As the New York Knicks wandered off the court at Madison Square Garden Sunday evening the outlook of a new bright future seemed to be no more than hopeful hyperbole.
On the one hand, the Knicks found themselves in the playoffs for the first time since 2004, snapping a painful streak that lasted seven long years, but on the other hand, the team has now extended its string of seasons without a playoff victory to 10 years and growing, a feat that dates back to 2001.
Fair or not, the blame will certainly fall on the shoulders of one Mr. Mike D'Antoni whose injury ridden team floundered when it mattered most. But aside from the latest postseason flap, it is D'Antoni's inability to mold his team that features two of the NBA's top 10 players into a cohesive unit that could lead to his demise as the Knicks' general.
The argument for keeping D'Antoni is a sound one. He is under contract for next year for starters and on top of that he has been at the helm as the Knicks returned to the spotlight after a decade of futility and disaster. While ultimately coaches are judged by wins and losses (the Knicks are 103-147 under D'Antoni), it is somewhat unfair to do that in this case.
When Donnie Walsh hired D'Antoni, he did so knowing that the first two years would almost certainly be a wash and they were. It was the third season-this season- that Walsh hoped would be the turning point.
And while 2011 ended in frustrating fashion, it is easy to give D'Antoni the benefit of the doubt. After all, his team was gutted midway through the season, leaving the Knicks with just 25 games to learn a system that was practically created on the fly. He was asked to make a happy blend of two volume shooting superstars, neither one of which brings a dominant secondary skill; it was no simple task.
But still there are glaring problems with the Knicks; problems that inherently fall on the pile of work that the head coach is assigned. As an example, the team gave up 105.7 points per game in the regular season, tied for second worst in the league. While billed as an offensive genius, the Knicks offense stalled in the playoffs, where the effort was inconsistent and the shooting was abysmal. His supreme distrust of role players and short rotation hurts the team on a regular basis, and his doghouse that more closely resembles Alcatraz has been well documented.
The Knicks have two options. They can opt to allow D'Antoni one more season, a season in which they must keep one group of players (an improved group of players) together and see if the team finds the effort and talent needed to be a force in the playoffs.
Under this option though, the Knicks must go for it next year. The fan base will absolutely not be OK with the repeated proverb of "it just takes time," that the Knicks and their brass have preached for far to long.
The other option is to fire D'Antoni, and while fan reaction is sure to prefer that, finding the correct replacement will not be easy, particularly with the threat of a lockout looming. If the Knicks do decide to go another direction for their head coach, an experienced veteran would be the only possibility.
Rookie head coaches such as Mark Jackson or Patrick Ewing should be discounted immediately. With Amar'e Stoudemire's knees and the relatively short window that NBA teams seem to have, the Knicks simply don't have the time to waste on an experiment at head coach.
Other names that may come up will be John Calipari, Jeff Van Gundy and Doc Rivers, whose Celtics just dismantled the Knicks in the first round.
Certainly the Knicks will need an experienced coach who can navigate the egos of Amar'e and Carmelo Anthony, but should they fire D'Antoni, it is a defensive whiz that they must hire. Someone who is willing to let the stars handle the offense, but demand the defense that is required for teams to win championships, the same defense that D'Antoni has never proved he can get out of his players.
It is to early to tell what the Knicks will do, but it is not too early to raise the questions, and in the next few weeks we will see exactly how patient the Knicks are.
