As young as you feel
D’Antoni downplays age with a youthful manner of coaching
Jerome Solomon reveals D’Antoni is an old coach who feels rejuvenated.
Mike D’Antoni joked that 65 is the new 50.
He didn’t exactly come up with it on his own.
I kind of backed the new Rockets coach into a corner as we chatted on the podcast “Bring It To Jerome.”
He mentioned his age, so I asked if he knew the oldest coach to win an NBA title. “I do not, I’m sorry,” he said. “(He was) younger than you,” I replied.
Laughter indicated D’Antoni didn’t take offense, a conjecture that became clear after I informed him (incorrectly) that the oldest coach to win an NBA championship was the Los Angeles Lakers’ Phil Jackson at 64.
“Yeah, but he was an old 64,” D’Antoni said.
The oldest nod goes to San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, who turned 65 about six months before San Antonio won its fifth crown two years ago.
D’Antoni, who like Popovich was invited to the 1972 U.S. Olympic team tryout camp, turned 65 in May.
Prepared to settle into retirement after a trying two-year stint with the Lakers, D’Antoni knows his run with the Rockets is almost certain to be his last as a coach.
It is an opportunity he wasn’t sure he would be afforded again.
His last season with the Lakers was a 27-55 mess, particularly damning considering a couple of years earlier his final season with the New York Knicks ended after 42 games.
“I was playing golf, I was perfectly happy,” D’Antoni said. “I was always looking for that opportunity, but that wasn’t going to make my life or break my life.
“I’m doing it because I love it, and I’m doing it because I’m competitive enough to where I want to win and I want to get over the hump.”
Seeking an NBA title
That NBAchampionship hump is more like a treacherous mountain for D’Antoni, who grew up in Mullens, a tiny coalmining town in the mountains of southern West Virginia.
The Rockets present an interesting challenge for D’Antoni, who won two titles when he coached Milan in the Italian League, a team for which he had been a star player.
He says he likes the roster, particularly a top-five player in James Harden, but he has to know the Rockets aren’t ready to compete with the best teams in the Western Conference.
And they aren’t ready to run what D’Antoni wants to run. Not yet. The offseason is just heating up.
The Rockets didn’t land a big-name free agent in the first day of free agency — there were only a couple available — but their deal with free-agent power forward Ryan Anderson could be an unheralded move that will be applauded later.
Anderson, a plus outside shooter, should be an excellent fit in D’Antoni’s offensive system, one he has been developing as a coach for 20-plus years.
“I’ve learned one thing,” D’Antoni said. “I’m a much better coach when the summer goes well. When Steve Nash got signed, I was so much smarter you couldn’t believe it.”
The Rockets, 41-41 last season, is arguably in better shape than Phoenix was when D’Antoni stepped in as coach during the 2003-04 season. The Suns finished that season 29-53 (21-40 under D’Antoni).
In the offseason, they signed Nash and Quentin Richardson. D’Antoni moved Shawn Marion from small forward to power forward, and switched power forward Amare Stoudemire, who measured under 6-9 at the NBAscouting combine, to center.
Small-ball advocate
The smaller lineup posted the NBA’s best record at 62-20.
D’Antoni was hailed as an offensive whiz. That wasn’t the case when he was a player.
“Contrary to many thoughts out there, defense was my main thing,” D’Antoni said.
And he was a good player. Milan retired his No. 8 jersey.
You could say running basketball is in his blood. His father Lewis D’Antoni is a legendary high school coach in their home state. His undersized teams were known for pushing the tempo.
Mike D’Antoni played at Marshall, where West Virginia native Cam Henderson, widely recognized as the inventor of the fast break, was once the coach.
D’Antoni and Marshall lost to Southwestern Louisiana in the 1972 NCAATournament 112-101.
The first time D’Antoni junked traditional sets for more floor spacing and a smaller lineup was with Milan, after his 1992-93 team started off 6-6.
“I decided, ‘You know what? The heck with this,’ ” D’Antoni said. “For whatever reason, I threw my starting (power forward) out the door … spread the floor, we want to shoot 3s, we want to move the ball … and the next 22 games we won 21 of them.
“It hit me: ‘You know what, there is something here. If you get the right personnel, then you can make this work.’ The players loved it, the fans loved it.”
Uneven reception
D’Antoni didn’t receive much love from the rowdy Red Nation when he joined the Rockets.
Of course, he has received worse welcomes. “We want Phil!” chants set the tone when he walked into Staples Center in 2012, as Lakers faithful had been expecting Jackson to take over.
But popularity doesn’t win basketball games.
And age, at least not the coach’s age, doesn’t lose them.
“I feel good,” D’Antoni said. “I shaved my mustache off and that gave me another five years right there, so I’m down to about 60. But I’m not giving back my Social Security card.”