New York Knicks: Did Mike D'Antoni Resign over Refuted Carmelo Anthony Trade?

Carmelo Anthony was never the right fit for Mike D’Antoni in New York, which could be the reason why the now former Knicks head coach resigned today.

With David Aldridge of NBA.com reported via Twitter that D’Antoni resigned after Knicks GM James Dolan refuted D’Antoni’s requests to trade Anthony for New Jersey Nets star point guard Deron Williams, it became apparent that the marriage between D’Antoni and Anthony had gone sour, and it had to be one or the other.

D’Antoni was well aware that it would be a challenge to succeed with Anthony in the line-up. While Anthony is a bona-fide NBA superstar and one of the pest pure scorers in the league, he simply can’t run D’Antoni’s system well enough for he and the Knicks to thrive. Anthony is an isolation player which doesn’t work well in a system that runs through the point. If Anthony could play the point-forward (Like Scottie Pippen did with the Bulls) he would have a chance to mesh with D’Antoni, but Anthony doesn’t have the passing ability or court vision to do so.

D’Antoni knew this, so rather than watching the Knicks continue to pile up losses and under achieve with Anthony in the line-up, he resigned.

However, things apparently went further south with D’Antoni and Anthony as they disagreed on court philosophy. A source close to the Knicks told ESPN Insider Chris Broussard:

"

Management, the coaching staff and the players know Anthony is hurting the offense and in turn, the defensive morale, according to the sources. While D'Antoni's offense calls for Anthony to plant himself on the wing at the 3-point line, he often creeps in to his favorite spot in the floor -- the area between the elbow, the arc and the post. That kills the Knicks' ability to run the high pick-and-roll and ruins the spacing that is so critical to D'Antoni's offense.

"That's at the very core of our problem," one person close to the situation said. "That messes up the fluidity of the offense. Melo could do it, but he's got to trust the offense."

When Anthony first returned -- and it still appears to be the case -- Lin would bring the ball upcourt and try to run D'Antoni's system. When Anthony abandoned the offense, Lin would not pass him the ball, which irritated Anthony, sources said. So when Lin tried to talk to Anthony on the court, Anthony would turn his back to the point guard and tune him out. The two never had heated exchanges, though, and the players tried to come to a compromise, agreeing to run D'Antoni's system while also mixing in post-ups for Anthony.

 

"

So while Carmelo remained the franchise player, he wouldn’t buy into D’Antoni’s system, thus leading to the demise of the team upon his return.

Now the D’Antoni-era is over. Mike Woodson will now handle the reigns and see if he can get Carmelo to buy into his system.