AT the beginning of World War II, Gen. George Catlett Marshall plucked a colonel (light bird?) from the Japan conflict in the Philippines and appointed Dwight D. Eisenhower European supreme commander.
Prior to the June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy, Marshall promoted Eisenhower to Allied commander, passing over 60 generals whose positions were fairly predictable no matter what the situation.
It was a master move by the U.S. Chief of Staff, who was unafraid to show daring as opposed to playing it safe. Circumstances called for fresh blood and new ideas, and Eisenhower knew how to massage the egos of Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin and, at the same time, hold his ground.
While Mike D’Antoni is certainly capable of performing massage therapy on Stephon Marbury and Eddy Curry and, at the same time, demand defense and sharing of the leather toy, I’m just saying (for the very last time, I promise) the “rebuilding” of the Knicks should have included “coach” (Mark Jackson) rather than hiring another “resume” set in his ways.
Like his most recent predecessors, Knicks president Donnie Walsh opted for the name general with a chest full of ribbons. I say an original voice with an unusual message was needed. Walsh says the ex-Suns’ supreme commander gives the Knicks a better chance to win over the next two seasons with basically the same unmovable misfits who were victorious 23, 33 and 23 times under “resumes” Larry Brown and Isiah Thomas.
That was a deciding factor in hiring D’Antoni instead of Jackson, Walsh told me, stating it was a painstaking, mentally exhaustive, down-to-the-wire judgment.
I say Walsh dropped the ball. Either he took his eyes off it or his mind wandered. Upon his arrival he told us his short-term goal: Field a team that played hard and smart, and get progressively better (owning their first-round pick, for a change, surely can’t hurt) until salary-cap constrictions allow the Knicks to recruit a superstar or two.
Again, I’m not saying D’Antoni isn’t capable of doing what has to be done to make the Knicks a pleasure to behold and their fans box out for position for coveted sight lines. I’m saying by Walsh thinking must-win immediately unfairly raises expectations for all concerned, especially because they’re unrealistic.
D’Antoni’s semi-contentious hiring greatly elevates prospects. Objections by more fans than not would have been muffled. Jackson would have been embraced and given a far longer grace period to establish a positive team identity . . . again, as long as we witnessed individual effort and collective caring.
As readers may recall, I covered Shaq’s first games as a member of the Suns following his mid-February trade from Miami. A highlight of my week was the three give-and-take pre- and post-game media sessions in D’Antoni’s office.
Twenty of us crowded around his desk asking him a wide range of questions, some softballs, some curves and some straight down the middle. He answered ’em all, some with humor, some with an edge and then we moved on, no problem.
Afterward, I privately told D’Antoni how much I appreciated the opportunity to talk basketball with him, how refreshing it was in comparison to New York, where access was withheld if you didn’t root for the Knicks in print and paranoia strangled the life out of the Garden.
Two months later, D’Antoni became completely unraveled by the Suns’ failure to beat the Spurs. He’d been sarcastic toward opposing coaches for some time and had been condescending to anybody within the organization who disagreed with his philosophy.
But in the San Antonio series, he advised fickle fans who were on the ledge to jump. And he got testy with those in the media who questioned his refusal to order fouling at the end of regulation and OT in Game 1.
However, the biggest shock was his aversion to make offseason defensive and practice adjustments strongly required by owner Robert Sarver and team president Steve Kerr.
Don’t tell me Walsh hired a coach who is uncoachable. You mean to say D’Antoni actually is compatible with the Knicks! peter.vecsey@nypost.com