Blessings keep coming for D'Antoni family

By Max J. Dickstein, amNewYork Sports Editor | mdickstein@am-ny.com

May 14, 2008

After the official introduction of Mike D'Antoni Tuesday, Knicks president Donnie Walsh mentioned that his new coach would join him at the draft lottery in Secaucus next Tuesday, when the Knicks find out if their seventh straight losing season will earn them the No. 1 draft pick.

"He's lucky, they tell me," Walsh said of Isiah Thomas' successor. "His wife says he's really lucky."

As it turned out, across the way from the reporters roosting with Walsh and D'Antoni, the coach's wife had a lot to say about her husband's fresh start in New York and, to a lesser extent, the pain of his abrupt departure from the Phoenix Suns.

"He's rewarded because he's got a great attitude," Laurel said, counting the blessings of Mike's four-year, $24 million Knicks contract. "We've got everything. That's lucky."

Laurel met Mike D'Antoni in 1984. Laurel, who was then a model known by her maiden name of Leibel, had spent time in Manhattan and made a working trip to Milan, where D'Antoni was the starting point guard for Olimpia Milano.

Introduced over pizza through mutual friend and Olimpia player Wally Walker, the couple quickly fell for each other and got engaged within a month. After trips to the U.S. to become acquainted with each other's families, they wed in June 1986.

Laurel, 48, worked for the past two years to shape her dream home in Scottsdale, Ariz., she said. If the Suns were making the deep playoff run that had become their custom the past four seasons, the D'Antonis would still be settled in Arizona, and Laurel would enjoy the summer relaxing on the backyard porch.

Instead, the family is nursing hurt feelings after a conflict between the coach and Phoenix general manager Steve Kerr resulted in his departure.

"We went from looking to get an extension to thinking they didn't love us," said Laurel, whose son Michael Alexander is in eighth grade.

"We're changing all of our numbers," she added. "We're getting rid of all that stuff. That's where we are. The Italian side says, 'We're just going to cut it off.' And then we'll wait for it. He's going to see them twice a year [when the Knicks play the Suns]."

Laurel was quick to say that her husband doesn't hold anything against his former players -- including Knicks forward Quentin Richardson, who sank 226 3-pointers for the Suns in 2004-05, when Mike was coach of the year.

"He falls in love his players," Laurel said. "I don't try to come between him and his players. They're like his kids."

"He's real protective," she continued. "If you ever want to get him irked, talk about his players. That'll make the hair on his neck stand up."

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