Mike D'Antoni Resigns as Knicks' Coach, 2 Assistant Coaches Fired
Mike D'Antoni resigned as head coach of the New York Knicks Wednesday afternoon, signaling major changes in the basketball team's management.
Reports that D'Antoni would be leaving the Knicks came from Adrian Wojnarowski, a writer for Yahoo! Sports, who claimed a source revealed the coach's resignation was "a mutual decision."
D'Antoni and the players had "conflicting visions of [the] club's future," according to the source. It was a "mutual decision to no longer coach."
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In addition to Mike D'Antoni's ouster, Dan D'Antoni, the Knicks assistant coach and Mike's older brother, and Phil Weber, another assistant coach, are also "gone," tweeted the sports writer.
Assistant Coach Mike Woodson, formerly of the Atlanta Hawks, will coach the team, according to Yahoo! Sports.
The news broke of Mike D'Antoni's resignation amidst rumors that internal pressure was mounting on the player's end- especially from Carmelo Anthony. Sources alleged to The New York Post that the forward pressured D'Antoni with the desire to be traded, a rumor he later denied.
"No, no, no, no," he told The Washington Post in response to the rumors. "Let's nip this in the bud right now. No."
"I don't know where that came from," Anthony explained. "I'm tired of hearing it. It came out this morning from I guess an anonymous source. I'm tired of anonymous sources."
Anthony denied that he wanted to be traded, which could have acted as the catalyst for Mike D'Antoni, Dan D'Antoni, and Phil Weber to all leave.
"I don't want to be traded. I don't know where that foolishness came from, so let's put a cap on that and make this the last time I hear about that," Anthony told The Washington Post.
If Melo and the other players didn't make D'Antoni leave, what did?
Many claim that the Knicks' abysmal record recently- the team went from a Linsanity-fueled winning streak in February to six straight losses in March- could be the reason the head coach was pushed out.
