Is it resigning or is it not getting fired?

Reading the news about Mike D'Antoni "resigning" makes me wonder if he really did want to resign or did he not want to get fired.  Usually in this type of case it's the team not wanting to fire the coach.  And this brings up another point does the team side with the players of a team or the coach of a team, and in this one, you can see that the players won.  In basketball, it's such a players league that it doesn't surprise me anymore when a coach gets the out first.

Sure in some instances, like Jim O'Brien and the Pacers, that a coaching change was due.  But how convenient that D'Antoni resigns after hearing reports that Carmelo Anthony had issues with him, and there was talk he might be leaving.  It doesn't take a genius to figure out what happened here.  The coach gets the boot and the player gets his way.

I'm glad the only coaching I've ever done was with a fifth grade basketball team. I don't know how some of these guys can do it with these millionaires, who want everything their way.  A player wants to be traded, he gets traded.  A player wants some teammate on his team, he gets that guy.  A player wants a coach fired that coach gets fired.  You'd have to have some thick skin to make it in this league.  It's amazing to think that someone like Jerry Sloan coached the Utah Jazz for over 20 years, and even he had to "resign" at the end of his coaching career.  He actually became the longest tenured coach for one team in all of sports.

"After Tom Kelly stepped down as manager of the Minnesota Twins in Major League Baseball in 2001, Sloan became the longest-tenured head coach in American major league sports with their current franchise. He resigned on February 10, 2011."

Coaches in this league really can't seem to coach anymore.  But more manage the personalities on the team.  That's why I am never surprised a college coach can't make that leap from college to the pros.  Think about how different the game is and how different the players are.  You have guys coming out of high school to coach at the college level. But at the pro level, you have guys with one year or more than ten years of playing experience making more people than most people see in a lifetime.  And just look at all the different characters to stop through the NBA, it's amazing coaches last as long as they do.