Mike D'Antoni introductory press conference

Fightin' words from brother Dan! :grin:

Spoiler

[rQUOTEr]At first, Dan D'Antoni did not sound any different from most big brothers - loving and fiercely loyal.

Mike D'Antoni's older brother and his assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers might have spent a lifetime trying to defeat his brother in everything from board games to childhood races around West Virginia. He never needed prompting to defend his brother from any perceived slights. But he insisted his arguments were not about familial bias.

Dan D'Antoni did not hesitate to describe the Rockets new coach as "one of the greatest guys in the world."

"For being a tough guy as a competitor, one of the nicest guys in the world," D'Antoni said. "He feels for his players but is strong enough to do what he has to do to win."

Before long, however, the elder D'Antoni sounded like a basketball coach again, happy to rigorously dispute perceptions he believed were erroneous, from the accusations that Mike is not interested in his team's defense to the assumption that he would defend his brother so vigorously just out of loyalty.

"He was a great defender as an NBA player and a player in Europe," D'Antoni said Tuesday, the day before Mike is scheduled to be introduced as Rockets coach. "That was the strength of his game. For them to say he doesn't coach defense, that's a crock. Mr. (Jerry) Colangelo said defense is to get them to play hard. He gets them to play hard.

"Now, there are certain talents. Steve Nash was not a great defender. He physically wasn't, couldn't be. Amare Stoudemire wasn't and still isn't a great defender. But they rose the level of that team. That doesn't mean Mike doesn't value defense. … He teaches it every damn day.

"You are who you have on your team. This stuff about his defense is bull. Those players will be taught in a way they can be really good defenders. But it's on players to play hard. I promise you, the way Mike teaches defense, they'll be very good."

Mike D'Antoni's Phoenix teams ranked from 13th to 16th in defensive rating. (His Knicks and Lakers teams were never in the top 20.) Each of his Suns teams were in the top five in point differential per possession.

"If you look at the teams in Phoenix, where he got everybody buying in, and look at the point spread," said Dan D'Antoni, now the coach at Marshall. "That's what defense is. You can't just go by score. If you score 120 points, the other team is going to score 100. That would put you in last place back then. His reputation was started when defense was measured by how many points your opponents scored (per game, not by per possession).

"Were we a great defensive team? Probably not. We didn't have great defensive players. But they did defend as hard as they could, they competed, they put a points separation up and they won. It's a damn shame. It's perception, not reality. Reality is he produced teams that win and win offensively and defensively. You can't win with just one and he knows that."

Players must buy in

D'Antoni knew he sounded like a protective older brother or loyal assistant coach, having been both. If the Rockets defend opponents as hard as D'Antoni defended his brother's reputation, they will show enormous improvement. But D'Antoni insisted his opinions were not about those unbreakable ties.

"I don't say this because I'm his brother," D'Antoni said. "I would tell you if I thought he was terrible. They got a good coach. There's a lot of great coaches. But he has a special skill that puts him in an elite status. I get really upset because he is not getting credited and about the things they demean him with."

Those closest to D'Antoni's Suns have long felt the sting of criticism, having never won the validation of a breakthrough to a championship or the NBA Finals. The changes in NBA offenses the Suns led have seemed to end those arguments, with the recent champions all using variations of the open-post, pace-and-space style Mike D'Antoni popularized.

"He kind of invented the way the game is played now," Dan D'Antoni said. "It changed from where everybody was killing him with 'you can't play like that' to most of the NBA plays the same way. The NBA champions have been playing the way he was in Phoenix.

"He got butchered for that. They said 'You couldn't win a championship like that.' Basically, we didn't have the best team. The team that always beat us was in San Antonio, who ended up with Tim Duncan and four littles out there playing better at what we were doing. They had better players. He's always been successful when he got to that style and got players to buy in."

'He'll get it done'

That will be more important than earning the praise of his brother. Skeptics will not become converts so easily. But Dan D'Antoni needed no prodding to make his case.

"Houston got a hell of a coach," he said. "I don't think y'all even know how good a coach you got. If they support him and put a team around him, he'll turn that program around. He'll get it done."

http://www.houstonchronicle.com/spo...-proof-defense-runs-in-D-Antoni-s-7955777.php[/rQUOTEr]

 

I fully expect this conference to be done within 7 seconds. Beautiful passing of the buck between Pringles, Les and DM. Followed by an undewheming defensive response to media's questions and no accountability. Hope everyone enjoys watching it, because it's all just for entertainment purposes.

 

Will the press conference be open to the public? :grin:

 

"For defense we need to play harder"
Welcome McFail v 2.0

 

Dantoni speech should sound like this:

 

*clap* *clap* *clap*

 

Are you sarcastically calling Les a racist or rolling your eyes at those who are?

 

D'Antoni is a good coach. Like with Harden, it became fashionable to act like D'Antoni is a joke.

The players have to believe he is a good coach and buy in. I think they will.

 

What is D' Antoni going to implement on harden game, i mean the eurostep attack to the basket was taken away from him this year, he could not get to the line. I mean how is he going to make Harden a spot up shooter this year, like curry. 

 

Berman the creepy stalker strikes again, thanks Mark!

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">ICYMI: Mike D'Antoni arrived Tuesday for his <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Rockets?src=hash">#Rockets</a> news conference today: &quot;Thrilled to have the opportunity&quot; <a href="https://t.co/g9sBdlUEfl">pic.twitter.com/g9sBdlUEfl</a></p>&mdash; Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) <a href="https://twitter.com/MarkBermanFox26/status/738034516845985793">June 1, 2016</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

wasn't that yesterday?

 

This might have already been answered in the thread but will this be stream-able?

 

Neither.

I am just noting Les hires people he likes. With the exception of Van Gundy (who does have an old soul!! ), all the hires have been older as well.

I don't think it makes him a racist that he's drawn to old white guy head coaches.

But I am noting what it is.

 

What? that stache is gone. Dude means business

 

rockets.com

 

Fixed

 

Les Alexander wanted Kevin McHale.

 

Les: No stache, or else no deal!

 

Thanks.. can't wait for the new thread covering the interview, you might as well start one...

 

Nook, question for ya. On the McHale hire, if Les was pushing for McHale, who was Morey pushing for (since Carlisle was already at Dallas) at that time.