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Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni yells from the bench during the second half of an NBA conference semifinal basketball game against the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (AP Photo / Mark J. Terrill)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – Mike D’Antoni told the Houston Rockets that he will not return as a coach with them next season, essentially choosing free agency rather than returning to the club he has spent the past four seasons with.
D’Antoni told the Rockets on Sunday, not even a day after the team’s season ended with a playoff loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, that he would look elsewhere for coaching options for next season and would not return to Houston The team’s owner, Tilman Fertitta, confirmed the move later Sunday.
“I would like to thank Mike D’Antoni and his wife, Laurel, for their incredible contributions to the Houston Rockets organization and the Houston community,” said Fertitta.
“Mike is a true professional and an incredible mind for basketball. He is a winner, and we have been fortunate to have such an outstanding coach and leader to work with in the last four seasons. “
ESPN first reported the 69-year-old coach’s decision.
It was not entirely unexpected; The Rockets and D’Antoni couldn’t agree on an extension last year, meaning he was training this season with no guarantee of his future in Houston.
D’Antoni had already been mentioned as a potential candidate for openings in Indiana and Philadelphia, but when the season ended Saturday night, there seemed to be at least some hope that he would stay in Houston.
“We have a great organization, a great city, great fans, the team is great,” D’Antoni said after the Game 5 loss to the Lakers. “I mean, everything is fine here. We’ll see what happens, but I couldn’t ask for a better situation. I was four years old and I hope it continues. You never know “.
But sometime between Saturday night and Sunday afternoon, he knew it was time to move on.
Houston becomes the eighth team to undergo a coaching change since the end of the regular season: March 11 for eight clubs that did not qualify for the NBA reset bubble, and mid-August for the other 22 franchises. of the league.
In recent weeks, Brooklyn has hired Steve Nash and New York has hired Tom Thibodeau. Chicago, Indiana, New Orleans, Oklahoma City, Philadelphia and now Houston are vacant.
D’Antoni was with the Rockets for four seasons. Houston was 217-101 in its regular-season games, a .682 winning percentage.
The Rockets’ winning percentage this season, .611, was the worst in his four years in office. He was 28-23 in the playoffs with Houston and was the NBA’s coach of the year in 2016-17, his first season with the Rockets.
“Mike has done some amazing things here,” Rockets star James Harden said Saturday night, making it clear that he would have liked to see D’Antoni return. Houston’s other star, point guard Russell Westbrook, also praised the kind of person D’Antoni is and said he enjoyed his only season playing with him.
D’Antoni has coached 1,199 regular season games with five different franchises, going 672-527. He is a two-time coach of the year, and he also won the award in 2004-05 after leading Phoenix to a 62-20 record.
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