The head coach of the Purple and Gold simply comes with too much baggage for Los Angeles to retain him. Indeed, since enjoying multiple successful seasons with the Phoenix Suns, D’Antoni’s track record has been wildly unimpressive.
Lost His Luster in New York
The New York Knicks faltered under his watch and became a team with title aspirations after he left town. The Knickbockers were bad with D’Antoni at the helm, and what’s more, the same can be said about his rapport with his stars.
Prior to resigning, D’Antoni clashed with Carmelo Anthony to the point that the former Denver Nugget contemplated leaving the team if D’Antoni remained in place. Marc Berman of the New York Post has the story:
However, Tuesday night, a source said Anthony and D’Antoni spoke in an attempt to reconcile their differences and made headway. On Monday night, Anthony only wanted to remain a Knick if he had assurances D’Antoni wouldn’t be back next season.
In addition, there seems to be a consensus that D’Antoni runs his star players into the ground. He overextends them during the regular season and idly sits by as their bodies break down.
His stint in New York only reinforced this reputation. Amar’e Stoudemire has not been the same since joining forces with him in the Big Apple. The former Suns big man played a career-high amount of minutes in his first season in NYC and then started missing a large chunk of games.
Since the D’Antoni tornado hit New York in 2010-11, Stoudemire has failed to appear in 50 games or more in every following season. The same issue has followed the former Phoenix coach to Los Angeles.
Exposed in Los Angeles
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Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
