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Mike D'Antoni will not return as Rockets coach

Discussion in 'Houston Rockets: Game Action & Roster Moves' started by J.R., Sep 13, 2020.

  1. Ramo$e

    Ramo$e Member

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    Maybe not to you. The offer was 1yr. Playoff performance based. He was never going to get extended. The offer was not meant to be excepted. Any talks were to shut MIKE D up and let him finish with out throwing the season more than he does every year anyway.
     
  2. Patience

    Patience Contributing Member

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    What are you talking about? Adelman never coached Harden. He resigned in 2011, Harden trade was in 2012, a year-and-a-half later.

    2 coaches in 8 years is not bad as far as normal NBA coaching tenures go.
     
  3. YOLO

    YOLO Member

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    the season was doomed from the get go and already set up to fail. just like the foreseeable future
     
    Ramo$e likes this.
  4. thekad

    thekad Member

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    Fired all of his assistants, traded away his second best player for trash and refused to spend money on legitimate role players. Don’t blame him for not wanting to come back.

    The Rockets organization is garbage.
     
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  5. JayGoogle

    JayGoogle Member

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    That's the thing. Parker and Manu were not prime prospects. It's because Pop coached them up. If you read about the stuff he did with Kawhi it's obvious that there is A LOT more coaches can do to help players grow and develop and its obvious to me this is a failing of MDA. People always underrate this part of a coach but I'd say it is the most important aspect because it makes it a lot easier for the organization. Suddenly, your team is filled with assets and its easy to trade them away for better players.

    Also, Trez is still a valuable player. A bad game or series won't change that because he's 26 and on a great contract...which is a good reason to have young players that can actually contribute. Trez a one way player? Rivers, Ben, both one way players. MDA does not play defensive one way players, doesn't here, never has anywhere. He actually clashed with Dwight Howard who was still all the rage when he got him. That tells you all about his mentality.

    MDA just doesn't have the rotation to promote players getting coached up.

    People are forgetting MDA has a LOT of flaws man, I guess we'll just agree to disagree on that one. I don't think he's going to win with his style and I think he's too stubborn and I think he's not a good long term coach because he doesn't look to develop players. Most places fanbases are happy to be rid of him once he's gone because it's clear he can only take a team so far.
     
    topfive likes this.
  6. HP3

    HP3 Member

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    I can agree here that he doesnt take the time to develop young players. Dort has been an impactful defensive player all year though, Im certain he would have gotten the chance. And Parker and Manu probably showed potential in practice, etc. Its not Mike's sole decision on who gets into the lineup, there are many coaches working together to make that decision. If Dort showed he could make a positive impact, he would play.

    We got value for him though? We got Chris Paul. Trez would not have helped us the championship that year, point blank. We most likely still lose the Spurs series even with him playing. Also please dont bring up Dwight Howard who was trash in LA and who didnt want to run pick and roll with Steve Nash.

    We dont have a lot of high end bench talent on our team. But yea he def should have played Gary more...like a lot more.

    Every coach has flaws, we have one of the Worst second superstars in NBA history and cant shoot. Mike also didnt adjust so that exacerbated that issue, he got thoroughly out coached but lets not act like we coudldnt have won a championship with him, we absolutely could have.
     
  7. SupermanSK

    SupermanSK Contributing Member

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    You right. J B bickerstaff. Albeit only one year
     
  8. Patience

    Patience Contributing Member

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    Fine, three coaches, but Bickerstaff was definitely 'interim' and wouldn't have been kept on.
     
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  9. SupermanSK

    SupermanSK Contributing Member

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    Harden would sign off on a players coach.
     
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  10. JayGoogle

    JayGoogle Member

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    I know you'd bring up Dwight...but MDA clashed with Pau and Kobe too, Pau because he was trying to force the team into playing Small Ball with TWO all-star big men. The owner, Jenni Buss, literally came out and said as much. I mean, clashing with Pau Gasol of all people whose always been a model teammate and player says a lot and trying to force that big ostrich into small ball is definitely a MDA thing he'd do.

    Here is an old article about Pau...
    https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2013/12/13/5207608/pau-gasol-mike-dantoni-lakers

    "I'm not going to say anything, but it's easy to see. You see a guy with a certain skill set, where does it fit better, where it doesn't."

    Pau and Kobe are smart players, they knew MDA was trying to force his style on a team that just wasn't built on it.

    And yeah, player development and not adjusting are HUGE flaws. We can give credit for MDA innovating and helping the lead see the light on pace and space play, I'm not saying he's horrible, I said he's a good coach...but those two flaws of his, for me, are glaring.

    The grass might not be greener but there are certainly better fields out there. I never believe organizations should settle for 'Good enough' you're either competing for rings or you're not. That's why I'm happy he's moving on.
     
    HP3 likes this.
  11. ElPigto

    ElPigto Member
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    It was a good run. Mike was given his chances here and had 4 years to get us a championship. At this point, we have only one or two year if prime Harden left. Might as well roll the dice. Maybe our next coach won't refuse to play some of the younger players and they can be serviceable for certain match ups.
     
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  12. J.R.

    J.R. Member

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    Smith: Rockets’ next coach must be able to go head-to-head with James Harden

    The news sent shockwaves through Houston’s NBA franchise at 1:01 p.m. Sunday.

    Mike D’Antoni was walking away from James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Daryl Morey and Tilman Fertitta. A yearlong decision, which now had to be made after another painful playoff letdown, was suddenly taken out of the Rockets’ hands.

    But the real news lingered.

    It will sit there, unanswered, until the Rockets name D’Antoni’s replacement.

    And if we really want to be honest about the state of a shaky team that just gave up four consecutive second-round games to LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers, the eight-year question won’t be answered until we finally have proof that it can be.

    The Rockets have another chance — likely their last one — to hire a head coach who can truly get the best out of Harden.

    On the court, through all four rounds of the playoffs. Off the hardwood. In team meetings. On cross-country flights. Behind closed doors and out of public view, when real NBA leadership must keep a team moving forward through 82 games and 16 postseason victories for a world championship to finally appear.

    Kevin McHale couldn’t do it and was fired 11 games into a new season for pushing too hard.

    D’Antoni statistically and defensively got the best out of Harden between the lines. But the Rockets are now a depressing 0-of-8 chasing a shining ring with Harden as their premier superstar and the same huge questions still surround the hard-to-reach Beard after D’Antoni’s see-y’all-later departure.

    Heck, Chris Paul helped push Harden to the verge of the NBA Finals in 2018. But CP3 was eventually sent away — along with two first-round draft picks — when the Rockets realized that the only way to keep super-famous No. 13 happy was to get rid of Paul.

    The new head coach, somehow, must rise above all the old drama and missteps, and help lift Harden higher than he’s ever been.

    Fertitta got pretty good at shaking things up at the University of Houston. With D’Antoni moving on while possessing a franchise-best .682 regular-season winning percentage, Fertitta’s next coaching decision will be the biggest sports hire of his multi-billionaire career and could impact the Rockets throughout the remainder of this decade.

    It’s crazy to type that the NBA’s best regular-season scorer three consecutive seasons still has huge holes in his professional repertoire, especially when you remember that Harden is 31 and joined the Rockets in 2012. But the more you hear about how the Rockets have really been run during the Harden-era — and I’ve been hearing and writing about it for years — it’s undeniably clear that big things must change.

    The Rockets’ new head coach is the best hope to help create that change.

    Ultimately, it’s Harden’s world and his call. If he wants to hoist a golden trophy as one of the NBA’s best players while still wearing a Rockets uniform, he must discover the killer instinct that has far too often disappeared when the court shrinks and the season-defining minutes catch fire in the playoffs.

    The King obviously has it. Kawhi Leonard does. Michael Jordan redefined it. Kobe Bryant picked up and relit that torch. Dwyane Wade, Stephen Curry, Tim Duncan and Shaquille O’Neal all found another personal level when the points, swished nets and surreal statistics really mattered.

    Harden has been through Dwight Howard and Paul. McHale, J.B. Bickerstaff and now D’Antoni.

    He will end up in the Basketball Hall of Fame. He already is a must-watch “30 for 30” in the making.

    But McHale couldn’t keep challenging Harden. D’Antoni turned him into a do-everything point guard who averaged career-highs in scoring (36.1), assists (11.2), rebounds (8.1) and steals (2) at different times from 2016-20.

    But now Harden is on his third head coach in Houston and D’Antoni intentionally chose to walk away from The Beard, Brodie and small ball in 2020.

    Speaking of the Rockets’ longtime GM … this is a perfect time to finally move on from Morey if the Rockets truly want to create a clean slate.

    And what if the new coach — this next part is admittedly going to sound insane — wants to go big at times in the paint? Or play a center in the playoffs who stands taller than 6-foot 8?

    True leadership is missing with these Rockets.

    Accountability has been passively passed off for years.

    The Rockets won’t win their next elusive title until they start holding Harden accountable and truly getting the best out of an 11-year veteran set to make $41.2 million next season.

    When the Rockets unexpectedly hired D’Antoni in 2016, I initially wrote that they were out of tune because I knew how bad it had gotten with Harden and Howard inside Toyota Center, and the long road that remained for the franchise. The new coach needed to able to push, scream at and bench Harden at any time, if the moment called for the action.

    Paul came and went. D’Antoni followed.

    The Rockets still need a great coach to win their first world title since 1995.

    But if that coach can’t call out Harden and hold the entire roster accountable, then the Rockets will again fall short of the final stage that Harden’s basketball talent deserves.
     
  13. HP3

    HP3 Member

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    And? Paul Gasol wasnt a good player anywhere he went after that? He wasnt good. And Kobe was having great numbers under him until he got injured. Nash was also injured most of his LA career ass well.

    Kobe didnt have a problem with him though? It was Pau who didnt fit.

    Adjusting, yea...totally agree. Player development would not have won us a championship here.

    Well, were about to find out how green the grass really is.
     
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  14. RKREBORN

    RKREBORN Member

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  15. RocketsFido

    RocketsFido Member

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    Dantoni Haters: "FIRE MDA NOW!!!"

    Mike, Dan, and Tony: "You can't fire me because I'm a free agent!"
     
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  16. Will

    Will Clutch Crew
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    This is a much nicer way to part than happened with McHale. Gracious on the part of the organization, and a classy statement from Mike.
     
  17. JayGoogle

    JayGoogle Member

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    Well, he looks a lot worse when you're trying to play a style he couldn't play. That's the point. Even young Prime Pau could not play with MDA.

    So of course he'd look bad under MDA. Kobe did have issues with him? Kobe was personally close to MDA but he didn't like playing for him as a coach. He flat out said that MDA and him didn't have the same philosophy. Yeah, Kobe was cool with the guy, they go back because of Italy.

    MDA flat out said that Kobe rejected his system.

    Kobe later said about the Rockets (Kobe loved Harden too) that they would NEVER win playing this style. IIRC that's a direct quote, I Can find all this stuff for sure in quotes. It is clear Kobe did not like MDA philosophy, he's flat out said it.
     
  18. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    You can't win against that three headed monster.
     
  19. Ramo$e

    Ramo$e Member

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    I think that feeling is amplified by not moving on from MDA sooner. This season was the first year with WB. WB needs to put in the work 100 shots made a day, every day.
     
  20. daywalker02

    daywalker02 Member

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    Coaches are easy to let go.

    Harden and Morey got job security.
     

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