Tuesday, May 12, 2009

D'Antoni aims to be the Knicks' savior


ESPN's Eric Neel wrote an outstanding piece on Mike D'Antoni, the head coach of the New York Knicks of the NBA.

D'Antoni is one of the league's most respected coaches, having strung together 60 win seasons in Phoenix and helped Coach K as an assistant with Team USA as they won the gold medal in the most recent Olympics.

You'd better not take yourself too seriously if you want to stick and someday shine in the Big Apple. The city demands a touch of vulgarity and a healthy dose of self-consciousness. The locals like regular folk with a bit of wisdom, or -- as they like to think of it -- some street smarts.

And here comes D'Antoni: no bluster, no fronting, no Nick Saban-style self-satisfaction. He's willing to laugh at himself. He lets you see the wheels turning, never pretends he has it all figured out. When he gets thumped, he says so. When things are clicking, he claims that, too.

We cast our coaches as geniuses, and he could go that route -- he has written two books, he speaks two languages and he sees combinations in a five-man running game the way Duke Ellington heard the daring possibilities in his band -- but more often than not he demystifies, sees you as someone who loves the game and casts himself in the same simple role.

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