Mike D’Antoni may be the reclamation project in the NBA right now. If it weren’t for the fact that he’s not technically “on the court,” he may win Comeback Player of the Year, if they still gave out that award. He has gone from being out of coaching to being an assistant on the lowly 76ers, to coaching a very good Rockets team in a little less than a year.
But D’Antoni does go into a very fortunate situation. Houston had made the playoffs the season before he was hired, if barely. The team pulled even at wins and losses, 41 each, to snag the eighth seed. They sputtered out quickly, losing in five games to the Golden State Warriors.
The weird thing about that is that it was considered to be a disappointing season. They made the playoffs, something every team wants, and beat the Warriors in the postseason, a team that had lost only nine times the entire regular season.
But Houston had a talented roster. They made the Western Conference Finals a year earlier and retained much of the same roster. Expectations were set to do something similar to that. Instead, the team lacked a lot defensively and there were a lot of distractions off the court.
D’Antoni knew he was going to have to correct the course quickly when he was hired. Thankfully, this pairing was a match made in heaven. The Rockets were a team that liked to shoot, especially from three, and could be made to play at a quicker tempo fairly easy.
The major the that stood in their way was Dwight Howard. Sure, he may be an NBA star, but he’s not the star of Houston. D’Antoni nor anyone would coach the team to Howard’s strengths. James Harden held that title.
Thankfully, Howard’s contract expired at the same time, so his loss wouldn’t cost Houston anything. There wouldn’t be a cut, that would be a costly impact to the team; there wouldn’t be trade, something that would require the Rockets to give up some other capital due to Howard’s big contract; there wouldn’t be anything. It was drama free.
Well, almost drama free. While D’Antoni likes to shoot, he realizes the need for one player to man the post offensively and defensively. Howard does that better than a lot of people. Replacing his production would be tough.
Thankfully, the team had Clint Capela waiting in the wings. He was a young player whose playing time was sparse because Howard clogged up all the minutes. Capela obviously picked up something from Howard, clearly filling the post role the team needed.
The team also needed a good point guard to man the team. This is Mike D’Antoni we’re talking about. Steve Nash won two MVPs with the man in the early thousands. You need someone that can pass. In theory, Harden could take that role. But could he do it the way Nash did?
Maybe in a different way, but D’Antoni’s offense is not sputtering. Harden, who was often used and viewed as a shooting guard, has transitioned to the full-time point duties seamlessly. It helps that Harden’s passing abilities have always been a natural part of his game.
D’Antoni shows how important his coaching was to Nash. It also shows that D’Antoni should be a good enough coach to remain in the league as long as he wants. Houston is looking to repeat that Conference Final run they had in 2015. Will they get there? That’s hard to say. But D’Antoni seems to be the perfect coach to get them there, and Houston seems to be the perfect team for D’Antoni to coach for.
