Knicks Rumors: Why Mike D'Antoni Is Toast by End of Season

Time is ticking in Times Square, and the bomb that is about to explode must be defused in a hurry.

The New York Knicks are currently tied for 11th in the Eastern Conference at 2-4. While the defense is better statistically this season (allowing 99.2 PPG), it’s still 27th in the league. They are 29th in rebounding (36 RPG) and 25th in assists (17.7 APG).

The team is coming off back-to-back home losses to the Toronto Raptors and the Charlotte Bobcats. Against Charlotte, they lost by an embarrassing 18 points. I know it’s only been six games in a 66-game season, but it’s time to start panicking in NYC. Maybe that’s why they held a 90-muntue film session on Thursday.

The majority of the blame should be placed on head coach Mike D'Antoni.

With the possibility of Phil Jackson making a return to Madison Square Garden hanging over his head, D'Antoni is already starting to panic. Frank Isola of the New York Daily News is reporting that D’Antoni is strongly considering placing rookie Iman Shumpert in the starting lineup to replace either point guard Toney Dougla or shooting guard Landry Fields.

By the sounds of his comments, it’s a move that even D’Antoni himself isn’t sure about:

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We’ll see if we do it or not. He’s obviously going to play a big part of it one way or another. We’ll just try to figure out what is the best way to go. When you’re 2-4 you consider a lot of things. We’re not (going) to stay pat just because our record is so good.

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Not exactly a vote of confidence for Shumpert. The 21-year-old rookie out of Georgia Tech has played well in his two games in a Knicks uniform (14.5 points, 4.5 rebounds), but the problem is, he’s ONLY PLAYED TWO GAMES!

Shumpert left the first game of the year with a sprained right knee and missed four games. Fields has struggled at times, but is clearly the better player at this point with a lot more experience.

D’Antoni is trying to shake up the team any way possible, and this is the best way to do it in his eyes.

Clearly Carmelo Anthony doesn’t listen to him, as evidenced by ‘Melo’s stubbornness to stall the offense with his selfish style of play. Amare Stoudemire’s numbers are down across the board, and Tyson Chandler has been severely slacking in the rebounding department early on. Nothing is going right.

There are issues with virtually every player right now, and unless the team starts winning soon, a major shakeup is in order.

With a franchise desperate for playoff success, not winning a playoff game, again, is unacceptable. D’Antoni would certainly get blamed and receive a pink slip.

Then again, he might not even make it through the regular season at the Knicks’ current rate. Something needs to change quickly in the Big Apple before heads start rolling.