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D'Antoni chose profit over prosper

Capt

Mike D'Antoni was the mastermind behind the Phoenix Suns and made them a contender for four years. However, the trade that swapped Shawn Marion for Shaquille O'Neal didn't work, and D'Antoni was a good soldier about it through the regular season. But now that they've lost in the first round, D'Antoni has leapt from the sinking ship that is the Suns onto the trash barge that is the New York Knicks.

D'Antoni could've gone to the Chicago Bulls, who seemed to be a perfect fit for his style of basketball. They were only one year removed from making the postseason and are stocked with guards and athletic bigmen.

The Knicks, on the other hand, can't possibly be a good fit for D'Antoni. They're almost $50 million over the salary cap and are years and years from contention. The roster is loaded with lumbering bigmen like Zach Randolph, Eddy Curry, Malik Rose, and Jerome James. And their main guards (Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford, Nate Robinson) all seem to be adverse to listening to authority.

So then why? Why accept a job that is tailor-made for disaster? A cool $24 million is the answer. And that's fine, I can't say that the bait of a significantly larger salary wouldn't tempt me as well. However, karma is now against him. The same way Joe Johnson left the Suns to make big bucks in Atlanta and has yet to win anything, so will be the fate of D'Antoni in New York.