Karl says Knicks' plan is unfair to D'Antoni
Photo credit: AP | Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni yells directions at this team during the fourth quarter of a 107-105 loss to the Boston Celtics. (November 22, 2009)
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Nov. 27: Nuggets 128, Knicks 125
DENVER - What George Karl saw when he looked down the sideline before Friday's game against the Knicks at the Pepsi Center troubled him.
The Nuggets' coach doesn't like the philosophy of the Knicks' 2010 plan - which essentially means scrapping this season to save salary-cap space for next summer - because of whom it most victimizes. "Losing,'' he said, "will strangle a coach.''
And it happened again Friday night. The Knicks (3-13) lost to the Nuggets, 128-125, as Carmelo Anthony scored 50 points and Chauncey Billups added 32. Al Harrington had 41 points and David Lee 23 for the Knicks.
Mike D'Antoni, who entered Friday night 68 games over .500 for his career (302-234), might be the best-equipped coach for this job because of his seemingly ceaseless optimism and enthusiasm. But though he began the season fully understanding (and supporting) the cap-saving strategy, falling to 3-13 does weigh heavily. And it's even worse when you believe you're almost out of options with more than three-quarters of a season to be played.
"It all starts with me,'' D'Antoni said before the game. "I take it personal and I take it hard and I am constantly looking at how to improve things . . . I mean, I think that's everything. That's why coaches have gray hairs. Otherwise, it would be an easy job.''
Karl was careful to praise fellow North Carolina alum Donnie Walsh as "a tremendous leader'' but said it is "a lack of respect toward coaches'' that D'Antoni has to endure the losing as part of the deal.
Karl, who often has hinted his desire to coach in New York, has coached 1,590 NBA games - winning 944 - for five NBA teams and always has been a staunch defender of the coaching fraternity. He agreed that D'Antoni most likely will survive this season, "but if that was 90 percent of the coaches in the league, he'd probably be coaching for the next guy.''
To Karl, D'Antoni should have been hired to be the vice president of basketball operations for the two-year bridge to 2010 "and let him coach practices and give the losses to someone else.''
"There's a mentality here that you don't understand,'' Karl said. "Losing is painful. I don't care how strong and tough you are, it takes away your confidence.''
D'Antoni has said the same about his players, who have played with little swagger and determination and almost seem resigned to the fact that, considering the franchise's plan to clean house and rebuild through free agency next summer, they are not supposed to win this season. But D'Antoni refuses to accept this season as collateral damage toward the bigger picture.
"It's like any coach; you want to win every game,'' he said. "Every season wears on you. Even if you win 60, it's still wearing on you. There's nights that drive you crazy. But these are good kids, good men, trying to win. So it's fun being in the battle with them and they're listening and trying as hard as they can. That's all you can ask for.''
All the Knicks can ask is that their sacrifice pays off and a star player comes to New York to be a savior. Denver's Carmelo Anthony, who has an opt-out in 2011, said star players are big D'Antoni fans. "Offensive players love him,'' he said. "I can tell you that.''
Will the overwhelming losing with the Knicks tarnish the reputation D'Antoni built in averaging 58 wins per season with the Suns? "I don't think so,'' Anthony said. "Everybody knows what he can do as a coach.''
Karl agrees that success in free agency would be the silver lining, but that doesn't mean it was a good plan.
"If they hit the grand slam and LeBron's playing in New York, then so be it,'' Karl said. "That could happen and I don't think there's any question that that could happen. I think there are just more and more bad coaching situations that somehow, some way, I think we should respect coaching a little more.''
