The architect behind the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns and James Harden’s rise into basketball’s most unstoppable isolation playmaker doesn’t exactly fit the mold of the defensive-minded coach Neil Olshey insists the Trail Blazers need after parting ways with Terry Stotts.
The 70-year-old has been rumored as a potential candidate for the Blazers’ job since the spring, when reports of Stotts’ hot seat first surfaced.
D’Antoni joined the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant this season, serving under rookie head coach Steve Nash – a reprisal of their historic partnership with the Suns in the late 2000s.
The 2017-18 Houston Rockets finished seventh in defensive efficiency, riding an all-switch scheme to Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against the juggernaut Golden State Warriors – a series they might have won if Chris Paul hadn’t been injured.
His teams have advanced to the playoffs in 10 of his 16 seasons as a head coach, including three trips to the Western Conference Finals.