Silverman: Missing Out On D'Antoni Was One Of Bulls' Best Moves
By Steve Silverman-
(CBS) Way back in the summer of 2008, the Bulls had a chance to hire Mike D'Antoni as head coach.
He was viewed as the head coaching prize of that offseason, but there was something Jerry Reinsdorf didn't like about D'Antoni and the Bulls ended up with Vinny Del Negro.
Ugh.
D'Antoni and his X's and O's superiority landed in New York. It seemed like the Knicks had fleeced the Bulls badly.
But nearly four years later, the Bulls are thanking the heavens that D'Antoni made Madison Square Garden his professional home.
The Bulls suffered with Del Negro for a couple of seasons, but they ended up with Tom Thibodeau as their head coach. Thibodeau is a pro's pro who knows how to push, prod and pull his players to get the most out of them. He is a teacher and a motivator and the Bulls play hard more nights than just about any other team. Combine that with reigning MVP Derrick Rose and you have a team with the best regular-season record in the league.
Then look at D'Antoni and his team. They are floundering in the Eastern Conference and battling the Milwaukee Bucks for the last playoff spot. D'Antoni's team has tuned him out and may be waiting for Phil Jackson to come back from retirement and take over before the start of next season.
D'Antoni had his chance this year with the emergence of Jeremy Lin. Never mind the ensuing Lin-sanity, the Knicks were playing solid defense and hustling basketball when Lin entered the lineup in February. The whispers around the team was that the excitement surrounding Lin's play would disappear as soon as Carmelo Anthony returned to the lineup from his groin injury. Skeptics said Anthony was too self-centered to become a role player on the team.
It turns out that the skeptics were right. Anthony and Lin have not formed a 1-2 punch that has kept the Knicks winning. Amar'e Stoudemire is not the finisher who is working in concert with Anthony and Lin. The Knicks are freelancing on the court, and they have no rhythm or purpose.
It seems like D'Antoni is doing nothing on the bench. When he calls timeout and draws up a play, Anthony can be seen not paying attention. Other players are barely following D'Antoni, who has taken to feeling sorry for himself.
Prior to losing to the Bulls, the Knicks hosted Philadelphia and D'Antoni said it was his desire to coach a team like the Sixers that was devoid of superstars. "I think that's the way to go," D'Antoni whined to the New York Daily News. "Every coach wants to play that way. They're doing a great job and Doug (Collins) does a great job. It should always be a team game. I think Denver made that case, a lot of people are making that case. Every coach aspires to everybody sharing the ball and stats don't matter."
In other words, he doesn't want to deal with talented and creative players who have made their reputations as big-time scorers. Nobody said coaching an ego-driven player like Anthony was easy, but you need great players to win.
It all falls squarely on D'Antoni. Anthony may be a selfish player and a tough nut to get through to, but that is what good coaches do. D'Antoni is in over his head and the Bulls should be thrilled that they had to suffer through two years of Vinny-itis so they could get a coach like Thibodeau.
Thibodeau understands how to work with superstar players. He earned his spurs as an assistant with the Celtics and he has shown he can do it as a head coach as well.
Failing to land D'Antoni in 2008 seemed like a mistake at the time. However, it's a mistake the Knicks wish they had made.
Steve Silverman is an award-winning writer, covering sports since 1980. Silverman was with Pro Football Weekly for 10 years and his byline has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, Playboy, NFL.com and The Sporting News. He is the author of four books, including Who's Better, Who's Best in Football -- The Top 60 Players of All-Time. Follow him on Twitter (@profootballboy) and read more of his CBS Chicago columns here.
