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Paxson botched up the deal. He didn't act fast enough to ink D'Antoni to a contract, and now he's lost the opportunity.
Bulls fans will use the "Sour Grapes" excuse and say that "D'Antoni wasn't worth it. He doesn't coach defense", but the simple fact is that the Bulls are without a good coach, along with the Suns.
D'Antoni would have done more good than harm in Chicago and would have improved their outlook over the next couple years.
Oh well. Darth Antoni is now officially part of the Dark Side in New York.
- JL

Jay L. | 05/12/08, 05:25 AM

Question - since Darth Antoni joined Madison Death Star Garden, why doesn't Mark Jackson turn the tables and join the Bulls ?
I know that he doesn't want to join the Knicks' rival, but it would be ample payback for the Knicks dissing him.
It would be cool to see Mark Jackson join the Bulls, get boo'ed by Chicago fans who remember him from his Knicks days, and have him thrown out in frustration after a year.
- JL

Jay L. | 05/12/08, 05:40 AM

nice job paxson

Sox Sider | 05/12/08, 05:43 AM

Looks as if the Lakers are having a little trouble with the Jazz.
Arejaydub - is it still "Lovely in Lakerland" ??
- JL

Jay L. | 05/12/08, 07:41 AM

Nobody had a gun to his head. He could have waited to hear the offer from the Bulls if he really wanted to coach them that badly. The pieces he will have in New York are an even worse fit for his offense. It seems like he really only cared about how much money he could get, and there was no way cheapskate Reinsdorf matches the Knicks offer.

duncdaddy86 | 05/12/08, 07:43 AM

yep...still lovely in Lakerland...what do you expect?...that going to Utah was gonna be a cakewalk? no way,they did what they were supposed to do,don't forget the fact that JAZZ was in the W Conference finals last year,so we knew it was gonna be tough and they were gonna fight,so is gonna be lovely in Lakerland until we get eliminated from the playoffs,which to be honest,I don't see happening
until the next round...

Lakerfan24 | 05/12/08, 07:49 AM

Okay, let me get it straight. The Lakers are on their way to being defeated, either this round or the next one, and in spite of that, it's still lovely in Lakerland?
Well, I guess that's a cheerful way to look at it.
In that case, it's lovely in the lands of all 8 teams that are still in the Playoffs, right? And in the previous round, until a team was eliminated, it was lovely in all 16 lands? And once the Lakers are out, it will no longer be lovely there, but it will continue to be lovely in the other 3 or 4 lands?
- JL

Jay L. | 05/12/08, 08:12 AM

"That stunning development left Jackson dazed and confused"

Knickerbocker Nation has had those very same feelings since the Dolan Era began Mark.

Welcome to the club....

ghostofthebabe | 05/12/08, 08:19 AM

It kills me that a coach that did a half -baked job with a prior team get signed for 6 million a year! Can't blame Dan Tony for taking it.

7AM_Tailgate | 05/12/08, 08:35 AM

Nobodies get's it. I don't care if they bring back Red Aurbach, Red Holtzman or Red river nothing is going to change until Cuck D's boy Jimmy is gone. This franchise has gone downhill since3 his daddy bought it. (To keep him out of cableswidlers no doubt).

Miley D is doing his best immatationof Larry (show me the money) brown who ripped off this franchise. What self respecting coach would want to be associated with this bunch of losers?

My prediction is one year from now we will be talking about the Mikey D buyout.

Tom Savage | 05/12/08, 08:46 AM

As someone stated above, if Mike was truely interested in the CHI job, he would have waited. Then again Paxson is just a tad better than isiah, what can we expect?
But this NYK experiment will end same as the Larry Brown experiment. Marbury is no Steve Nash, and Zach/Eddy are no Amare. yeah they are more like Shaq (aged, not the younger Shaq). This ain't a pick-n-roll team, this is a thuggish, shoot-first-never-pass team.Disaster written all over NY.

ESPN | 05/12/08, 08:52 AM

jay l u talk so much crap it aint funny... of course its lovely in laker land... were in trouble because we lost 2 games away to the best home team in the league! thats just stupid! we will still get through to the conference finals were we will be favourites and i think get through to the finals!

we will win the utah series because we have home court advantage because we were the best team in the western conference this season.

kmahl | 05/12/08, 09:05 AM

Bulls really lost out on this one. Great coach for the Knicks. With this roster they won't do great, but they will win at least 10-15 more games than with Isaiah. Won't be 40 games, but this is a great move for Knicks.

skippy-jlp | 05/12/08, 09:05 AM

Nice paxton, way to lose out on a winner.........

tinfoilnirvana | 05/12/08, 09:10 AM

I would rather have Avery!!!...Hire Avery Now!!! He's the best candidate

T-Sizzles | 05/12/08, 09:10 AM

Laker fan is an idiot because he thinks hes on the team, but JL, I dont think they are on their way to being eliminated by the Jazz, the jazz are a grabage road team, and almost lost both their home games. I just don't see it happening,

T-sizzles is right if we get back on topic, Avery is a much better candidate than D'antoni, He needs a stud pg, and a group of fast break guys to run his offense, and there are just too few out there

jandssports | 05/12/08, 09:43 AM

Paxson decided to hold his hand close to the vest while D'Antoni was ready to play hardball. D'Antoni was driven because he had to get out of Arizona fast. He also wanted to get a BIG payday to prove the Suns wrong in letting him go.

Good thing for him is he gets a bigger paycheck ($$$). Nothing wrong with going for more money...as we all would like to make mo dollas!

Bad thing for him is he goes from a really good team to a team that won't win the first round of the playoffs for years. In two to three years we'll be reading about him being fired again. Good money move but bad overall career move for D'Antoni. His star just faded.

ToM | 05/12/08, 10:18 AM

I am not so sure that D'Antoni is a winner. He has had arguably the BEST roster of any team in the NBA the last few years and has not even produced a trip to the NBA finals.

Introscan | 05/12/08, 10:40 AM

I am not so sure that D'Antoni is a winner. He has had arguably the best roster of any team the past few years and has not made an NBA finals appearance.

Introscan | 05/12/08, 10:42 AM

Okay, let me get it straight. The Lakers are on their way to being defeated, either this round or the next one, and in spite of that, it's still lovely in Lakerland?
Well, I guess that's a cheerful way to look at it.
In that case, it's lovely in the lands of all 8 teams that are still in the Playoffs, right? And in the previous round, until a team was eliminated, it was lovely in all 16 lands? And once the Lakers are out, it will no longer be lovely there, but it will continue to be lovely in the other 3 or 4 lands?
- JL

Jay L.

Don't forget, Bynum is injured, so they'll have an excuse to fall back on if they don't get it done this year. I can see it now..."You just wait until next year! We'll show you! This year didn't count because we were injured!"

jpd | 05/12/08, 10:42 AM