by bran muffin » Sun Jan 1, 2017 7:18 pm
A combination of bad luck (career-killing injuries to Kobe & Amare) and locker room malcontents (Dwight & Melo) sabotaged the D'Antoni eras in LA & NY. Literally the two cities with the biggest media and biggest online fan presence around the league. And so he was scapegoated, and everyone else bought into the narrative that he was a buffoon.
But in fact, Mike D'Antoni is a damn good coach.
There's a reason why he has always been highly regarded around the league, even as his name was being dragged through the mud by fans on social media, and by talking heads on TV. There's a reason why Team USA keeps bringing him back. There's a reason why he keeps getting hired for the biggest jobs in the NBA.
By the end of this season, we'll see the 3rd League MVP to win an award playing for D'Antoni. And that doesn't even count what he did with Jeremy Lin, which was practically witchcraft.