BillCosby

LOL... ANother choke job.............

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

PursuitOfHappinessParty

Avery Johnson, unemployed. That won't last long. Maybe Mark Cuban will be the next coach.

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" Tie two birds together and though they have four wings they cannot fly " Blind Master in 'Circle Of Iron'

BillCosby

Yep...... Him & Avery got into it & Avery told him if he don't like it coach the team yourself........ (a couple months ago) He is an ass & he should do it himself.... He thinks he knows it better........

SI is saying D'Antoni's tenure in Phoenix over..........

SAN ANTONIO -- Mike D'Antoni, the NBA's Coach of the Year for the 2004-05 season and the man credited with reinvigorating fast-break basketball in a league gone stale, will not be back to coach the Phoenix Suns for the 2008-09 season, SI.com has learned.

D'Antoni deferred questions about his job status after the Suns were eliminated by the San Antonio Spurs in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round playoff series on Wednesday night.

"I'm just really proud of my guys," D'Antoni said after the Spurs' 92-87 win that marked the third time in four years that San Antonio has ended the Suns' season.

D'Antoni did not address his own situation. But sources within the organization confirm that D'Antoni feels he does not have the backing of upper management --specifically owner Robert Sarver and general manager Steve Kerr -- and considers the situation irredeemable.

The Suns have long been one of the NBA's model franchises, and both D'Antoni and Kerr, for whatever differences they might have about the direction of the team, are respected around the league. It's hard to believe, then, that D'Antoni's situation would devolve into an ugly, protracted war, New York Knicks style.

How exactly the scenario unfolds depends largely on whether D'Antoni gets another job offer. The most palatable scenario for all in Phoenix would be this: Team A asks the Suns for permission to talk to D'Antoni, who has two years left on his contract; Suns say OK; D'Antoni interviews and is hired.

One landing spot for him would seem to be Chicago, where general manager John Paxson has not yet replaced Jim Boylan, who himself replaced Scott Skiles (now in charge in Milwaukee). The Bulls underachieved this season under both coaches but would seem to have the kind of offensive nucleus (Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Kirk Hinrich, Andres Nocioni) with which D'Antoni could build.

One other possibility is New York, where new president Donnie Walsh is taking his time making a head-coaching decision despite speculation that the hiring of former point guard Mark Jackson is a done deal. There have also been whispers of D'Antoni's taking over in Toronto, where Sam Mitchell's coaching future is an ongoing discussion and where Bryan Colangelo, D'Antoni's former boss in Phoenix and still a close friend, is calling the shots. But Toronto doesn't seem as comfortable a fit for D'Antoni as Chicago or even New York. Don't look for that to happen.

As is the custom with all NBA teams, D'Antoni will meet soon with Sarver and Kerr, together or separately. Kerr said before Sunday's Game 4, which turned out to be the Suns' lone series win, that D'Antoni's departure was not a fait accompli as far as he is concerned. He would not comment on D'Antoni's status after Game 5. But a source said that Kerr would make a few demands in the postseason debriefing: that D'Antoni devote more practice time to defense; have more confidence in his bench players, i.e., go to an expanded rotation; develop a clearer plan for a point guard to back up Steve Nash; and get more planned touches out of Amaré Stoudemire in post-up situations.

D'Antoni, sources say, believes that the situation has been festering all season and that nothing would be accomplished in the meeting. Whatever the circumstances of his departure, it will probably be presented as as a rift between coach and GM, and to a large extent that's true. But when Colangelo left for Toronto, mostly because he and Sarver were doomed not to coexist harmoniously, D'Antoni lost his biggest booster in the front office, as well as a friend. It's what happens in the NBA and in all pro sports.

Over four full seasons D'Antoni racked up a 232-96 record, made the Western finals twice and changed the way that observers both in and out of the league thought about the game. Management might have some legitimate gripes about his defensive coaching, and remember that D'Antoni was a bigger booster of the trade for Shaquille O'Neal than Kerr was.

But Suns management now faces one extremely formidable challenge in l'affaire D'Antoni: finding someone better.

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

PursuitOfHappinessParty

I never got a real read on Avery. Good season win totals, crap in playoffs. Gotta admit that he was running out of excuses for the difference, but would have preferred he had the pre-trade team in this post-season to gauge for sure.

I hope it doesn't catch on in Dallas, I like Tippet and Phillips. I don't trust Jason Garrett's abilities or experience.

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" Tie two birds together and though they have four wings they cannot fly " Blind Master in 'Circle Of Iron'

Danimal

Does anyone under the age of 50 that doesn't live in San Antonio like the Spurs

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I don't hate people, I just like it better when they're not around. -Charles Bukowski

anhailla

yes...

Eva Longoria

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...either I go, or that wallpaper does.

Oscar Wilde

BillCosby

I would not have dumped Harris for the over the hill Kidd.. DOn't get me wrong I like Kidd but every young PG in the league knows his moves & have looked up to & @ him since birth......

This move was cuban but he ain't taking any falls & Avery signed on to it......

IMO the team even through the Neliie years was great & never lacking talent...... I thought they lacked the balls to go all the way.... & that he would be able to man them up for the big game....... I was wrong...... He got them close but you usually only get one shot @ this & ShaQ & Wade were in the way..........

It was down hill from there & the big chocker dirk & the rest never could pull it together. TO have that mind set that it is theirs & they gonna just take it. No one is going to stand in their way.... If you don't feel & believe that you are never going to win it all in the NBA... EVER!!!!

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

BlackVision

I don't get it. Mark Cuban could have kept Steve Nash, a better point guard than Kidd, for considerably less money but decided to let him go and now signs a more inferior point guard for more money and future draft picks. Way to go Cuban!

BillCosby

I guess this is one of the reasons that almost everyone that follows the NBA hates that guy.............

cuban is certainly no idiot but I think he does not completely grasp how the game works........ He thinks one dimensional.

Just get Kidd & our problems are solved..........

Get Avery & dump Nellie our problems are solved......

Get rid of Finely (& still pay him) etc...........

Your lakers are looking pretty good.......

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Preventive war is not war!!!!Counter-terror is not terror

CosmicRocker

How great to see the Magic win their division, take out Toronto in five.

But all east conference champs go thru Detroit, and by the looks of things, that's where it will end.
Dwight Howard is a heck of a center, but Detroit's mustard gas defense shuts him down.

Wait till next year? LOL

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