ESPN Sportscenter: D'Antoni to talk with Bulls and Knicks

[Gaddabout]

Uh, they don't want him here, he doesn't want to be here. It has NOTHING to do with money. Get a grip. Firing him would be like lighting 8 million bucks on fire. I'm not sure why this is so hard for you guys to understand. This isn't financial. He is a piss poor coach. Unreal what goes through the mind of orangites.

Because $8 million is a pretty cheap price to keep your credibility in tact. Colangelo always got this. Sarver agreed to this money for D'Antoni. Sarver brought in Kerr basically to meddle with D'Antoni after the fact. Either Sarver believes in his coach or he doesn't. Sarver's about to learn a very hard lesson in NBA economies: Toying with one coach means making it harder to hire the next one. If D'Antoni leaves under these circumstances, those they interview will have to take a great leap of faith that Sarver/Kerr aren't going to toy with them, too.

 

[nowagimp]

It is great that they took so long to do this, it only pretty much completely screwed us out of the Carlisle sweepstakes. Larry Brown is also gone. Who the hell is going to come in and teach this team how to at least play decent defense and teach them some discipline mostly in keeping focus throughout games and how to not constantly make stupid mistakes?

Massive kudos to sarver for once again completely dropping the ball! Way to take your time, sarver!

Any really good coach looks at the job with the evaluation of will he be able to meet expectations and how long will he be permitted to take to do it.

First, the expectations in Phx are higher than any other open job because, steve nash is declining, shaq and his 20mil contract are here, and the state of the fan bases frustration with failing to advance past the spurs.

second, the ability to meet expectations is limited by the lack of picks, no useful expiring contracts, and a weak bench in a very strong division. The savakerr goal is to get better defense and yet, they have a number of poor defenders signed for several years.

Third, a cheap owner is NOT an attractive proposition for a coach like Larry Brown or Carlile, cuban wins that one hands down, and sarver will be one of the less desirable owners. The bulls and the knicks will spend more freely.

If I'm a coach, the Phx job is just about impossible to meet expectations unless you can win it all with what you've got. Coaches like larry brown are looking at how they might be able to change the roster to play a more defensive style. Every team out there will want to deal with the suns, with their track record of getting bent over in deals.

Why would DA stay in Phx? The Phx job is very likely to be a short term job, and he will bet the blame for failure(not winning a championship) even when making kerrs adjustments. There is a high degree of doubt whether the suns can beat the hornets or the lakers with their personel.

DA to chicago? Absolutely, he can probably get that team to the playoffs, the fans base will not tolerate cheap management a la sarvakerr. the resources will be made available and all the future picks are not sold. DA will likley get at least 3-4 years out of that job as he can elevate that talent to somewhere near its potential. The eastern conference isnt that tough and detroit and boston arent that young, so I dont doubt the bulls can win a first round series in the near future.

DA to NY? This actually looks better than the suns job, securitywise. Its good for 2-3 years. if they make the playoffs, perhaps longer. The knicks fans base will also not tolerate a cheap owner, and NY is an attractive place for stars, just for the endorsements and visibility. If the kniocks gave isiah GM power, I'll bet DA will be treated well there, have alot of say.

 

[taz02]

Have the suns ever had a coach with championship experience?

I can't think of one.

 

[cly2tw]

Because $8 million is a pretty cheap price to keep your credibility in tact. Colangelo always got this. Sarver agreed to this money for D'Antoni. Sarver brought in Kerr basically to meddle with D'Antoni after the fact. Either Sarver believes in his coach or he doesn't. Sarver's about to learn a very hard lesson in NBA economies: Toying with one coach means making it harder to hire the next one. If D'Antoni leaves under these circumstances, those they interview will have to take a great leap of faith that Sarver/Kerr aren't going to toy with them, too.

The conditions have changed after we got eliminated by Spurs last year. DA now can't achieve the goal the organization set with his contract extension. It's the exact circumstance for him to leave, as is common in the league. It's not like we had a chance to achieve our goal of winning a championship without the 'meddling' by Kerr this season.

 

[Darth Llama]

But sources close to the situation have maintained for days that D'Antoni does not want to continue coaching in Phoenix if he must implement the changes suggested by his bosses, which include increasing the time spent practicing defense and a more stern approach with younger players such as Suns forward Amare Stoudemire and guard Leandro Barbosa.

After reading this, I can't believe any of you are unhappy with Sarver and Kerr, seriously. Read the article, your coach does not want to practice defense!! That's absolutely insane.

You would be better off with Gentry or Del'Negro, or better yet, just having Kerr coach the team. Kerr has won titles, Kerr knows that it takes to play championship basketball, and it all revolves around team defense. Any coach that thinks otherwise is an idiot. You guys have the stupidest coach in the league, you should be thrilled that Sarver has found a way to dump off his contract on some other unlucky bastard. Granting permission for D'Antoni to talk to other teams is a brilliant move and one that helps your team tremendously. I cannot stress this enough.. no team coached by Mike D'Antoni will EVER win an NBA title. He is an idiot of epic proportions. His formula works great in the regular season, but it doesn't work in the playoffs. All D'Antoni is, is a watered down version of Rick Adleman who also sucks ass will never sniff a title as long as he lives. This is a brilliant move by Sarver, and doesn't make him cheap at all. He could just stand pat and let D'Antoni run up the score board for 82 games again, then exit the playoffs early, but he wants to be better then that.

You guys need to give your ownership/GM a break here, they are doing the right thing for your team.

 

[Andrew]

Who the hell is this Del Negro guy? If Mike leaves, go after JVG. He can be lured out of retirement for the right price.

 

[Darth Llama]

Who the hell is this Del Negro guy? If Mike leaves, go after JVG. He can be lured out of retirement for the right price.

Former NBA Player, I believe he was a point guard, but he might have been a two guard. He played for the Suns for a year or two. I believe he played most of his career with the Spurs.

 

[Andrew]

I still think JVG is the right fit IF Mike leaves...

 

[nowagimp]

After reading this, I can't believe any of you are unhappy with Sarver and Kerr, seriously. Read the article, your coach does not want to practice defense!! That's absolutely insane.

You would be better off with Gentry or Del'Negro, or better yet, just having Kerr coach the team. Kerr has won titles, Kerr knows that it takes to play championship basketball, and it all revolves around team defense. Any coach that thinks otherwise is an idiot.

Well the lakers won the 2001 NBA championship with the 21st best defense in the NBA of 29 teams. This means that several lotto teams had better defense. Not a very good defensive team, and yet .... I guess it wasnt all about defense for them.

 

[JS22]

I don't understand how this is Sarver "toying" with D'antoni. It is extremely clear that D'antoni doesn't believe in coaching defense, and is for some reason offended that management expects this team to play defense. To help, management will probably hire a defensive minded assistance and require D'antoni to dedicate practice to more than just offense.

There is no reason to fire him at all. Simply hire a defensive minded assistant and require D'antoni to mix it up a little. He clearly doesn't want to do this, so Phoenix - instead of flushing 8 million dollars down the toilet - is letting him look at other options. If he chooses to leave, fine. They won't be required to pay his salary. If he stays, then he'll have to live with a few changes.

Personally I see this as the Suns wanting to keep D'antoni, because honestly he is "safer" than anything out there right now. They just want him to accept the "meddling" and bring in someone who can help make this team at least try on the other end of the court. If he is too stubborn for this, then he walks.

It's a win win for both sides. But most posters on here love spinning everything they can to make "$arver" look cheap.

Like I said in another post: Sarver is probably just dumb. Cheap? No. Dumb, yeah.

 

[Darth Llama]

Well the lakers won the 2001 NBA championship with the 21st best defense in the NBA of 29 teams. This means that several lotto teams had better defense. Not a very good defensive team, and yet .... I guess it wasnt all about defense for them.

Very deceptive stat though. If you remember, the Lakers clamped down big time in the playoffs, and were MUCH better then they were in the regular season. That's kind of a common thread for Phil Jackson teams for some reason, it's the same way this year. The Lakers have played their best defense of the season the last 5 (playoff) games. I don't know why that is, it just is. The Spurs do the same thing, they look suspect for the regular season, then lock down in the playoffs.

The 2000-2001 Lakers had the problem of letting other teams draw them into shoot outs where they got duped into trading shots and trying to win the game "Kings Style" by just outscoring people. They luckily got away from that in the playoffs which was the only reason they won it all that year. Despite that, a team winning the title after being ranked #21 in defense is an anomaly. You're using a rare exception to the rule to try to refute the rule. All of your successful head coaches in the league are defensive minded coaches. D'Antoni only cares about scoring points.

 

[JS22]

After reading this, I can't believe any of you are unhappy with Sarver and Kerr, seriously. Read the article, your coach does not want to practice defense!! That's absolutely insane.

You would be better off with Gentry or Del'Negro, or better yet, just having Kerr coach the team. Kerr has won titles, Kerr knows that it takes to play championship basketball, and it all revolves around team defense. Any coach that thinks otherwise is an idiot. You guys have the stupidest coach in the league, you should be thrilled that Sarver has found a way to dump off his contract on some other unlucky bastard. Granting permission for D'Antoni to talk to other teams is a brilliant move and one that helps your team tremendously. I cannot stress this enough.. no team coached by Mike D'Antoni will EVER win an NBA title. He is an idiot of epic proportions. His formula works great in the regular season, but it doesn't work in the playoffs. All D'Antoni is, is a watered down version of Rick Adleman who also sucks ass will never sniff a title as long as he lives. This is a brilliant move by Sarver, and doesn't make him cheap at all. He could just stand pat and let D'Antoni run up the score board for 82 games again, then exit the playoffs early, but he wants to be better then that.

You guys need to give your ownership/GM a break here, they are doing the right thing for your team.

I can't believe I agree with everything a Laker fan says about the Suns. It makes me feel dirty inside!

 

[azsouthendzone]

After reading this, I can't believe any of you are unhappy with Sarver and Kerr, seriously. Read the article, your coach does not want to practice defense!! That's absolutely insane.

You would be better off with Gentry or Del'Negro, or better yet, just having Kerr coach the team. Kerr has won titles, Kerr knows that it takes to play championship basketball, and it all revolves around team defense. Any coach that thinks otherwise is an idiot. You guys have the stupidest coach in the league, you should be thrilled that Sarver has found a way to dump off his contract on some other unlucky bastard. Granting permission for D'Antoni to talk to other teams is a brilliant move and one that helps your team tremendously. I cannot stress this enough.. no team coached by Mike D'Antoni will EVER win an NBA title. He is an idiot of epic proportions. His formula works great in the regular season, but it doesn't work in the playoffs. All D'Antoni is, is a watered down version of Rick Adleman who also sucks ass will never sniff a title as long as he lives. This is a brilliant move by Sarver, and doesn't make him cheap at all. He could just stand pat and let D'Antoni run up the score board for 82 games again, then exit the playoffs early, but he wants to be better then that.

You guys need to give your ownership/GM a break here, they are doing the right thing for your team.

Some on here just hate Sarver and Kerr, so anything they do, they will complain about. You said it best. The thought that by firing D'Antoni you get some sort of "credibility" is rediculous. A Suns fan's memory lasts about 5 minutes. To think they have anything to gain by keeping Mike or by eating his contract is mind boggling. This is the best case scenario possible.

As far as the whole "Sarver is cheap" thing that keeps popping up, I think its pretty rediculous. You guys act like the guy is Donald Sterling. So he wants to have some sort of fiscal responsibility. So the hell what. Throwing money away on players that don't deserve inflated contracts does not equal championships. You win by having a great core, and by developing youth and role players. The Suns have the 9th highest payroll and the Spurs have the 12th. The money needs to be spent wisely. Being "cheap" isn't even part of the equation. It has more to do with a bad system and the team that D'Antoni has constructed.

 

[Darth Llama]

I can't believe I agree with everything a Laker fan says about the Suns. It makes me feel dirty inside!

Maybe it's a sign of the apocalypse?

I'll build the arc, you start collecting two of every type of animal.

 

[azsouthendzone]

Compare the Spurs salaries to the "cheap" Suns and you will see why the Spurs are such a juggernaut. It takes a great GM and coach to get this kind of production from this kind of payroll.

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/san_antonio.htm

 

[Darth Llama]

Compare the Spurs salaries to the "cheap" Suns and you will see why the Spurs are such a juggernaut. It takes a great GM and coach to get this kind of production from this kind of payroll.

http://hoopshype.com/salaries/san_antonio.htm

That's a great site, thanks for the link.

D'Antoni should go to the Knicks if he wants to work for poor ownership. The Knicks have by far the hightest pay roll ($88 Million compared to $71.5 Million for the Suns) and that bought the Knicks a whopping 23 wins. In the East no less.

Money doesn't always equal success.

 

[TheHopToad]

Knowing how cheap Sarver is, he'll probably hire Dan Dan as the coach so he won't have to change the signs or anything that says "Coach D'Antoni" on it.

 

[shazaam6]

Some on here just hate Sarver and Kerr, so anything they do, they will complain about. You said it best. The thought that by firing D'Antoni you get some sort of "credibility" is rediculous. A Suns fan's memory lasts about 5 minutes. To think they have anything to gain by keeping Mike or by eating his contract is mind boggling. This is the best case scenario possible.

As far as the whole "Sarver is cheap" thing that keeps popping up, I think its pretty rediculous. You guys act like the guy is Donald Sterling. So he wants to have some sort of fiscal responsibility. So the hell what. Throwing money away on players that don't deserve inflated contracts does not equal championships. You win by having a great core, and by developing youth and role players. The Suns have the 9th highest payroll and the Spurs have the 12th. The money needs to be spent wisely. Being "cheap" isn't even part of the equation. It has more to do with a bad system and the team that D'Antoni has constructed.

Over the years, Sarver has been cheap.....at the wrong time. He overspends, then allows giveaways to save money. = CHEAP + DUMB = Decline of the Suns

 

[JS22]

Knowing how cheap Sarver is, he'll probably hire Dan Dan as the coach so he won't have to change the signs or anything that says "Coach D'Antoni" on it.

 

[AfroSuns]

I wont be surprised if Doug Collins takes this job if the D'Antoni leaves. Didnt anyone notice how he said everything but kiss each of the suns players A** in the last game.
Plus the TNT connection with Kerr is still there not to mention dude leaves in the Valley. I wont be surprised if he comes out of retirement to take the job.

 

[Mulli]

I wont be surprised if Doug Collins takes this job if the D'Antoni leaves. Didnt anyone notice how he said everything but kiss each of the suns players A** in the last game.
Plus the TNT connection with Kerr is still there not to mention dude leaves in the Valley. I wont be surprised if he comes out of retirement to take the job.

Doug Collins? Oof.

 

[Rab]

I wont be surprised if Doug Collins takes this job if the D'Antoni leaves. Didnt anyone notice how he said everything but kiss each of the suns players A** in the last game.
Plus the TNT connection with Kerr is still there not to mention dude leaves in the Valley. I wont be surprised if he comes out of retirement to take the job.

Dan Bickley said this morning that he ran into Doug last weekend and asked him if he would be interested in taking the Suns job if offered, and he pretty much said no to his face.

I think Doug is very comfortable where he is, and after the way his tenure in Washington ended, I don't think he'd really consider a come back to coaching, nor I do I think I'd want him to. Love him as a broadcaster, but not as much as a coach.

 

[Hat]

Collins for Suns coach!

Hey, I can dream right?

Seriously, he has a lot of basketball IQ I can trust. Both and JVG are about equal imo, but I think Collins knows what it takes defensively to get the job done.

 

[Hat]

Doug Collins? Oof.

It's either him, racoon eyes, or Del Negro. You're pick

 

[nowagimp]

Very deceptive stat though. If you remember, the Lakers clamped down big time in the playoffs, and were MUCH better then they were in the regular season. That's kind of a common thread for Phil Jackson teams for some reason, it's the same way this year. The Lakers have played their best defense of the season the last 5 (playoff) games. I don't know why that is, it just is. The Spurs do the same thing, they look suspect for the regular season, then lock down in the playoffs.

Simply not true about the spurs, they have been in the top 6-7 teams defensively for the last ten years, including 4 championships. The current lakers are not a very good team defensively. You cant play guys like vujcic, gasol, and radmonovic big minutes and expect to be a good defensive team. The lakers are very good offensively, which makes up for the defensive sins. No one watching the nuggets get all those easy baskets against the lakers in the first round could think they were a good defensive team. But their offense is very efficient and balanced.