Mike D'Antoni occupies a complicated space in the NBA landscape, so his agreement to become the Houston Rockets' next head coach, as first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical, raises appropriately complicated issues.
After spearheading an offensive revolution with the Phoenix Suns and enjoying wild success in the mid-2000s, D'Antoni flamed out with the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers. The ultimate question, then, is this: Which version of D'Antoni is the real one?
Are the Rockets getting the mind widely credited with altering offensive basketball? The guy who spaced the floor, championed pace, shrunk lineups and made the pick-and-roll the fulcrum of virtually every system since developed?
Or are they getting the guy who lost the locker room in New York and may well have deserved more blame for the implosion in L.A. than the more rigorously chronicled Kobe Bryant-Dwight Howard rift?
Unless you think his short tenure as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers sparked some kind of unlikely revelation, there's really no third option.
We'll get the answer to that big question when we s ...
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Article written by Grant Hughes
Houston Rockets Hiring Mike D’Antoni Comes with Curious Questions​
May 26th, 2016 by Grant Hughes Leave a reply »
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