Carmelo Anthony: New York Must Not Move Anthony After D'Antoni Resigns
The New York Knicks just lost their coach, Mike D’Antoni, to a resignation and do not need to further shake things up by trading Carmelo Anthony before the trade deadline.
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski:
"D’Antoni and Knicks owner James Dolan agreed on Wednesday to end his three-plus-years run as Knicks coach, a source said. “It was a mutual decision to no longer coach the Knicks … conflicting visions of the club’s future.”
"
Obviously, D’Antoni would not have resigned if the team was successful this season and Carmelo Anthony was actually running his plays. The Knicks have lost six in a row and clearly forced the coach’s hand in this issue.
Instead of panicking and trying to appease a coach who never fit in the Big Apple, the franchise did the sensible thing, and that was to cater to their superstar swingman. It was clear that ‘Melo did not buy into the spacing and timing required of D’Antoni’s offense, and the team only seemed to win when he was hurt and Jeremy Lin took the reigns.
Anthony himself has said he never wanted to leave New York, but something had to give if he were to stay.
It’s apparent he got his way, and the resignation confirmed rumors earlier in the day that D’Antoni lost the locker room and about half the players sided with Carmelo.
The only sensible option once this happened was to scrap the coach or move the slumping small forward. By having D’Antoni “resign,” the problem is now taken care of.
If things don’t work out in New York, they can deal with it at the offseason, but making any further and drastic moves would just be foolish at this point. The Knicks need to see how the team plays with a new offense and hopefully a new outlook from their superstar. Then they can assess the situation and make the proper adjustments in the summer if they feel necessary.
