Mike D'Antoni Resigns: Why Nobody Should Be Surprised By Stunning Move

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports is reporting that in the midst of a six-game losing streak and an awful season as a whole, Mike D'Antoni has resigned as head coach of the New York Knicks and that assistant and former Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Woodson will take over. This news may be shocking to some, but it's not exactly a surprise.

The Knicks are 18-24 this year and completely underachieving despite having Carmelo Anthony, Amar'e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler in the starting lineup. You can say all you want about it not being D'Antoni's fault because of the lack of a true point guard to get that trio the ball, but back up a couple of steps.

For those who followed the Phoenix Suns during Coach D's time there, you'll remember that his fast-paced offense is reliant on a point guard who can distribute as well as he passes, a power forward who both works the inside and has a sweet jumper and a small forward who stays on the wing and is made open by double-teams.

Enter Anthony, a spotlight-hogging scorer who just wouldn't do his job in D'Antoni's system. Rather than stay on the wing and let upstart point guard Jeremy Lin create plays for him, Anthony would demand the ball and then try to create his own shot. This was acceptable when he was in Denver, but did nothing but hurt the D'Antoni-led Knicks.

Thus, with the team reeling and not showing any signs of turnaround, it's no wonder that D'Antoni resigned from his position. As a coach, one surely has to deal with their share of selfish players. In this particular case, D'Antoni just couldn't handle it anymore.

The Knicks made a clear statement when they traded a majority of a talented starting five simply to acquire Anthony, and the fact that he wouldn't even attempt to adapt to D'Antoni's offense was a slap in the face to the veteran coach.

At that point, it was just a matter of time until D'Antoni had had enough. He's gone, and Woodson is in.  With all of the great coaches out there who could be looking for jobs, it's only a matter of time before another change is possibly made and the next chapter of the Melodrama continues.