Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010 at 9:00 am  |  17 responses

Mike D’Antoni to Miss Worlds

by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Due to injury, Team USA will be without one of its key members as it travels to Turkey for the World Championships later on this summer. The fallen man isn’t a player; he is instead on the coaching staff: Mike D’Antoni.

According to ESPN, the Knicks’ head coach is dealing with severe back pain, and has been advised to skip out on the tourney:

Sources told ESPN.com that D’Antoni is not expected to need surgery but has been advised to forsake the considerable international travel Team USA has scheduled this summer. D’Antoni will undergo treatment and rehabilitation to prevent the condition from worsening before the start of NBA training camp in late September.

D’Antoni, sources said, will be with Team USA throughout its next round of practices next week in New York — which will be capped by an Aug. 15 exhibition against France at Madison Square Garden — but then stay behind when the Kevin Durant-led squad heads to Europe for exhibitions in Spain and Greece before the World Championships begin Aug. 28.

A disc problem in D’Antoni’s back, sources said, bothered him off and on during the regular season and worsened in recent weeks while D’Antoni was in Las Vegas, first with the Knicks’ summer-league squad and then with Team USA … It’s believed that Toronto Raptors coach Jay Triano, already a member of the Team USA staff, will take D’Antoni’s spot on the bench in Turkey under head coach Mike Krzyzewski. The other assistants are Portland Trail Blazers coach Nate McMillan and Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim.

This marks the second Knick who will not be able to take part in Team USA play this summer. Due to the lack of proper insurance for potential injuries, D’Antoni’s new power forward in New York, Amar’e Stoudemire, won’t be in Turkey either.

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  • slamfan4life Posted: Aug.3 at 9:16 am
    injury?!? damn it!

  • LA Huey Posted: Aug.3 at 9:22 am
    How will the team defense manage?

  • aL Posted: Aug.3 at 9:35 am
    israel’s gonna take care of stoudemire’s insurance..lol

  • JTaylor21 Posted: Aug.3 at 9:42 am
    And Guys like KD and DRose threaten to leave.

  • LDR4 Posted: Aug.3 at 9:49 am
    His offensive style and international experience will be missed but Coach K and the rest of the staff will do just fine without him.

  • Torrance Posted: Aug.3 at 10:56 am
    When I saw that headline, I interpreted it as him going to “Miss World” Championships.

  • niQ Posted: Aug.3 at 11:00 am
    Good eye Torrance. Haha

  • MusketeerX Posted: Aug.3 at 1:28 pm
    hahahaahha @LAHuey

  • vtrobot Posted: Aug.3 at 1:41 pm
    Someone’s getting silly with the capitalized verb. D’Antoni ain’t got a chance @ Miss World competition. His mustache will cost him the crown.

  • SAB Posted: Aug.3 at 2:07 pm
    ha @ vtrobot. Mike D’Antoni to Miss Worlds: “you are all so beautiful, i do NOT know where to start…”

  • ConeyIslander Posted: Aug.3 at 2:49 pm
    SMH, hopefully he’s the only Knick injured this year.

  • Overtime Posted: Aug.3 at 6:39 pm
    lol @ Torrance

  • The Seed Posted: Aug.3 at 10:09 pm
    He is not even a good coach, lets be honest he will get fired in one or two years. HE’s OVERRATED like his former player STEVE NASH. BOOK IT!!

  • SAB Posted: Aug.4 at 1:04 am
    Nash AND D’Antoni are overrated?? my my… makes you wonder how Phx won any games at all…

  • 9Steele9 Posted: Aug.4 at 5:05 am
    Jay Triano??!?!! Are you kidding me?? First the original Kid Canada ditched the Canadian national team, now he joins the American staff??

  • Hursty Posted: Aug.4 at 5:43 am
    Steve Nash just keeps on passing things. This time, an achey back.

  • SLAM ONLINE | » Team USA Practice in NYC - Day 1 Posted: Aug.10 at 9:43 pm
    [...] more infuriating, note about this practice, at one point it turned into the Knicks/Isiah show. Mike D’Antoni, the assistant coach, recently bowed out from the tournament, citing a bad back. However, this being New York, and this being Dolan’s world, everybody wanted to ask [...]

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