# D'Antoni for Coach of the Year..?



## ChristopherJ (Aug 10, 2004)

Mike D'Antoni, along with coaches Nate McMillan, Scott Skiles, Stan Van Gundy, Rich Carlisle, and Greg Popovich are all the leading candidates for COY.


Personally I think D'Antoni's style of letting his players play concept doesn't really help his case. Along with the fact that the Suns are loaded with talent. Although he is a great coach, I wouldn't choose him ahead of Skiles or Carlisle simply because of the fact they're competing with much less to work with.

Do you think D'Antoni is the leading front runner for COY?


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## Nashaholic (Mar 30, 2005)

I like Mike D'antoni to win as a pheonix fan, however I dont think thats realistic. As KidCanada has already said Pheonix has had success through a wealth of talent and a playing style which allows the players to play to their own talents. On the court its almost as if Steve Nash is coaching and players like Bo Outlaw give plently of leadership from the bench.

The candidate I feel is most deserves coach of the year is Nate McMillan. The Supersonics coach has against all odds has created a suprisingly successful team. Last season Seattle was 37 - 45. At this point the franchise is 49-22 no small turnaround. Furthermore few expected success form the Supersonics making the achievement even more significant.

Stan van Gundy, Rich Carlisle, Scott Skiles and Greg Popovich and Mike D'antoni are all are great coaches however and the award would not be wasted on any of them.


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## tempe85 (Jan 7, 2005)

What if it were BAD coaching that contributed to the Sonics horrible season last year? Anyone thought of that? I mean heck they have Allen and Rashard, those are great talents! So their big turnaround this season can almost seem exaggerated. 

The Suns on the other hand are in the midst of one of the greatest turnarounds in NBA history (I think even with all the games left in the season their current win margin over last year ranks 7th all time, possibly better). I really think it could go down to who finishes with the best record in the league. San Antonio, Phoenix, and Miami all have a shot to claim this title. If the Suns get it there is no reason my mind that D'Antoni (who won multiple Italian league coach of the year awards already) diserves the coach of the year award this year. Give me one good reason why he DOESN'T deserve it?


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## ChristopherJ (Aug 10, 2004)

It not a case of him not being deserving but just other coaches being more deserving. Usually the COY goes to the coach who got their team to overachieve such as the Sonics or Pacers this year. The Suns havn't overachieved in my mind. They have the most talented starting 5 in the league and have played to their full capabilties. It's not like next year the Suns record will drop off significantly like I expect the Sonics record to next year... IMO.


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## DwyaneWade4MVP (Apr 1, 2004)

D'Antoni has a good shot to make it! I hope so, he deserves it!


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## Tooeasy (Nov 4, 2003)

tempe85 said:


> What if it were BAD coaching that contributed to the Sonics horrible season last year? Anyone thought of that? I mean heck they have Allen and Rashard, those are great talents! So their big turnaround this season can almost seem exaggerated.
> 
> The Suns on the other hand are in the midst of one of the greatest turnarounds in NBA history (I think even with all the games left in the season their current win margin over last year ranks 7th all time, possibly better). I really think it could go down to who finishes with the best record in the league. San Antonio, Phoenix, and Miami all have a shot to claim this title. If the Suns get it there is no reason my mind that D'Antoni (who won multiple Italian league coach of the year awards already) diserves the coach of the year award this year. Give me one good reason why he DOESN'T deserve it?


 thats the stupidest comment i've heard in quite a while. Have you seen the improvement in rashards game compared to last year? even better, just watch a sonics game and look at how well this team has meshed this season, its absolutely amazing. ridnour was a non-factor last year, collison was out for the season, we had no fortson, and rashard was a alot less effective that his numbers would indicate. 
Theres absolutely no reason to believe that Nate isn't an integral part of this team, and couldn't the exact thing be said about your team? did you guys not have amare,stephon,marion, and joe johnson all on the same team at one point? thats more firepower than ray allen and an underachieving rashard lewis, so I guess the exact thing can be said about d'antoni, it was simply bad coaching last year and this year he has an ever better cast of characters, hes just coming along for the ride.


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## Nashaholic (Mar 30, 2005)

Tooeasy said:


> thats the stupidest comment i've heard in quite a while. Have you seen the improvement in rashards game compared to last year? even better, just watch a sonics game and look at how well this team has meshed this season, its absolutely amazing. ridnour was a non-factor last year, collison was out for the season, we had no fortson, and rashard was a alot less effective that his numbers would indicate.
> Theres absolutely no reason to believe that Nate isn't an integral part of this team, and couldn't the exact thing be said about your team? did you guys not have amare,stephon,marion, and joe johnson all on the same team at one point? thats more firepower than ray allen and an underachieving rashard lewis, so I guess the exact thing can be said about d'antoni, it was simply bad coaching last year and this year he has an ever better cast of characters, hes just coming along for the ride.


Thats a harsh critisism but to an extent I agree. Nate has done an amazing job with the Sonics and D'antoni to some extent has just been along for the ride with an allstar lineup. However D'antoni has had a direct influence in making the suns the run and gun team they are and i think both coaches deserved a lot of credit. As i said before Nate in my opinion deserves the award because I think he had less to work with in the first place and has had a more direct influence in the sonics success where as D'antoni has cartered to nash's and the individual suns styles by allowing them to play their own style.


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## tempe85 (Jan 7, 2005)

Tooeasy said:


> thats the stupidest comment i've heard in quite a while. Have you seen the improvement in rashards game compared to last year? even better, just watch a sonics game and look at how well this team has meshed this season, its absolutely amazing. ridnour was a non-factor last year, collison was out for the season, we had no fortson, and rashard was a alot less effective that his numbers would indicate.
> Theres absolutely no reason to believe that Nate isn't an integral part of this team, and couldn't the exact thing be said about your team? did you guys not have amare,stephon,marion, and joe johnson all on the same team at one point? thats more firepower than ray allen and an underachieving rashard lewis, so I guess the exact thing can be said about d'antoni, it was simply bad coaching last year and this year he has an ever better cast of characters, hes just coming along for the ride.


Dude... D'Antoni took over the team after they had their firesale last year.... any team that has a rookie Point Guard (barbosa) who only averaged about 2.5 assists per game is going to struggle mightily. Also Stoudemire was out for much of last season.

This season D'Antoni was able to work with the team preseason and institute his coaching style into the teams system. Last year they weren't able to run like they do now because D'Antoni didn't want to just throw out their current playbook and start from scratch. He finally had his opportunity this season to get the team to play his way. Even with the talent he has most people would have said they couldn't win because they have no true center, have an extremely young team, lack many defensive oriented players (and one of their best, Marion, is playing out of position), and have no big game experience. Yet they have the best record in the league. If D'Antoni doesn't diserve coach of the year for overcomming that I don't who does.


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## Tooeasy (Nov 4, 2003)

Nashaholic said:


> Thats a harsh critisism but to an extent I agree. Nate has done an amazing job with the Sonics and D'antoni to some extent has just been along for the ride with an allstar lineup. However D'antoni has had a direct influence in making the suns the run and gun team they are and i think both coaches deserved a lot of credit. As i said before Nate in my opinion deserves the award because I think he had less to work with in the first place and has had a more direct influence in the sonics success where as D'antoni has cartered to nash's and the individual suns styles by allowing them to play their own style.


yea, im defintaley not arguing with what d'antoni has done with the suns this season, however... its unfair to make claims that nate was a poor coach last season and simply has had a stroke of luck this year. Im not taking away anything that phoenix has accomplished, i just find it stupid to degrade one person in an attempt to make another look better just for the sake of a stupid trophy.
looking back it definately was harsher than i had previously intended, but at the same time, its mighty harsh for tempe to make claims that nate has nothing to do with the sonics success, and thats all i was getting at. and for the record, amare appeared in like 50 something games last year, so i really dont think you can make claims that he "was out for most of last season."
and if you wanna talk about how ineffective barbosa was at the point last year, which i'm not going to argue with, why don't you you tell me who the sonics point guard was last season? 
i'll give you a guess, we didn't have one.


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## italianBBlover (Mar 5, 2003)

tempe85 said:


> If D'Antoni doesn't diserve coach of the year for overcomming that I don't who does.


Me too


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## rebelsun (Nov 25, 2003)

I would give it to D'Antoni for the dramatic change in wins, regardless if Nash and Q had more to do with it. I think McMillan's chances are over after the Sonics' came back to earth late in the season. I would not give it to SVG because they have the best player on the planet. I think Skiles deserves some consideration also.


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## Tooeasy (Nov 4, 2003)

come back to earth in what sense? right now their just 6 games behind phoenix, and they have still gone 20-10 since the beginning of february. i guess they've fallen into a little bit of mediocrity, but not really. 
At least alot of writers and people on bbb.net had phoenix pegged as an 8th seed or around there, but looking back at old posts most everyone had seattle being one of the worst, if not THE worst team in the western conference.


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## LineOFire (Apr 20, 2004)

I think it will come between D'Antoni and McMillan with Nate barely pulling it out. Should be a close race.


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## underhill_101 (Feb 22, 2005)

d'antoni and mcmillan are the favs to win coach of the year even though i think carlisle deserves it the most. if phoenix wins the west then im gonna say that d'anotni is coch of the year


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

KidCanada said:


> Mike D'Antoni, along with coaches Nate McMillan, Scott Skiles, Stan Van Gundy, Rich Carlisle, and Greg Popovich are all the leading candidates for COY.
> 
> 
> Personally I think D'Antoni's style of letting his players play concept doesn't really help his case. Along with the fact that the Suns are loaded with talent. Although he is a great coach, I wouldn't choose him ahead of Skiles or Carlisle simply because of the fact they're competing with much less to work with.
> ...


You know what, I was like you thinking that it was Nash running the show on the floor. But then I think that's the dumbest argument to judge a coach because: 

1.) Do you think people would say Phil Jackson is a great coach without MJ and Pippen? What about Phil Jackson with Kobe/Shaq? What about Pop having Duncan? The argument that D'Antoni isn't the coach of the year because of Nash is totally BS. 

2.) Suns may have the #1 record with the BIGGEST turn around this season. Who is the coach? D'Antoni! 

3.) Ok, so Suns' has "free" style basketball and it has "nothing" to do with D'Antoni's coaching. WHATEVER! Do you think Pop would let his Spurs "free"? Do you think Larry Brown would let our players giving up defensive rebounds like that and STILL win games? Hell no. It is D'Antoni's philosophy and our Suns players BELIEVE IN IT. Amare has said it again and again. D'Antoni usually just gives them "ideas" and it's up to the players to play and afterall, it IS the players that play the game, not the coach. So, D'Antoni did an excellent job on letting our players grow as players!! 

If Suns has the best record, D'Antoni deserves it. I don't care what people say. Those BS that Nash is the floor general = BS. Phil Jackon has MJ (probably the best basketball player in his era) and he has Shaq (probably the most dominant center in his era). Ok so D'Antoni has Nash.....


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## ChristopherJ (Aug 10, 2004)

errr I think you quoted the wrong person because I never even brought up Nash. All I know is that the COY has usually gone to the coach who gets their team to overachieve based on their abililty. Therefore thats why I think McMillan or Carlisle will win it. Hopefully I am wrong, but history has proven that this is the case. Just look at Phil Jackson who has 1 COY in his career.


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## jibikao (Nov 14, 2004)

KidCanada said:


> errr I think you quoted the wrong person because I never even brought up Nash. All I know is that the COY has usually gone to the coach who gets their team to overachieve based on their abililty. Therefore thats why I think McMillan or Carlisle will win it. Hopefully I am wrong, but history has proven that this is the case. Just look at Phil Jackson who has 1 COY in his career.


Ooops. I may quote it wrong but I just want to point out that those who say D'Antoni won't win because of Nash is false. At least I think it's false. D'Antoni has done an excellent job to teach those young players to play the system that he believes can win and we ARE winning. Yes, Nash is an excellent floor general/leader but that just shows that Nash is the MVP this year so far. hehe.


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