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Mike D’Antoni to the Nuggets: A Rumor With Merit

By Alonzo Gaither

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Feb 22, 2015; Oklahoma City, OK, USA; Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) and Denver Nuggets forward Danilo Gallinari (8) watch their team from the bench during action against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

Beknown to Nuggets fans and followers far and wide head coach Brian Shaw was let go by Tim Connelly and the Denver brass last week due to lack of attention and effort on the part of the players. A member of Shaw’s staff, (yes the same staff that had the team counting the days to the end of the season) Melvin Hunt, was chosen as his replacement in the interim. Although named the interim coach, Hunt is admired across the NBA as a future head coach and pending the results of the rest of the Nuggets season could prove pretty hard to strip of his assumed post.

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While Alvin Gentry, Mark Jackson (an interesting option given reputation as a players coach), Avery Johnson, Jeff Van Gundy, and Mike Malone have been mentioned to be on the Nuggets radar, the best fit coaches a style that fits the current roster better than any of the aforementioned skippers. Mike D’Antoni has been mentioned as a Nuggets coaching option, and due to his uptempo, score first system he would be a big hit amongst the players currently on the team.

Success in Phoenix

While in Phoenix Mike D’Antoni ran an uptempo offense in which stars Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, and Shawn Marion starred. The offense based on principles mainly involving getting more shot attempts than the other team was cataloged in a book by Jack McCallum titled Seven Seconds or less.  Often times the system gets too much credit and it is forgotten that the talent level on those teams was extremely high due to the strength of ownership and the front office at the time. Nonetheless the system was a success with the team reaching the Western Conference finals in 2005 to 2006 eventually losing to NBA finals participants Dallas Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs.

During his time in Phoenix he had one losing season, his first as the interim, where he went 20-41 in 60 games. After that season the Suns traded for Steve Nash and won no less than 54 games and had their lowest win percentage at 66% in the 04-05 to 07-08 span. Not only did he make consecutive West finals in 05 and 06,he was Coach of the Year in 2005, and point guard Steve Nash was league MVP in both seasons. D’Antoni was also added to Mike Krzyzewski’s USA Basketball team staff in 2006.

Not only were his winning percentage and postseason success apparent, his players statistical success was prolific.In 2005-2006 alone  Shawn Marion was a top 10 player in plus/minus,win shares, minutes, field goals, effective field goal percentage, and turnover percentage. He was third in both rebounds per game, and total steals. Steve Nash lead the league in total and assists per game, and assist percentage. All the while he lead the league in free throw percentage, and was top 10 in two point field goal percentage, three point field goal percentage, true shooting percentage, effective field goal percentage, win shares, offensive win shares, and offensive plus/minus.Raja Bell was third in the league in three pointers attempted and made, and both Boris Diaw and Leandro Barbosa were top 20 players in several categories.

Even if the up and down system can’t harbor any enthusiasm from the roster, and Mike D’Antoni doesn’t become best friends with all of the players, rest assured the statistical glory that executing his system entails should at least have the players trying on gameday.

Struggles in NYC and LA

For all of the success D’Antoni experienced in Phoenix, he absolutely struggled as the head coach for both the Knicks and Lakers. During his tenure in both places he had only two winning seasons, one per team, in his six total. In 2010-2011 he had a barely over .500 record at 42-40. In Los Angeles his first season was his only winning season of the two, with him going 40-32 after missing some time with knee related health problems.

In both places D’Antoni’s teams had talented rosters that never saw their potential due to injury problems. For starters, in New York his reunion with Amare Stoudemire was supposed to be a fruitful one. He had the aforementioned Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, Kenyon Martin, Rasheed Wallace, J.R. Smith, Jason Kidd, Tyson Chandler, Marcus Camby, Ray Felton, and Ronnie Brewer. On paper a seemingly talented team that had the size and athleticism to be formidable. At the time when the NBA was doing its best WW II rendition the Knicks were neck and neck with anyone in the league in armaments. However due to the inconsistency and under performance of most of the roster, and the age and injury of some of the star players the team grossly underachieved leading to D’Antoni’s firing in 2011-12.

Mike got another high profile job in la la land this time with Kobe, Pau, and Dwight. This stint featured another high profile reunion with Steve Nash. Again injury to star players limited the teams production with both Nash and Howard missing significant time. The team still made the playoffs only to see Bryant go out just before the playoffs with his now famous achilles injury. His first year was actually pretty admirable, given the fact that he got a team devoid of any consistency to the playoffs, even though it literally took him riding the poor Mamba into the ground to get there. In 2013-14 D’Antoni again lost his job, leading us to speculation a year later about his prospects of ending up on the Nuggets.

It is arguable that D’Antoni is not a large market coach, not everyone is meant for the bright lights. His success in Phoenix is no fluke and he would undoubtedly agree that he has another run in him. Mike D’Antoni is looking for a home to bring his system to, Denver could be the not small but not NY or LA market to bring it to.

Current Personnel Could Work

With George Karl at the helm the Denver Nuggets built a run and gun roster featuring players who would thrive running the floor and shooting threes. Half court offense and defense were clearly not the priority. Therefore Brian Shaw was not a fit, however D’Antoni is given the similarities in philosophy between himself and former head coach Karl.

Point guards Ty Lawson and Jameer Nelson are both open floor, fast break, pick and roll point guards. With scorers like Danillo Gallinari and Wilson Chandler, getting up and down and shooting threes will not be a problem. Kenneth Faried, JJ Hickson, and Darrell Arthur are all athletic and versatile enough bigs to live with less post touches in the half court and more rim runs in the open floor. With rookies Jusuf Nurkic and Gary Harris the team has cornerstones with which to build the future around and both should make big leaps next year. For Harris having Afflalo out of the way frees up both minutes and shots, and Jusuf Turkic will no doubt have a breakout year next season.

With a couple of key additions added for defense and a good staff around him, D’Antoni could be a success for the Denver Nuggets starting next year. However he is just a candidate, with the rest of this season yet to play out and a whole offseason in front of us, a million things could happen, lets just hope that for the sake of the sanity of all of Nuggetdom the organization gets it right this time.

Apr 23, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Denver Nuggets fans Trevor Douglas (left) and Joe Liberty (right) before the start of the game between the Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets during game two in the first round of the 2013 NBA playoffs at the Pepsi Center. The Warriors won 131-117. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports

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