Knicks Rumors: Mike D'Antoni Reportedly Losing New York Locker Room

The New York Knicks are in a tailspin and have lost eight of their last 10 games. Now Chris Broussard of ESPN The Magazine is reporting that coach Mike D’Antoni has also lost the locker room.

It seems a number of Knickerbockers aren’t pleased with the X’s and O’s and system in place.

"The players like Mike as a person," a source said. "They think he's a good guy. But he doesn't have the respect of the team anymore."

However, it doesn’t seem like everyone is against D’Antoni.

"Half the team is trying to do what coach says and the other half is doing something different," a source said. "Then it spills over to the defensive end because players are (ticked) off about somebody taking a bad shot."

It’s more than obvious the players on the coach’s side are the ones that are sick of Carmelo Anthony bogging down the offense and not doing his part or playing his role.

Al Iannazzone of New York Newsday backs up the anti-Carmelo sentiment. 

Jeremy Lin, and the Linsanity that ensued after he earned the starting job, did his best to run the system and it worked to great effect at first—which is no surprise considering ‘Melo was sitting out with injury.

Broussard reported that once the swingman returned, Lin would refuse to pass him the ball if he did not run the designed play or screwed up the offense in any other way. That led to Anthony refusing to listen when Lin tried to speak with him and guide him to the right spaces on the floor.

In a weird twist, or just a display of how screwed up this team is, Marc Berman at The New York Post is reporting that Carmelo's favorite teammate is Lin: "Anthony is not jealous of Jeremy Lin’s global fame, according to the source. Lin, the source said, is Anthony’s favorite teammate, and Anthony feels they could be like the Thunder duo of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook."

It’s just a caustic situation and a big reason why the locker room is divided. It seems like half the roster is with D’Antoni and half is with Carmelo.

Obviously, it’s much easier to place the blame on the coach since he’s not averaging 21.3 points, 3.8 assists and 5.9 rebounds like ‘Melo is. His effort can only be measured in wins and losses.

New York can also get rid of the coach much easier than it could its star player, which is why some fans, analysts, insiders and now Knicks players are calling for D’Antoni’s head.

That isn’t right, but that is the way the league works and a star usually gets his way.

Expect a fresh face to be calling the plays if things do not get patched up shortly in NYC.