D'Antoni: The Reactions

Listening to WFAN sports talk radio over the last few days has thrown my world into chaos. When the D'Antoni news broke, I, for one, lept around my room in a state of unadulterated joy. "The Isiah era is over!" I cried. "We brought in a real basketball mind to be president, and a coach who won 58 games a year! Finally, we're on the right path!"

Then I turned on the radio.

*Mike from Yonkers: "I dunno, man, I just don't think this guy is the right fit."
Joe from the Bronx: "Mark Jackson would've been a much better chance."
Cleon from Red Hook: "It's just more of the same. You a loser in Phoenix, you gonna be a loser in NY."
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WHAT?!?!? Are Knick fans insane?!? Has the Isiah era (like the Bush administration) left us all so jaded, so cynical, so distrustful, that we no longer have any hope for anyone who's ever been involved in basketball?

We, as Knicks fans need to start breathing deeply and recognizing a few things:
1. We now, for the first time in almost 10 years, have good, solid basketball minds in the front office and on the bench. This is nothing to sneeze at; rather, it's something to be thrilled about.
2. This is a full fledged rebuilding process. It's going to take at least two, maybe even three years for Walsh and D'Antoni to put together the core of players they want.
3. Since Walsh hired D'Antoni, that means one of two things: either A) D'Antoni has signed up to coach with a style suited to the roster that Walsh is planning on putting together, or B) Walsh is committed to bringing in the players best suited for D'Antoni's style in Phoenix. Either one of these is a good thing. This is not Isiah and Larry Brown, these are two excellent basketball minds on the same page.

Many of the complaints around D'Antoni center around the fact that he couldn't get over the hump and win a title in Phoenix. Now, this may be a valid concern for some teams trying to get over the hump. This is not a concern for a team that's won a little more than 200 games in the last 7 years. Let's build a winner first, please?

*Note: I was driving, so I was unable to take down names or notes. All supposedly direct quotes in this paragraph are paraphrases, and all names are made up. It just sounds better that way.