Now that Mike D'Antoni is in Laker Land, it appears he's had some time for self-reflection. In a feature from ESPNLosAngeles.com, D'Antoni confessed the following about his time in Phoenix and New York.
"I shouldn't have gone to New York," he says, looking down at the sideline in Memphis, pacing on that unstable right leg.
"I should have stuck in there and battled. You don't get to coach somebody like him [Nash] too many times. It's pretty sacred and you need to take care of it. I didn't."
"I think we got frustrated and I got frustrated. That's why I left. We were there, it seemed like we deserved it, and then it seemed like something happened all the time. Maybe we weren't good enough either. We have to understand that.
"I probably irrationally made a decision right when the season was over. You should take a month to figure it out. I shouldn't have left. That was my fault."
Really, the quotes make a lot of sense. The feeling that comes to mind when thinking of D'Antoni's time in New York is also frustration, aside from a few brief Jeremy-Lin inspired weeks.
It also makes sense as to why D'Antoni didn't work well with Carmelo Anthony, or rather, didn't work much at all. When 'Melo came to the Knicks, they became his team and D'Antoni was clearly ready to let him take it.
That said, D'Antoni's comments would seem senseless had he come to New York and had any real success. Perhaps it was all a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy in the end, which seems to have worked out for all parties.
