D'Antoni admits the obvious: Bulls are "better"

[nycballer]

D'Antoni admits the obvious: Bulls are "better"
Tribune buddy KC Johnson has been in Beijing (only employees from the mothership get the good trips) and he did a story about the Chicago Bulls strange and meandering coaching search that included Mike D'Antoni and resulted in Vinny Del Negro.

D'Antoni talked to KC about being romanced by both the Knicks and Bulls in that wild two-week courtship in May.

"I think the roster in Chicago is better and they've proved that," D'Antoni said in his typical straight-shooting manner. "For me, working with (Knicks President) Donnie Walsh was a plus." D'Antoni is quick to say he had no problems with Bulls management and says "they were great too."

"But New York is a great place and exciting and I just came to the conclusion for me that it's the best choice. Now we can argue and there was a list of do's and don'ts and all that. But at the end of the day, I just wanted to accept the Knicks' challenge."

That is consistent with what D'Antoni admitted when he chose the Knicks over the Bulls on May 10.

"I wanted to be in New York," he said at his introductory press conference. "We’ll see if that was the right decision. It was a gut feeling and Donnie played a big part in it and also the city of New York and the lure of Madison Square Garden."

* *

Just to touch on the information "Laurel" shared regarding Zach Randolph's contract. A look closer at the details shows the $2 million all-star incentive would only kick in if Z-Bo made the all-star team in each of his six seasons, which he has already failed to achieve. So the original $86 million value is actually $84 million.

He did have 30 percent of the deal deferred when he signed the extension in 2004. Chad Ford reported at the time that the Blazers had 30 percent of the $84 million ($25 mil) deferred. The payments on the deferred portion will be made over a six-year span beginning in 2012.

The actual contract expires after the 2010-11 season and the full amount of the contract, regardless of the deferment, counts against the cap. The fact that the Blazers deferred some salary was just a means of making it affordable for the franchise. It really doesn't have much impact on cap situations and, if anything, could make the contract a little easier to move because a team doesn't have to make the big payments right away.

However, it's also somewhat of an albatross for the bookkeepers because you're still on the hook to pay Z-Bo another six years after the contract expires.

SOURCE: The Knicks Fix

[eastflatknick]

Interesting facts about Zach's contract...though I don't think it changes much about how hard it will be to trade.