The Italian Stallion has made his mark!!!

When the Knicks fired Isiah Thomas from the helm of there organization and hired former Indiana Pacers President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh they were immediately looking for a new coach. Mike Dantoni was in the first round of the playoffs against the Spurs.



Dantoni had won 50 games in three straight years as the Suns head coach. He also was coach of the year and was voted by the players as the coach that you would most likely want to be coached by. Dantoni is a players coach who knows the game of basketball. He also played in Italy for numerous years and was a very good player during his time. Which shows that he has made the transition from a former player to a NBA coach. Since Dantoni gets along well with his players he has a unique relationship with them especially since he is former player so he would understand. Dantoni brought energy to the building and just his presents was a good thing because he wasn't a loser from where he came from, and that is what the Knicks have been used to " Losing "

It was no joking matter when Dantoni discussed the state of the franchise and where it is heading.

Dantoni new that the job to turn this franchise around was going to be difficult and a hard task bu he was open to the challenge which excited most Knick Fans. Dantoni was sure going to the change the offense and the Knicks playing style. The first thing he did was draft Danillo Gallanari who is from Italy and has a European game, which is something the Knicks had not had in a long time. This was a culture change in the garden. Then Dantoni sign Chris Duhon who was a backup point guard with the Chicago Bulls. Duhon gave the Knicks a pass first point guard who they haven't had in multiple years.

The system that Dantoni was going to run was so different from the previous one ran by Isiah Thomas. It was so successful and recognized all over the basketball world that it got its own nick name called " seven seconds or less." Which was the system he ran in Phoenix where he went to the conference finals and won 50 games three straight seasons.

Everyone new without a doubt the Knicks were going to be more exciting to watch and stop becoming the laughing stock of the league. However people didn't know how that will translate into wins.

Even though the Knicks did not have a winning season many players grew under the coaching of Dantoni and the camaraderie amongst the players was good and improved drastically from the previous seasons. The fans and the media noticed that players wanted to be on the court and wanted to win, also everyone played hard.

Dantoni did an awesome job this season and changed the culture around the culture and really gave Knicks fans to look forward to something.