Rockets To Hire Mike D'Antoni As Head Coach

[RealGM Wiretap]

The Houston Rockets have decided to hire Mike D'Antoni as head coach.

D'Antoni was last a head coach with the Los Angeles Lakers and was most recently an assistant coach with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Via Adrian Wojnarowski/The Vertical

[LaRance]

why the hell does this dude keep getting work. terrible coach. if Rockets defense wasn't terrible already, it's gonna be at a new level now. I'm sure Harden will love him though. he can dance up and down the court as much as he wants

[MitchB3]

So this MAN can get a 4th chance but people like Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Mike Woodson can't get a 2nd chance? (I know Mike Woodson would be technically be getting a 3rd chance). Well I guess the Rockets are looking at next years draft already.

[t-rexCity]

So this MAN can get a 3rd chance but people like Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Mike Woodson can't get a 2nd chance? (I know Mike Woodson would be technically be getting a 3rd chance). Well I guess the Rockets are looking at next years draft already.

The only reason the nba is what it is today is because of this guy. The run and gun Suns were the pioneers for the new Era of BBall. They were so much fun to watch and will be remembered as one of the best. Nash won mvp twice. The team was full of three point shooters including Marion and Amare as the center. Very similar to warriors, no? The only knock against him is that they don't translate into rings. Warriors were extremely lucky last year, FACT. Just watch Suns regular season vs playoff record and you will see why jump shooting teams will never win championships. But he's wanted mostly bc Rocket mngmt is desperate and this is a smart hire. Also Alvin Gentry was Dantoni's assistant who was last year warriors offensive mastermind. Last, this also means bye bye Dwight! ‎

[MitchB3]

So this MAN can get a 4th chance but people like Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Mike Woodson can't get a 2nd chance? (I know Mike Woodson would be technically be getting a 3rd chance). Well I guess the Rockets are looking at next years draft already.

The only reason the nba is what it is today is because of this guy. The run and gun Suns were the pioneers for the new Era of BBall. They were so much fun to watch and will be remembered as one of the best. Nash won mvp twice. The team was full of three point shooters including Marion and Amare as the center. Very similar to warriors, no? The only knock against him is that they don't translate into rings. Warriors were extremely lucky last year, FACT. Just watch Suns regular season vs playoff record and you will see why jump shooting teams will never win championships. But he's wanted mostly bc Rocket mngmt is desperate and this is a smart hire. Also Alvin Gentry was Dantoni's assistant who was last year warriors offensive mastermind. Last, this also means bye bye Dwight! ‎

I read the last sentence of your soliloquy and you are right, Dwight Howard isn't coming to this dysfunctional team. How can a team go from a champion contender to basically being forced to make the playoffs?

[Brianmas23]

So this MAN can get a 3rd chance but people like Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Mike Woodson can't get a 2nd chance? (I know Mike Woodson would be technically be getting a 3rd chance). Well I guess the Rockets are looking at next years draft already.

The only reason the nba is what it is today is because of this guy. The run and gun Suns were the pioneers for the new Era of BBall. They were so much fun to watch and will be remembered as one of the best. Nash won mvp twice. The team was full of three point shooters including Marion and Amare as the center. Very similar to warriors, no? The only knock against him is that they don't translate into rings. Warriors were extremely lucky last year, FACT. Just watch Suns regular season vs playoff record and you will see why jump shooting teams will never win championships. But he's wanted mostly bc Rocket mngmt is desperate and this is a smart hire. Also Alvin Gentry was Dantoni's assistant who was last year warriors offensive mastermind. Last, this also means bye bye Dwight! ‎

There is no question that MD is a great offensive minded coach. He just doesn't teach defense. And you are right MD created this style of BB. Problem is, his offense is all based on ball movement, which Harden doesn't do.

[t-rexCity]

I read the last sentence of your soliloquy and you are right, Dwight Howard isn't coming to this dysfunctional team. How can a team go from a champion contender to basically being forced to make the playoffs?[/quote]

soliloquy? More like making sure boring and cliche comments don't fill up this thread. I thought it was a great hire. It's a good match with what they have in their roster‎

[ebrian]

Fact is players should already have first hand knowledge and witnessed James Harden's awful defense and now they've brought in a guy who absolutely will not hold Harden accountable for his (non)-actions on defense.

Why on earth any significant FA will want to sign with Houston now is beyond me. Certainly no one serious about trying to win.

Dream come true signing for Harden though.

[MJallday59]

Great hire for houston. They lack a PG who can run the offense so it sounds like they'll throw a huge offer at Conley.

[t-rexCity]

So this MAN can get a 3rd chance but people like Jeff Van Gundy, Mark Jackson, and Mike Woodson can't get a 2nd chance? (I know Mike Woodson would be technically be getting a 3rd chance). Well I guess the Rockets are looking at next years draft already.

The only reason the nba is what it is today is because of this guy. The run and gun Suns were the pioneers for the new Era of BBall. They were so much fun to watch and will be remembered as one of the best. Nash won mvp twice. The team was full of three point shooters including Marion and Amare as the center. Very similar to warriors, no? The only knock against him is that they don't translate into rings. Warriors were extremely lucky last year, FACT. Just watch Suns regular season vs playoff record and you will see why jump shooting teams will never win championships. But he's wanted mostly bc Rocket mngmt is desperate and this is a smart hire. Also Alvin Gentry was Dantoni's assistant who was last year warriors offensive mastermind. Last, this also means bye bye Dwight! ‎

There is no question that MD is a great offensive minded coach. He just doesn't teach defense. And you are right MD created this style of BB. Problem is, his offense is all based on ball movement, which Harden doesn't do.

Sure Harden is a stats filler but with his 8 second rule, Harden will stack up his numbers easy and moving the ball will flow naturally. Lin averaged high ppg in NY but the team moved the ball to support his volume shooting. With Dwight gone, I can see this working‎

[luss54321]

Great hire for houston. They lack a PG who can run the offense so it sounds like they'll throw a huge offer at Conley.

Having a PG to run the offense, won't make a difference if James Harden continues to dribble out the first 20 seconds of the shot clock, before jacking up a shot or dumping the ball off for a cheap assist.

[Leor_77]

Realgm does it again with the great picture.

[Danny Darko]

Tank Commander on deck. Harden was probably sweating bullets thinking he'd end up with a coach that cares about D. Now he knows he's getting a lottery pick rookie to boss around after next year.

[-Sammy-]

Intriguing.

[zimpy27]

They will be fun to watch. I don't hate this pairing.

[juduking]

Cant wait to see Harden at power forward or Center in super small ball line-ups. Will be 6 seconds or less instead of 7.

[jamesnamida]

should reunite with lin as their center when dwight leaves.

[MaseInYourFace]

D'Antoni rightfully deserves credit for his contributions to current game. But he is not a good head coach overall. Yes teams like the Warriors have successfully incorporated his offense but the Warriors also prioritize the defensive side and are capable of playing high level defense when necessary. From his time in nyc I observed D'Antoni to be extremely egotistical and stubborn. He won't make changes necessary to adapt on defensive end. He can't adapt with players who don't fit his system. For D'Antoni ball to work it is crucial that the right player be at the point guard position. I don't believe Linsanity is a good comparison point to Harden. I think Harden and D'Antoni will clash and it will ultimately lead to one of them needing to go.

[antistrat]

Good God.

I guess they think that, if there was ever a time for D'Antoni's style (under D'Antoni) to produce rings in the NBA, that now is the time. Hell, they might be right, but I seriously doubt it.

[tsherkin]

The only reason the nba is what it is today is because of this guy. The run and gun Suns were the pioneers for the new Era of BBall.

This isn't really true.

Don Nelson and the Mavericks say Hello, and remind you that they existed prior to D'Antoni ever getting his first coaching job with the dreadful pre-Nash Suns. Hell, Adubato and Gar Heard had them playing a style of basketball not THAT far off, and of course Carleisimo and Cowens had the Warriors playing fast, loose basketball (at a similar or higher pace than some years from the Suns, no less) in the early 2000s prior to MAD as well. They're the first team in a long while (since it was league standard to go at that speed or faster) to WIN, but of course that's primarily because they had the actual talent to do it and weren't running for the sake of trying to overcome absence of roster quality like some squads. In some ways, it was a slightly more sensible return to what Westphal had been doing with KJ.

MAD had a relatively simple system where he went back to the kind of tempo we'd seen a decade prior and, like Don Nelson before him, made heavy use of perimeter shooting (specifically from 3), while emphasizing the attack ahead of the set defense... like pretty much everyone who runs uptempo. The PnR he ran certainly wasn't innovative either, it was nothing we hadn't been seeing for 20 years from Jerry Sloan and the Jazz, which had already been spreading wide around the league as a core set. The revolutionary part about it was that they had strong offensive talent.

The most intelligent thing he did was in recognizing that talent and emphasizing it. A point guard in his own career, he released control to Nash and otherwise made sure his guys knew how to move without the ball in transition and around the PnR.