Tuesday, March 13th, 2012 at 10:35 am  |  90 responses

Report: Carmelo Anthony Unhappy With Head Coach Mike D’Antoni


The New York Knicks are experiencing an ugly slide, and there have been indications that Carmelo Anthony isn’t the happiest of campers these days. According to the NY Post, Melo’s beef is with the Knicks’ head coach, Mike D’Antoni: “As the trade deadline approaches Thursday, the relationship between Mike D’Antoni and Carmelo Anthony appears to be deteriorating. There are several indications the alliance is getting worse, not better, and it seems inconceivable both will be back in New York next season. According to a source familiar with the situation, Anthony is disgruntled and he may have given off those signs when he didn’t join the huddle during a third-quarter timeout. (Anthony claimed that occurs often). Anything bold happening at the trade deadline would seem unlikely. D’Antoni is more likely to get fired than Anthony get traded after the Knicks dropped their sixth straight game, 104-99, to the Bulls. Anthony, who was benched the entire fourth quarter Sunday and didn’t seem happy about it afterward, finished with 21 points but took 21 shots to get there. The Knicks are 2-8 since Anthony returned from injury and D’Antoni continues to stress running the club through Jeremy Lin and not Anthony because that’s what spawned the 8-1 Linning streak and turned the Knicks into a global story. D’Antoni heard brief ‘Fire D’Antoni’ chants Sunday. He has admitted the team’s psyche and spirit has reached a low point just weeks from the Knicks being on top of the sports world. The D’Antoni-Anthony-Lin troika is not working.”

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , ,

Newer Comments →
  • RunNGun

    Melo needs to go. This offense wasn’t built around a ballstopper. Send him to the Lakers for Pau Gasol and World Peace.

  • http://minusthebars.blogspot.com Don

    Knicks need to get off their asses and play some spirited defense. D’Antoni is a gimmick.

  • TheTwoTimer

    @RunNGun Melo and Kobe on the same team would be a disaster. But I truly agree with you. D’Antoni PHX Suns offense is built around passing, Pick N’ Rolls led by a quality PG (Nash, Lin might work but the TOs need to drop.) and a few other key scoring options (Amare, Diaw, Bell, Barbosa), Not a player who holds the ball too long and shoots a contested perimeter shot.

  • _NDP

    Something tells me Knick fans would gladly do a Melo trade for Gallinari / Wilson Chandler / Mozgov. That would be one hell of a well-balanced team. The biggest thing I hate about Melo is that he talks post-game about how they didn’t get rebounds and gave up too many loose balls. Dude is NEVER around to bother on defense or try and be part of the solution…and that isn’t changing anytime soon.

  • Fat Lever

    And so it begins…

  • Marc

    I still don’t get how you all are saying trade Melo when most of y’all were so excited he joined the knicks. SMH. Melo is a ballstopper but he is also a scorer. D’Antoni is a good PG coach but his defensive scheme sucks. But you still want to give away Melo after a couple of bad games when D’Antoni been the Knicks coach for several years and only been to the playoffs once. And that was with Melo and Amare.

  • http://SLAM FLIGHT 9

    For the freaking nth time….. CArmelow shoots too much…. D antoni plays offense too much… yes, they should love each other but they keep on losing games dude. trading for melow for danilo, mozgov, felton and chandler is really stupid!!!!!!!!!!

  • robb

    Carmelo Anthony and unhappy seem to be almost synonyms.

  • Yesse

    He is right, but i don’t think he is under any position to make that call.

  • http://www.twitter.com/_dfrance DFrance21

    Melo needs to go because he doesn’t fit the offense? How about D’Antoni needs to go because his offense doesn’t fit the players. That style of offense you need two things that the Knicks don’t have, an elite pass first PG and a stable of 3 point shooters. The Knicks need to fire D’Antoni and get a PG that knows how to play pick and roll basketball. Melo can be a ball stopper, but the Knicks went way too many trips yesterday,with the game hanging in the balance,without him touching the rock. At one point he had a SG on his back and Landry Fields looked him off like he was a bum, I couldn’t believe what I was watching.

  • toinefan88

    Get ridda Melo.

  • DruNyce

    ^ Exactly, the Knicks main problem is coaching, period.

  • DruNyce

    @Dfrance

  • FnF

    Who is the bigger diva right now: Melo or Dwight?

  • Jono

    This Melo and the one back in Denver was no different. The only difference was that the team catered to him alot more and the other players during his last 3 seasons (Birdman, Nene, KMart, Afflalo, Billups, DJones etc) were all effective defenders that hid his inabilities on defese. Melo is the epitomy of a spolit superstar who’ll never fulfill his potential. A man his size and strength can be a good post and perimeter defender, and should average close to 10 rebs a game. In his position, he should also understand guys like Amare and JR only help his cause. Grow a brain Melo. We’re glad you’re not here in Denver anymore.

  • Bobito

    @RunNGun Melo is the best scorer in the league. He prefers to score off of isolations, but can easily score in transition if the Knicks got their defense up. We all know how terrible they are at the defensive end, but there is no reason that they should be in the rankings of the heat and the nuggets with fast break points. D’Antoni also never runs plays. Other than the pick & roll its basically see what you can do in 24 seconds.

  • SiMoney

    OD agree with @Marc and @DFrance21…D’Antoni NEEDS to get fired, period…and if there is anyone to trade its Amare. 6’10, 230 averaging under 10 rebounds doesnt cut it for me, sorry…

  • Bobito

    *shouldn’t

  • abaci

    what a mess, the personal and system are NOT a match. D’Antoni will get fired then become the Warriors coach. As for melo its his 9th year and he has made very little noise in the playoffs, maybe Carmelo isn’t nearly as good as advertised

  • surety

    I’m not buying the ‘Melo’s by far the best offensive player in the L’-shtick. How can you shoot under 40% from the field and be considered the best offensive player in the NBA? Also, having great offense is not just taking contested jumpshots in iso situations – there’s an element of the game called passing too. Lebron is a far better offensive player than Melo is.

  • abaci

    whoops i put personal instead of personnel

  • John C. Kimnbrough

    I think that a better coach could coach this team better. It is too soon to heap so much criticism on Carmello Anthony……..

  • John C. Kimbrough

    Voices of knowledge and reason should put their points of views forward. These are usually newspaper men. Too many radio hosts on ESPN radio and WFAN criticize wildly in order to stoke up the listeners. Carmello Anthony deserves as much as a chance to show what he can do as Mark Sanchez, Eli Manning, etc……..

  • smoove

    its the coaching..im sick of people blaming melo for (every) loss..and other GREAT coach would make that team mesh…let stop making excuses for poor coaching

  • bike

    Mike D. ought to just give it up. This team qualifies as one of the biggest psycho cases ever. PJ is probably the only coach on the planet qualified to manage these nut jobs.

  • http://www.twitter.com DFrance21

    @surety People call Melo the best “scorer” in the league, not the best offensive player. Huge difference in those 2 titles.

  • Xtian

    Think its time for Phil to go for a ring as a coach in NYC?

  • JM

    I think people just need to have some patience. These guys never got a training camp, everyone came in late, there’s been injuries, setbacks and the reality that Amare isn’t what he used to be. Give them some time to work shit out a bit. They have a terrific roster. It’ll come together if people check their egos a bit.

    So maybe not.

  • MUBWAR

    I remember about 5 6 years ago so many people were like Melo is as good as Lebron and might be better. 9 year vet and only advance past the 1st round once killed that story. Melo STEP YO GAME UP

  • surety

    That title is still ridiculous.

  • ARondomBlackGuy

    Listen who ever said send melo to the Lakers is the most dumbest person. first of all we got a center and M.W will never in his life be better than melo.

  • manu

    dantoni is stupid…jeremy lin shouldn’t be takin 18 shots in the dleague…this kid is overrated as fck…melos one of the best 4th quarter players in the league and he’s sitting on the bench while lin is shooting? what world do we live in?

  • MaxIsNative

    Jerry! Jerry! Jerry! Sloan.

  • Tony

    Head coach lin n antherny plu all teammate had to stap up n to work out this promble that not get along it’s about team afford not one man team knick has good power team I believe knick still can be in play championship if they all have in chemstry

  • FnF

    The blame should be shared here. D’antoni has to tweak his system to cator to his players. AND the player(s) have to tweak their mindsets to buy into the system. As franchises bendover backwards and grab their ankles for superstars, you can’t expect much from that franchise. What is the record of the Knicks with Melo? Yet, D’antoni is the one that should be fired. The Melo-less Knicks beat Dallas but the Knicks with Melo lost to the same team a week later.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    I better not see Melo in any future Top-10 player lists.

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    Carmelo is simply a blame everyone but himself type of player. Which is clear from his scoffing at being ranked #20 by CBS and then not doing any work to improve as a player. Infact he hasn’t improved his game in any way since 2009.

  • http://idunkonthem.blogspot.com albie1kenobi

    carmelo: when the knicks were getting killed on the defensive boards yesterday, what were you doing? you were trying to leak out EVERY SINGLE TIME instead of securing the rebounds, so you had to come back on D anyway. amare tried his damn best to box out TWO front court bulls players while chandler is out of the paint to contest shots. they did their jobs, you effing failed.

  • http://idunkonthem.blogspot.com albie1kenobi

    dantoni: what point were you trying to prove putting Lin on Rose all night? you knew he already had to run your PG-centric offense, so you just let Fields and Shumpert (who are much better defenders than Lin) hang out with the Bulls wings and burn out Lin on defense? the Knicks defense broke down constantly because Lin can’t stay in front of Rose. And you have the guts to experiment playing Lin and Baron together in the 4th quarter, when neither players are effective playing off the ball. you are an effing genius.

  • xx_JOMOMMA_xx

    THe only way NY wins is if they go to pick and roll with Lin and Amare like phoenix did wish Nash and Amare. NOBODY in the L is better at pick and roll than STAT (amare stoudamire) as hes called in Phoenix cuz he gets so many stats.

    Melo will find out if he lets them go he will have alot of easy shots.
    Take 15-18 shots and win. OR let it rain and lose over and over and over.

  • Druyorkcity

    I cant stand people thats only fans of certain players because yall dont know the whole game of ball
    Amare has a better record with the knicks by himself. Before melo came stat had the knicks 5 games over .500(OH YEAH HEAD COACH WAS COACH D)Its easy to say its still the coaches job to make it work but when the GM doesnt want to make the trade either but gets overrided and then fired by ownership i say its time for melo to go.its one thing to look and say they dont play championship defense but when ALL other 29 coaches regard d’antoni as a offensive genius and one of the most deadly scorers in the game cant buy buckets in a streetball offense i start to wonder about that player

  • ender

    Smh, its a whole lot of dumb people in the world, seems like most of the are knick fans. Its Melo’s fault y’all been losing? Really? How about amare not playing any D and only getting 3 boards, how about lin grtting killed be every teams pg. And melo shoots to much? Ummm yea, how about lin shooting just as much as melo but scoring alot less. His low field goal percentage is due to his dumb team passing him the ball late in the clock and him having to force shots. You people dont watch these games at all. Yall just complain at box scores..

  • http://slamonline.com datkid

    Lebron is officially a better offensive player to me than melo. Lebron improved and added things to his game that weren’t there before. I don’t think melo is better than anything lebron is at this on the offensive side of the ball at point. Lebron is officially completely superior to melo.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Bl3GRdULQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player 1982

    That play down the stretch said it all, when Melo his is man behind him on the low block pinned and Fields passed to an unopen Lin instead. This team still doesnt know he offense, and doesnt know its own game plan.

  • http://www.slamonline.com TADOne

    Being an offensive genius is one thing; being a good coach who can handle substitutions, game planning, adjustments and players egos is quite another. With that being said, Melo absolutely shares blame for his lackadaisical play on defense and his lack of rebounding. But we all know a coach is much more prone to be let go than a player. I doubt Phil Jackson will come out of retirement but I know Larry Brown would.

  • Rainman

    Granted, Melo never really fit well with the team…But Mike is a HORRIBLE Coach. HORRIBLE. End of discussion. He needs to go.

  • Rainman

    he’s not much of an “offensive genius” this year either, what was i watching last night? Baron Davis dribbling through his legs and launching deep 3′s at the end of quarters when there was more than enough time to run an ACTUAL PLAY (ever heard of those mike?) Jr Smith trying to cross people over when he hasnt got the handles to do so? and lets not forget the horrible execution down the stretch… Thats on the coach.

  • http://nyill.wordpress.com/ O

    Melo was doing just fine in Denver with Chauncy and Kenyon. He can be effective with this team, but D’Antoni the “offensive genius” doesn’t know what to draw up with this particular group of players. Fire him and reach out to Phil Jackson and offer him a piece of Knick ownership and the moon. If that doesn’t work talk to Jeff Van Gundy and offer him a lifetime supply of Rogain. Either way we need a coach who know how to play the cards they’re dealt.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Why would PJax want to leave a life of fly fishing and plowing owner’s daughters to coach the dysfunctional mess that is the Knicks?

  • IAMORANGE4EVER

    For real, just hand Mike Woodson the coach’s clipboard and ride out the rest of this regular season with him. Mike D’Antoni…I wish he and his family the best. I always thought he’d look good in Toronto. Imagine Mike D’Antoni, Steve Nash, and Bryan Colangelo all reunited in Toronto. As a fan, I’d like to see that. Heck, Leandro Barbosa
    is already in Toronto, and he thrives in D’Antoni’s run and gun system. I’m predicting this happens.

Newer Comments →
Advertisement