Miami to move
forward will prove to be more than a big task, and
they will need a little more Linsanity by the whole
team to get it done.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Calling David Stern

So let me get this right, you suspend Amare
Stoudemire while he was a member of a Mike
D'Antoni coached Suns team in 2007 because
he was gallant enough to defend his scrawny
175lb teammate from getting mugged by Robert
Horry, but don't feel in any way compelled
to do anything about Ray Allen chest bumping
a teammate who was supposed to be on the bench
but came out onto the floor while the ball was
still in play, after the three he hit against
the Knicks that wound up being the game winner.
And these same referees that you constantly
make sure aren't criticized are ok by you, even
though on Carmelo Anthony's game winning shot
attempt Paul Pierce was hanging on the rim.
Do I have that right? David? Mr Stern? Do I?
Or is it a Mike D'Antoni, Amare Stoudemire grudge
you got going on?......Just Asking.
Oh and by the way, was that Celtics assistant coach
Lawrence Frank on the court during live action?
Again, Just Asking?

Taking Sides

I've been seen in the past as taking the
side of the players, but I've also been known
to side with the owners on many occasions as
well, and after following the Carson Palmer
story in Cincinnati for a little while, I knew
it was time to pick a side once again.

A few weeks back on my radio show "Ranting
with Rizzo" on WDIS, I defended the New York
Knicks acquisition of Carmelo Anthony, even
though like many Prima Donna type athletes he
said that he would play for no other team other
than his hometown NY Knicks, and in many ways
demanded a trade to NY. To me, that is where
the similarities end. You see, I had said that
Carmelo went about it the right way in many ways;
he was playing hard, he wasn't whining, and just
as important, he was in the final year of his
contract, so he was under no obligation to re sign
with the Nuggets. Though that type of stance hurts
loyal fans, it's really not too different than when
you change jobs that you've been at for a long time
and the customers that depend on you and love your
work are sorry to see you leave. The other thing
I want to add to the Carmelo Anthony situation which
is something I think holds weight as well, is that
New York is his hometown, and had LeBron left Miami
for Cleveland instead of the other way around, I can
assure you that he would have received much more
support than he does now, and unlike when a player
chooses to go to a team like say the Yankees because
of their deep NY pockets, the contract Anthony got
was no bigger with the NY Knicks than it was with
the Denver Nuggets.

Clark Judge of CBS Sports.com in his column the
other day mentioned that two sources he was very
confident in said that Carson Palmer "will never, ever,
ever play for the team again." That is unfortunate,
and certainly something Carson should have considered
before signing such a long term deal. Money is not a
question here, he's not looking for a better deal, he
just, for his own reasons does not want to play for
the Bengals ever again, but the fact of the matter is
that he has FOUR more years remaining on his contract,
and unless team owner Mike Brown trades him to another
team, Carson has promised, NOT Threatened, but promised
to retire. He also won't win over many fans nor myself
by saying that he's "got 80 million in the bank" so
he doesn't need to play again. Carson Palmer is 31
years old, and he might make sure he asks a guy like
Tiki Barber who this week announced that at the age of
36 is coming out of retirement, what it's like when time
has passed you by. He may want to ask Tiki why NO ONE
CARES ! Carson will soon find out that unless he's as
serious as Jake Plummer was, (and we still don't know
whether Jake really doesn't miss the game like he says
or not), there is NO turning back.

We have all at one time or another taken hard line
stances in our lives, whether it was against our parents,
bosses, children, or even society, but not all of them
are the type that there is the "NO TURNING BACK" sign
attached to them. To an athlete, age is one, if not
the most valuable commodity. I think Mike Brown not
only knows this, but is more than willing to make sure
that his Quarterback understands it as well. I for one
have chosen the side of ownership on this. I think that
if Carson Palmer is going to pout, moan and groan, cause
he doesn't get his way. If he is going to take his ball
and go home, then Mike Brown should let him. If this was
the last year of his deal, or even the next to last year,
I could see myself siding with the fact that he might say,
"hey you know what, this isn't working out", but in this
case I say take your $80 million and get lost. Disagree?
Put yourself in the position that you own team X and
this is what's going on. I can assure you that you will
change your tune rather quickly.