Must Be The Money

I was shocked on Saturday when I found out that Mike D'Antoni had signed a 4-year $24 million deal to become the head coach of the New York Knicks. From everything I'd been reading or hearing, it was only a matter of time before D'Antoni was announced as the new head coach of the Bulls.

Much like everybody else, I figured D'Antoni was using the Knicks as nothing more than a bargaining chip to get a better deal out of the Bulls. After all, he and his agent were saying how excited they were about the possibility of coaching this Bulls team, and the Knicks are such a mess right now that it will be a few years before they can think of turning that around.

There was no way D'Antoni would choose that project over Chicago.

Then he did, and now I have no idea why. The only reason I can think of is the money, as I see no other motive that makes sense. It could have been the draw of coaching one of the NBA's premiere (well, what used to be premiere) franchises in a city like New York, but the Bulls aren't exactly the Sacramento Kings here. We do have quite the basketball history of our own, and Chicago isn't exactly the middle of nowhere.

No, the only thing I can think of is the money, and the fact that they just weren't willing to give D'Antoni as much money. Hell, according to the Bulls, they say they never had a chance to even make the offer.

That's bullshit.

How long has this story been out there? How long were we hearing that D'Antoni wanted to come here, and that John Paxson wanted him here as well? There was no time over the last week to make an offer?

The Bulls had found the coach they wanted, the coach had found the team he wanted, but the Bulls just couldn't pull the trigger. They found themselves stuck in the mud, and they're probably going to find themselves stuck in the mud on the court this season as well.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Mike D'Antoni was going to instantly make the Bulls into title contenders. I just thought that he'd at least make them interesting and entertaining, and a lot more fun to watch than they were this last season.