Call D'antoni what you want but the dude is loyal to a fault. Its not enough that he rides or dies with his coaching system. He will give you an opportunity to play and have more confidence in a player than they have in themselves. Such was the case with Toney Douglas. The man tried but he just isn't capable of being a point guard. Not even for short stints. D'antoni rode him out until he was forced to give Lin a shot to prove he is worth sticking around. The rest is history as they say.
History is doomed to repeat itself. Carmelo Anthony and A'mare Stoudemire both went down at the same time to injury and out from the ashes grew two improbable rotation guys in Novak and Jared Jefferies. D'antoni played the 3 full in guys and produced a 7 game season saving winning streak. You can't make it up. I'm glad that the Knicks got a little taste of luck and magic these lay few weeks. With the loss to new orleans, the first one in the Jeremy Lin era, its time to start earning that pay check again.
Jeremy Lin buried Toney Douglas in the dog house. Carmelo Anthony will hopefully bury Bill Walker right next to Toney. This is where it gets crazy. The knicks just signed J.R. Smith. He's gonna bury someone. That someone is going to be either Landry or Shump. You can't take either our of the equation, so someone is going to have to take a bench role. Landry Fields is the likely candidate because he can't handle shooting guards and guard duties in general on a nighty basis. If you bench Landry and play him at small forward behind Carmelo, then Novak gets buried next to Walker and Toney. Did we forget about Baron Davis? He's gonna cut into Lin's minutes and put Bibby in a suit for the reminder of the season. Where does Jorts fit in?
Who wants to be D'antoni right now? Call him casanova because he will have to break a lot of hearts the next few Weeks. A lot of fans are gonna be pissed. Coach had gotta learn from this Lin situation. He's gotta play what works. He's got to play guys at their natural positions. Landry was never a shooting guard. He's a glue guy that should be playing forward with guys that are his size and skill level. All the shots that Landry misses and all the drives that Landry butchers, J.R. Smith will dominate. As fans we have the best seat in the house. If D'antoni starts playing the dating game with his players, the boo birds will be back. We don't have time for loyalty. Knicks are like the only team in the league that are on such a roll, but have talent like Carmelo, Baron, and J.R. Smith just waiting in the wings. If the knicks get it right even Charles Barkley will be talking championship for the knicks.
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