Mike
D’Antoni might be a legit genius. I feel like he is one of the most under appreciated minds in our game. Let’s run down his resume’ real quick. He’s responsible for the Phoenix Suns resurgence, Linsanity, he’s turning James Harden into a legit PG and let’s be real, we wouldn’t have Kobe if it wasn’t for him (lol). But on a serious note, Mike D doesn’t get enough credit for his contributions to the game.
I don’t know why but he generally gets a bad rap in the general public when he actually changed the game. The Warriors y’all like so much and compare to the 72-10 Bulls, their offense is basically the Suns offense during the Steve Nash years (Warriors just got Diddy to do the remix). Guess who came up with that? That’s right. Mr. D’Antoni himself. Also, people always go to the “his teams don’t play defense” argument. That is false. When healthy (and when he’s had a respectable roster) his teams have always been at least middle of the road defensively. When he took the Knicks to the playoffs, they were the 5th ranked defensive team in the NBA. People cling to popular rhetoric and completely disregard facts.
Let’s talk about Steve Nash. D’Antoni’s genius got Nash two MVP’s. Many people feel like he didn’t deserve them but that’s neither here nor there. He got them. There’s nothing any of us can do about it. He may not have been your first choice but to say the guy who actually won the award didn’t deserve it at all is stupid. The system D’Antoni put into place maximized Nash’s strengths and made him invaluable. I’m not sure that any other PG during that time would have been that successful in that situation. So he got Nash two MVP’s and made Amare and Joe Johnson rich. Joe became a legendary thief in the NBA after his years in Phoenix lol.
I know this seems random but watching James Harden so far this season has reminded me just how good D’Antoni is. Spare me with the “the season just started” stuff as well. His track record speaks for itself.
P.S.- D’Antoni has also solidified his greatness by shaving off that stupid looking Pringles mustache.