After a season laden with disappointing developments including the firing of head coach Kevin McHale, the Houston Rockets have made yet another questionable decision. According to reports, the Rockets have agreed to terms on a deal with former Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni.
Rockets reportedly finalizing a deal to hire Mike D’Antoni as their next head coach. https://t.co/g6heYIH32K pic.twitter.com/HyskJQTHo0
Advertisement— theScore (@theScore) May 26, 2016
D’Antoni, 65, was most recently employed by the Philadelphia 76ers as an assistant this season. He’s by no means a terrible coach, and has had a fair amount of regular season success throughout his career. However, he notoriously neglects to place an emphasis on defense, and the Rockets already don’t make much of an effort in that aspect of the game. It’s hard to imagine Houston’s best player, James Harden, will ever improve defensively now with a coach who perhaps cares less about it than he does.
The move almost guarantees center Dwight Howard won’t be back with the Rockets next season, as he and D’Antoni were never able to get on the same page in Los Angeles.
Fascinating lines when Dwight Howard can opt out and Houston’s considering Mike D’Antoni.https://t.co/dNvTOanncV pic.twitter.com/66TdQof4pB
— Positive Residual (@presidual) May 19, 2016
In fairness to the Rockets, their options were limited after seeing Frank Vogel and Jeff Hornacek hired over the past week. With the right additions this offseason, the Rockets should easily have one of the most explosive offenses in the NBA in D’Antoni’s system, and will likely be a winning team. However, the chances of D’Antoni being able to get Houston over the hump appear to be slim to none.