Can Mike D’Antoni Fix the Houston Rockets? Not by Himself

There are no bigger spotlights in the NBA than the flickering, paparazzi-like flashes aimed at the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers.

Having failed spectacularly as the head coach of both storied franchises, Mike D’Antoni knows better than anyone that it’s a long fall from the top, especially when everyone’s watching and betting on disaster.

But here he is again, taking over the reins of the reeling Houston Rockets, a team coming off a lackluster 41-41 season mired in finger-pointing, fissured locker room relationships and a complete breakdown in chemistry. His mission? To steer the once-proud “Clutch City” Rockets back into championship orbit.

D’Antoni says he doesn’t think too much about his time in L.A. and New York, but he’s certainly aware of the main issues that plagued those locker rooms.

“I could never get the guys from the beginning to buy into the way we want to play,” D’Antoni told Bleacher Report. “We never got everybody going into the same direction. That was my fault. It happened. That’s in the past. This is a new team. Guys want to play the way we all want to play.”

Rockets general manager Daryl Morey is betting that a change of scenery is all D’Antoni needs to flourish again. To Morey, a career .650 winning percentage over five years in Phoenix speaks louder than the well-publicized flameouts in the NBA’s biggest markets.

“The players are improved under him, the teams have improved,” Morey told B/R. “After he’s left, the teams have done worse. We also have had a lot of success playing an uptempo, spread-floor style. Our players fit that, and having his level of experience and knowledge added to our personnel, which is already set up for his style of play, was a huge factor in us hiring him.”

Morey’s certainly right about that: Having the right personnel makes all the difference in the world.

“Every coach knows that this stuff only works when you have really good players,” D’Antoni said. 

D’Antoni’s then-radical offensive philosophies only worked in Phoenix because the “seven seconds or less” offense demanded an ever-probing point guard like Steve Nash. The D’Antoni-Nash era netted 253 total wins, two 60-win seasons, two MVP awards, one Coach of the Year award and notoriety as the most entertaining show on the hardwood since the Showtime Lakers.

“I was blessed to have a lot of good point guards throughout,” D’Antoni said. “We struggled when the point guard got hurt, or in New York when we had to put Chauncey Billups on amnesty to get Tyson Chandler, knowing that we were going to struggle until we found a point guard. And we did when we got Jeremy Lin. … I mean, a team is, especially the way I like to play, you have to have somebody that can make those plays and understand what we want, and I’ve been fortunate.”

Yet outside of Jeremy Lin’s brief “Linsanity” run in New York, D’Antoni hasn’t had the point guard his system requires since he left Phoenix. He’s gone 188-254 since 2008. Despite his reputation as an offensive visionary, his post-Phoenix teams have only ranked in the top 10 in offensive rating twice in six years—seventh with the Knicks in 2010-11 and ninth with the Lakers in 2012-13.

Looking at Houston’s point guard depth chart, Morey might feel pressure to find D’Antoni’s next Nash. Patrick Beverley, the incumbent starting point guard, is known for his defensive tenacity but not much else.

But there’s a top-tier playmaker already on the squad who might function as a …

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