[Feigen] D'Antoni emerges as front-runner for Rockets job

I hope Pringles gets fired in less time than McHale.

 

The three finalists are:

1. Mike
2. Dan
3. Tony


Jeff, Van and Gundy were also in contention until they dropped out recently.

 

A few years ago he was a hot commodity. I was against this but if we can't get Vogel then I guess we can score a lot of points. I wonder if the Spurs assistant is interested.

 

Don't understand this. Doesn't that mean the team would be ****ty? Why hope for that?

 

Eso no me gusta.

 

If we bring this clown in the team will suck dicc regardless and we will subsequently be a perennial lottery team like the last 3 he coached

Suns(14th in West
Lakers(15th in West)

Knicks(13th in East)

 

Long live Moreyball. Smdh.

 

Let me preface the following comments with this statement.

I do NOT support the hiring of D'Antoni and would have prefered Jeff Van Gundy over his hiring.

That being said, a few things to remember about D'Antoni's career.

1. He was NBA coach of the year in 2005.
2. His offense lead Steve Nash to be voted MVP in back to back seasons.
3. He was coach of the Suns during a portion of the time Steve Kerr was their GM.
4. While his coaching tenure in New York is considered a failure, he did manage to lead them to the playoffs in 2011 despite clashing with Carmelo Anthony.
5. His struggles with the Lakers were obvious. However it's important to remember he took over the Lakers 10 games into the 2012-2013 season (after the Mike Brown debacle) meaning he had no training camp with them AND was a controversial pick because of the furor over choosing him over Phil Jackson. His team also was decimated with injuries to Nash, Dwight and Kobe. That first season, his projected starting lineup of Kobe, World Peace, Nash, Gasol and Howard only played in 7 games together. In his second season as coach of the Lakers, Kobe only played 6 games the entire season, Nash was essentially gone and Dwight had moved on.

In short, he's had a lot of challenges and bad luck in his runs with NY and LA. I don't think he's as bad a coach as his most recent stints have suggested. Much of it was self inflicted as he apparently has had issues with Kobe, Dwight, Carmelo and Pau in his past. Hopefully he has learned from that.

And while I think his struggles coaching defense have been well chronicled, its important to remember that at the very least D'Antoni knows how to coach the offensive side of the ball. Hopefully, putting the ball in the basket on the offensive end more efficiently will help the team to get their defense set more often.

At the very least one thing is true. While he may only be good at coaching one side of the ball, that is AT THE VERY LEAST an improvement over Mchale/Bickerstaff who couldn't coach either side.

 

This is a good post. D'Antoni isn't the disaster many think he is, in my opinion. Not the coach I want at all, but not a disaster. I think it's important to note that his rosters in NY and LA were not suited for the style he wants to run, as well. Not at all. The Rockets don't have a great roster as it stands today, but they have players who are better suited for that style of play, for what it's worth.

 

Fighting fire with gasoline, bub.

 

Les should just complete the trifecta of failure and bring back the pinstripes.

 

PRETTY MUCH THIS

 

isn't D'Antoni regarded now as more of an interim coach anyways? That would be the one aspect of this hire that wouldn't bother me too much. IF this team was at a place where this style of play was working, and we needed to keep everything in tact for a year or two with Harden, and not change the style and culture too much. Maybe it was a simple upgrade for McHale to D'Antoni (yes... I actually think D'Antoni is a better coach).

That being said... this isn't an Interim Hire type of situation. The Rockets OBVIOUSLY need a major shift in culture change, and they need to do something drastic to alter the way this team inside and out views the value in a winning culture.

It just screams of delusional leadership. They believe in what they have done and are doing... you can say that much about them. And there is no way anyone can convince them otherwise. Truly blinded by their pride & locked in.

Sometimes the greatest leaders have the same stubborn mentality that makes them great. Sometimes that lack of any recollection of what everyone else knows or doubt of your weaknesses is what gives you the mental edge to actually beat the odds.

All other times, you just end up looking like a bigger a#$, and fail flat on your face. I would say safely that its more likely the Rockets end up being the latter next season. We thought this season was truly rock bottom... damn were we wrong.... But hey... maybe they beat the odds and prove they are actually better than everyone else..... TBD, but the history of stubborn assholes doesn't bode well.

 

I get having an opinion on D'Antoni, but to HOPE for the worst??! That's just being a bad fan.

 

excellent post.

 

Because there's still time to avoid it.

Don't hire him

 

I told you guys. Typical Rockets move.

 

I like it for the sole purpose that we'll be upgrading the PG position for sure. Bev is not a PG and he can't run a D'Antoni offense or any offense for that matter.

People forget D'Antoni was very good in Phoenix. He was set up for failure in LA and NY. Can't wait to see a fluid offense again.

 

All you need to know from this thread tbh