D'Antoni will get another chance to recreate the success he had in Phoenix.
The Rockets will hire Mike D'Antoni as their next head coach, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. D'Antoni is expected to receive a four-year contract with an option for the 2020-2021 season, reports Wojnarowski.
After a lengthy search, the Rockets have finally decided to hire D'Antoni to replace interim J.B. Bickerstaff. It's the fifth team the 65-year-old will lead in a long and mostly successful career. He had been out of coaching since the 2013-14 season after his stint with the Lakers but returned to the bench as associate head coach with the 76ers this past year. At the time the move was seen as a precursor to him getting another head coaching job, a prediction which has proved to be right.
D'Antoni is one of the most innovative and influential coaches in league history. His Suns squads of the mid-aughts played a style of offense that was later vindicated by the analytics community, which makes him a great fit in Houston, where general manager Daryl Morey has implemented some of his principles. He has been often criticized for his teams' deficiencies on defense, however, and it's on that end that the Rockets struggled the most last year.
The hiring of D'Antoni seems to be another sign that Dwight Howard's time in Houston is over. The big man played under D'Antoni on the Lakers but never seemed at home in an offense that marginalized post play. Howard had already complained about having a small role last season and his touches would likely decrease under the new head coach, so it's really hard to see him picking up his player option.
In his 12-year career, D'Antoni has amassed a .516 record. He was Coach of the Year in the 2004-05 season, when he led the Suns to the best record in the league. He reached the Western Conference Finals twice but never made it to the NBA Finals.
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