Mike D'Antoni Regrets Leaving Phoenix

[Big NBA Fan]

Mike D'Antoni left the Phoenix Suns and the winningest era in franchise history more than four years ago for the New York Knicks.

Now, the new Los Angeles Lakers says he never should have left.

In an interview with ESPN Los Angeles, D'Antoni confessed what he has never even told to Steve Nash, although he and former Suns general manager Steve Kerr have long ago ironed out their acrimonious 2008 parting.

"I shouldn't have gone to New York," D'Antoni said. "I should have stuck in there and battled. You don't get to coach somebody like (Nash) too many times. It's pretty sacred and you need to take care of it. I didn't."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2012/11/29/mike-dantoni-regrets-suns-knicks/1734117/

The link is to the rest of the article.

What are your thoughts on this topic?

[Big NBA Fan]

Quick thoughts from me on the article...

It's basically good to hear that Kerr and Mike - two very nice guys - have patched things up and it really is a shame that they couldn't work things out.

[RunDogGun]

Just when I thought I couldn't dislike D'Antoni anymore, he says this? What an arse!

[Big NBA Fan]

If only he listened to Kerr and hired Tom Thibodeau as defensive coordinator...Suns would have a Championship by now.

Mike D is a genius when it comes to offense and Thibodeau is the best defensive coach in the NBA.

They would have made a great team. Too bad Mike didn't listen to Kerr on that one.

[Jdiddy701]

The league has changed because of D'Antoni. Bless his and Steve Nash's hearts. They brought us back.


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[JDLAW]

This is not a surprise. He never should have left and he should have hired Thibodeau as his #1 assistant and should have given him the reigns to the defense.

[Big NBA Fan]

With Thibodeau as his defensive coordinator, he probably would have found a way to lessen the impact of Shaq's horrible pick and roll defense.

Remember, the 2011 Celtics had the number one ranked defense in the entire NBA with Shaq in his final season using Thibodeau's defensive schemes that Doc Rivers learned from him when he was his defensive coordinator.

D'Antoni never practiced defense and the players hated playing for Terry Porter, who did try to get them to play defense.

It's a shame we only got to see 2 games of the Seven Seconds or Shaq offense with the team at full strength with Amare; he averaged 32 PPG in both games and the team had THREE straight 140 point games immediately after Porter's firing.

They later scored 156 points in a win against Golden State.

Averaging 118 PPG WITHOUT Amare or a power forward on the roster was amazing. They averaged 141 PPG with him before his season-ending injury.

They would have been well over 120 PPG with Amare instead of Barnes at Power Forward and there wouldn't be any of this talk about how Shaq slowed the team down, hurt Amare's game, couldn't fit in, etc. All that was Terry Porter's fault.

Porter showed in Milwaukee that he is a decent coach, but he was just a horrible fit for the 2009 Suns.

[SunsRback4Good]

This is not a surprise. He never should have left and he should have hired Thibodeau as his #1 assistant and should have given him the reigns to the defense.

Exactly, a few tweaks here and there and Suns could of had a ring by now.

[RunDogGun]

We had good defenders, but our main problem was our best offense put Amare at the five, which meant our best defensive anchor was on the bench in KT (when he came to us). However, because of injuries, and maybe not as quick, KT didn't play the significant role he should have.

D'Antoni did a good job offensively, and in the regular season, but just couldn't get past better coaches, who exploited Mike's stubbornness. Not playing KT every minute Duncan was on the floor was a huge mistake.

As for Porter, we started to get rid of all our best defenders and/or just pissed them off to a point of having to trade them. At that point we already traded KT, James Jones, and Marion. And while we had Porter, we traded Raja and Boris. And even though at first with Shaq, we even saw Nash going above screens, which to me showed confidence knowing that Shaq was a good anchor and paint protector unlike Amare. But soon teams figured they could just take that elbow shot uncontested because Shaq could not recover quickly, which then forced Nash to go back to going under screens.

[NapoleonII]

If he liked it, he should have put a ring on it.....by playing a shred of D.

[Frank Lee]

I wouldn't lay it all on defense.

The dark hand and fate is all that separated us from a ring. We'd have at least one without a hip check, a crooked ref, and a smashed face (JJ). Then toss in a gimpy-kneed Stat in his prime.

My stomach twitches thinking about our tainted past.

It is too bad D'Antoni was so stubborn, but if you allowed for a few reversals of the above mentioned eye pokes, he and Sarver could be kings of the desert.

[Big NBA Fan]

I wouldn't lay it all on defense.

The dark hand and fate is all that separated us from a ring. We'd have at least one without a hip check, a crooked ref, and a smashed face (JJ). Then toss in a gimpy-kneed Stat in his prime.

My stomach twitches thinking about our tainted past.

It is too bad D'Antoni was so stubborn, but if you allowed for a few reversals of the above mentioned eye pokes, he and Sarver could be kings of the desert.

I agree with this...bad luck has certainly played a role in recent years in the Suns not winning the whole thing. It seemed that every single year something bad happened from 2004 until 2010 when Sarver chose not to re-sign Amare.

Joe Johnson injured in 2005 playoffs.

Amare missing all of 2006, then losing Raja and Kurt Thomas in the playoffs.

The controversial suspensions

Tim Duncan 3 pointer/Grant Hill injury in 2008

The Terry Porter debacle/Amare season-ending injury in 2009 and not having Diaw to replace him anymore.

Ron Artest at the buzzer in 2010; I think the Suns would have crushed Boston in the Finals if they beat the Lakers in 2010.

Then it all fell apart when Amare left and Kerr left.

[RunDogGun]

Oddly, with Amare out, it was our best chance to go to the finals, if we didn't lose KT and Raja for injuries. However, I still don't think we could get the calls needed to win a chip. Too often those years we saw a string of bad calls, which would kill any momentum we had in games.

D'Antoni not starting KT against the Spurs put us in the hole early that series, along with questionable subbing by Mike. The talent was there, just not the in game strategy.

The hip check year was a decent shot, but we had them on the ropes in the next game, and Mike blew it again, playing a very limited rotation, and then switching Marion on Parker in that game gassed Marion, who was our only offense that game. the rest of our starters were gassed as well.

I liked our chances in 2010. Solid team, and the chemistry was incredible, but that wasn't Mike.

[YFZblu]

Just when I thought I couldn't dislike D'Antoni anymore, he says this? What an arse!

Yeah, he said this - nearly a year ago. No idea why we're rehashing such an old article.

He regrets bailing on Steve, that's not exactly an earth-shattering confession.

[RunDogGun]

Just when I thought I couldn't dislike D'Antoni anymore, he says this? What an arse!

Yeah, he said this - nearly a year ago. No idea why we're rehashing such an old article.

He regrets bailing on Steve, that's not exactly an earth-shattering confession.

I didn't start the thread, and this was the first I saw of it, so it doesn't change my comment.

[LongTimeLurker]

AAAWWWWW poor baby... all along he thought it was him and his system that was the magical elixir that made the Suns go but it took years of not having Nash, the true maestro and magical elixir, for him to realize he's just another chuck and duck coach, albeit one on amphetamines. Now he's back with Nash but the guy is too old to make the terrible coach look good again....since without Nash making him look good he probably won't get a high paying job ever again. He might wind up in some small market city with no real stars for another low paying contract or two but he's toast as far as sweet gigs... see ya in Europe!

[Durins Baynes]

Players play. I am always sceptical of claims that such and such will teach "horrible defensive/offensive player X how to be good on D/O". It rarely happens. Millions of dollars of coaches time and effort have been devoted to making Amare play D, and he still can't do it. Thibs isn't a miracle worker. He didn't make Boozer good on D for eg.

Looking at how things have unfolded, Mike D was going to get exposed a little whenever he did leave, it was just a matter of time. Nash, not Mike D, made those Suns teams great. Mike D has been completely hopeless thus far in both NY and LA, being astonishingly stubborn and unable to adjust to the teams he agreed to coach.

[Big NBA Fan]

I think D'Antoni takes too much criticism over his time in New York; I thought before they gave their whole team away for Carmelo that he was doing a very good job in 2011 when Amare was the leading candidate for MVP before the Carmelo trade.

But he did a terrible job in LA last season; he kept forcing an old, slow team to play run-and-gun at the beginning and it resulted in Gasol being benched, shooting 3 pointers and the team was at 17-25 at one point because the system didn't fit.

They were probably the most underachieving team in NBA history when you consider all the talent they had last year and they only won 45 games. They should have hired Phil Jackson instead.

But I think a lot of people in the media owe Steve Kerr an apology; he took so much heat for a trade he never wanted to make - the Shaq trade - and he was accused of firing D'Antoni even though Mike has now admitted that he was the one who forced his way out.

If I remember correctly, the Knicks also forced him to hire Mike Woodson as his defensive coordinator because of the lack of attention on the defensive end under Mike... so Kerr was absolutely correct in telling him he needed to spend more time talking about defense.

I think Mike is a very intelligent and charismatic coach who just happens to be too stubborn. But the D'Antoni days were much more successful and fun to watch than the Porter year when he tried to turn the Suns into a defensive-minded team which totally backfired.

[Durins Baynes]

You're wrong to praise his tenure in NY. Fans there hated him for the exact same reasons you justify Lakers fans hating him. In his last year with NY he led them to an 18-24 record. As soon as he was fired, Woodson turned things around and finished the season 18-6. They then won 54 games the next year. Mike is a terrible coach.

[Big NBA Fan]

As far as the comment that Nash deserves more credit than Mike D; I would say it's 50/50. Nash was never an MVP candidate his whole career until D'Antoni became his coach and he struggled in Terry Porter's system.

D'Antoni's system was a perfect fit for Nash and they had the perfect personnel around him.

But I do think great defensive coaches can make a difference. Thibodeau is an example and so is Mike Brown; the 2010 Cavaliers had some terrible defenders in their starting line-up like Shaq, Mo Williams and JJ Hickson, but they were among the better defensive teams in the NBA because Brown demanded they play defense.