Why did D'Antoni leave?

udfa · Post #1 » by **udfa** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 4:05 am

I've been around for a long time but I can't remember the story on this one. I was hoping this board could refresh my memory. Why did Mike D'Antoni leave the Suns?

Stix · Post #2 » by **Stix** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 4:06 am

Kerr traded Marion for Shaq.

udfa · Post #3 » by **udfa** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 4:09 am

ZER0 wrote:Kerr traded Marion for Shaq.

Why did Sarver let Kerr overrule D'Antoni's wishes? He was such a good coach and had brought so much success. It's just incredible to me that he would let D'Antoni's tenure get derailed like that. It seems like they should have been eager to keep D'Antoni for as long as they had Nash.

Post #4 » by **bwgood77** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 4:21 am

udfa wrote:
ZER0 wrote:Kerr traded Marion for Shaq.

Why did Sarver let Kerr overrule D'Antoni's wishes? He was such a good coach and had brought so much success. It's just incredible to me that he would let D'Antoni's tenure get derailed like that. It seems like they should have been eager to keep D'Antoni for as long as they had Nash.

D'Antoni said he was on board with the Shaq trade...but Kerr I think demanded he bring in a defensive assistant and change things. So D'Antoni disagreed and left and Kerr brought in Porter who he thought would be what he wanted, realized that was a mistake, and that D'Antoni's system was genius and then went to GS and implemented it, knowing they already have good defensive players.

They both say (I think) that they regretted how all that played out.

Post #5 » by **lilfishi22** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 4:23 am

Kerr thought we needed to focus more on defense by way of bringing in a defensive coach onto the staff. D'Antoni was like yeah nah and left.

DirtyDez · Post #6 » by **DirtyDez** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 5:25 am

bwgood77 wrote:
udfa wrote:
ZER0 wrote:Kerr traded Marion for Shaq.

Why did Sarver let Kerr overrule D'Antoni's wishes? He was such a good coach and had brought so much success. It's just incredible to me that he would let D'Antoni's tenure get derailed like that. It seems like they should have been eager to keep D'Antoni for as long as they had Nash.

D'Antoni said he was on board with the Shaq trade...but Kerr I think demanded he bring in a defensive assistant and change things. So D'Antoni disagreed and left and Kerr brought in Porter who he thought would be what he wanted, realized that was a mistake, and that D'Antoni's system was genius and then went to GS and implemented it, knowing they already have good defensive players.

They both say (I think) that they regretted how all that played out.

D’Antoni wanted Marion to be traded. They tried better fitting deals but Marion and his agent weren’t easy to deal with and shut down potential trades. They should’ve kept the band together for that season and figured it in the offseason.

Puff · Post #7 » by **Puff** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 5:33 am

lilfishi22 wrote:Kerr thought we needed to focus more on defense by way of bringing in a defensive coach onto the staff. D'Antoni was like yeah nah and left.

Kerr destroyed Phoenix Suns basketball and then left town after he realized what a piece of crap he was as GM. If you think any differnent you have been living on another planet.

Now Kerr walks his smug axx up and down the sidelines in GS.

I am not a lover of Harden, Paul or Melo but I really would like to see them knock the Warriors off their pedestal. Hell I would root for the Lakers against them or to be more specific any team in the NBA that plays them. I just want to knock that smirk off Steve Kerr's face.

BurningHeart · Post #8 » by **BurningHeart** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 6:43 am

udfa wrote:I've been around for a long time but I can't remember the story on this one. I was hoping this board could refresh my memory. Why did Mike D'Antoni leave the Suns?

Because everyone bought into the bull narrative that our defense (not our rebounding) was the biggest problem and D'Antoni was pushed out by Steve Kerr and everyone else.

Then Kerr brought in Terry Porter and castrated the team and that lasted like 4 months until Kerr realized what a **** mistake he made and brought Alvin Gentry back.

LukasBMW · Post #9 » by **LukasBMW** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 7:26 am

The thing is...both Kerr and D'Antoni were right. They just couldn't see it due to ego.

D'Antoni needed to teach defense. He finally figured it out in Houston after failing in NY.

Kerr was never a great GM, but he was right we needed defense. Then he lucked out and got the GSW job.

We should have welcomed back D'Antoni in 2016.

DirtyDez · Post #10 » by **DirtyDez** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 7:58 am

Puff wrote:
lilfishi22 wrote:Kerr thought we needed to focus more on defense by way of bringing in a defensive coach onto the staff. D'Antoni was like yeah nah and left.

Kerr destroyed Phoenix Suns basketball and then left town after he realized what a piece of crap he was as GM. If you think any differnent you have been living on another planet.

Now Kerr walks his smug axx up and down the sidelines in GS.

I am not a lover of Harden, Paul or Melo but I really would like to see them knock the Warriors off their pedestal. Hell I would root for the Lakers against them or to be more specific any team in the NBA that plays them. I just want to knock that smirk off Steve Kerr's face.

Kerr built one of the most likable, deepest and cohesive teams in Suns history. If he had his way the Suns would’ve fully guaranteed Amare’s contract and contended for a title in 2011. Granted the last years of the deal would’ve been ugly but it was ugly anyways. Kerr made mistakes and you can blame everything on him but it’s a lazy observation. The main problem has always ran above the GM.

YouTube · Post #11 » by **Kerrsed** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 8:00 am

udfa wrote:I've been around for a long time but I can't remember the story on this one. I was hoping this board could refresh my memory. Why did Mike D'Antoni leave the Suns?

The same reason everybody leaves.......

Spoiler:

JBreezeNY · Post #12 » by **JBreezeNY** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 8:39 am

Kerrsed wrote:
udfa wrote:I've been around for a long time but I can't remember the story on this one. I was hoping this board could refresh my memory. Why did Mike D'Antoni leave the Suns?

The same reason everybody leaves.......

Spoiler:

Damn he looks like Freddy Kruger :lol:

YouTube · Post #13 » by **Kerrsed** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 9:11 am

JBreezeNY wrote:
Kerrsed wrote:
udfa wrote:I've been around for a long time but I can't remember the story on this one. I was hoping this board could refresh my memory. Why did Mike D'Antoni leave the Suns?

The same reason everybody leaves.......

Spoiler:

Damn he looks like Freddy Kruger

Just needs the facial hair!

udfa · Post #14 » by **udfa** » Tue Oct 9, 2018 10:18 am

I've always felt this franchise left a lot of success on the table when D'Antoni left. Might have won it all in 2010.

sunskerr · Post #15 » by **sunskerr** » Thu Oct 11, 2018 8:04 am

We literally got jobbed in 2007, suspensions and Tim Donaghy/Nunez. Everyone likes to say the Spurs were better anyway because it makes things easier on the mind, but we were the better team.

Then there was the whole Marion/KG fiasco, and when we finally got rid of Marion it was only for Shaq. Kerr wanted D'Antoni to find a defensive coach and D'Antoni refused, so he was let go.

Big NBA Fan · Post #16 » by **Big NBA Fan** » Thu Oct 11, 2018 5:19 pm

As others have noted, they had major philosophical differences.

Kerr recommended that MDA hire Thibs as his defensive coordinator, but Mike refused and Thibs turned the 2008 Celtics into one of the greatest defensive teams in NBA history.

Both men have since admitted they have major regrets over how things ended; Mike has said he wishes he stayed in Phoenix and Kerr has said that replacing him with Terry Porter was a big mistake.

They were both right, in a way. Mike has since embraced defense in Houston after neglecting it in Phoenix/LA/New York, and Kerr realizes that he should have been more supportive of Mike instead of clashing with him all season long which led to Mike quitting and the Terry Porter coaching fiasco.

Also, it's unfair to blame the Shaq trade on Kerr; he was the last person within the organization to sign off on the deal because he had reservations about it. Everyone involved says Mike D was the biggest supporter of it because he was tired of Marion's bad attitude and he felt they needed a good defender for Duncan after KT was traded.

Amin of ESPN basically said both teams agreed to take the other team's problem in the locker-room since both Marion and Shaq wanted out of their respective situations.

I think Kerr has been vindicated, however. He never told Mike to scrap the SSOL offense like Porter did; as a matter of fact, Kerr and the players were expecting Porter to keep D'Antoni's offense in place, but to add a defensive mentality kind of like Kerr's current Warriors. But Porter had an old-school mentality and didn't believe in that style, so that pissed off a lot of Mike's players in addition to the veterans hating Porter's back to basic practice methods which were more like an elementary school camp.

Kerr's only mistakes that were 1000% his fault were Earl Clark and Terry Porter; he built one of the greatest teams in franchise history in 2010, he preferred to keep Matrix only to be pressured by Mike to get rid of Marion, and I think he proved to be a solid GM.

Mike is a great guy, but he can be a sore loser at times and there's no doubt Popovich totally schooled him in 2005 and 2008.

D'Antoni pretty much cost the 2008 Suns Games 1 and 5 in that series, and 2005 Suns should have won more than just 1 game.

But yes, they were incredibly unlucky with the controversial suspensions.

At-least both have admitted they wish they had worked out their differences.

Mike failed in New York and Los Angeles and the players hated Terry Porter, which forced Kerr's hand into firing his golfing buddy after just 3 months.