Coach D'Antoni

As you all are by now no doubt aware, the Knicks have hired Mike D'Antoni to be their new head coach.

A lot of the focus of the "pundits" has been related to whether or not the current personnel of the Knicks can play D'Antoni's up tempo offensive style.

The answer, of course, is no, not with the team as currently constructed.

The problem is that the question is all wrong.

If anyone really thought that the Knicks had all the right pieces and were really just one good coach away, then we're dealing with insane people who probably also think that deep down Dick Cheney really is a good guy who wants to be loved.

As it stands, though, the Knicks need to be completely and utterly overhauled, gutted, and built back up from scratch. The current team was put together by one of the most incompetent and misguided NBA executive of all time, a man whose name we would do well never to speak again, because I fear that even the sound of his name in the air can poison it with the stench of failure and misguided arrogance.

If you're going to strip a team down and build it back up again, then you would do well to bring in a coach that has a unique vision of exactly what he wants to do and exactly who the right people are to do it with. Mike D'Antoni is this indeed.

In addition, you'll want someone with experience and a record of success so that he can withstand a couple of rough years. Because make no mistake, and harbor no illusions: the next year or two isn't going to be necessarily pretty. Expect no magical one-year turnaround like the Celtics had this year, unless D'Antoni can bring Amare with him. Which he can't.

The point is, this isn't a hire intended for the short term. This is a hire to prepare for three years from now. If everything goes to plan, they'll be able to rid themselves of the bad contracts and useless players, adding draft picks and getting the rest of the team experience in the Seven Seconds Or Less system. Then they'll have the cap space necessary to get a big-name free agent that can put them over the top and in position to make a run at the Finals for the next four or five years after that.

That's the plan, anyway. And if Donnie Walsh is as smart as he seems to be, then the fans and the media will give them the leeway to make that plan happen. Which will include allowing for another mediocre and possibly playoff-less year next year.

We should also keep in mind that they are obviously not going to be keeping these same 12 guys next year. I'm as curious as anyone to see exactly what they do (can they trade Curry or Randolph? do they bring back Steph at all or pay him to stay away? etc.) Ultimately, though, a little patience is necessary.

So while I personally would have preferred Avery Johnson to have been the coach (mostly because I like rooting for him, for reasons I can't adequately explain) I am ultimately happy that we have someone like D'Antoni instead of a retread like Rick Carlisle or Scott Skiles or Sam Mitchell.

And the optimist inside me (I can't seem to kill it, no matter how much vodka and rib tips I ingest) imagines if maybe one day the Knicks can be as exciting and as fun to watch and root for as the Suns were the last four years. Wouldn't that be something? Isn't that what we've been dreaming of? Wouldn't that be the cure for what the last eight years has done to us Knicks fans?

At least with this hire, it is possible. And possibility is all you can ask for at this point.