D’Antoni Reminds Us That Sarver Is a Louse

The Knicks head west on a road trip this weekend, and (as always) it turns into some sort of national story. Last year, the Western swing featured Stephon Marbury blackmailing Isiah Thomas. This time, new Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni is laying the timber to his old bosses in Phoenix. Steve Kerr takes his lumps, but owner Robert Sarver (who took over the team in the middle of D’Antoni’s stunning run) receives most of the damage. The New York Post’s Peter Vescey has the quotes.↵↵⇥Though it’s true Sarver gave D’Antoni the option to stay (after giving him permission to interview for the Bulls and Knicks) it was clear management wanted more of a commitment defensively should he continue. That almost surely would have meant having to add a defensive coach to his staff. [...]
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↵⇥“I’m a head coach,” D’Antoni said defiantly. “I’m neither an offensive nor a defensive coach. I’m a basketball coach. Maybe I should go to a seminar. But I think I know how to guard a guy. How do I get a player to guard a guy? Well, that’s harder to do.”↵↵To be sure, that is hard to do -- appointed successor Terry Porter (who has learned at the feet of many a defensive Grandmaster) hasn’t gotten much defense out of Phoenix, either. The problem has been that two of Phoenix’s biggest stars (Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire) stink at defense. 1+1=2, you know?
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↵There’s more interesting stuff in there, including a vignette in which D’Antoni defends the notorious Shaq trade, but then blames the basis of it on Shawn Marion’s attitude. Shocking revelation, that.↵