Daryl Morey: Retaining D’Antoni is top offseason priority for Rockets

“It’s probably No. 1.” Morey told USA TODAY Sports. “We have all our key players signed. I think Mike coming back is super important.”

It still remains to be seen how far head coach Mike D’Antoni can lead the Houston Rockets in the 2020 NBA playoffs.

But as GM Daryl Morey sees it, the 69-year-old coaching veteran may have already done enough to justify his return next season.

Here’s what Morey told Mark Medina of USA TODAY Sports when asked Saturday whether he considers it the team’s top priority to sign D’Antoni to a new deal, once his contract expires after this season.

It’s probably No. 1. That’s a fair way to put it. We have all our key players signed. I think Mike coming back is super important.

At the moment, D’Antoni is in the fourth and final year of the contract that he originally signed in June 2016 to coach the Rockets. The team tried to extend D’Antoni in the summer of 2019 for at least one more season, but the sides couldn’t reach a financial agreement. However, they’ve vowed to revisit those talks after this season.

Though D’Antoni is the league’s second-oldest coach, he’s made it clear that he wants to continue coaching for multiple additional seasons.

Should Houston not retain him, other NBA franchises (such as Indiana) would almost certainly be interested, given his proven track record. However, Morey described this dynamic to Medina as “a media creation,” adding that “it’s convenient for agents to focus on it.”

The case for Houston retaining D’Antoni is simple. As Morey explained, each of Houston’s top six rotation players are already under contract for next season. With the small-ball offense and switching defense optimized for D’Antoni’s skillset as a coach, it’s hard to imagine a different coach being able to get superior results with the same personnel.

For months, Morey has repeatedly praised D’Antoni’s work as coach and has indicated that the team wants to keep him beyond this season. Earlier in the 2020 playoffs, Rockets veteran P.J. Tucker delivered an even stronger endorsement. Among Tucker’s comments:

He’s always with us, no matter what. He’s the first one to come in and say he’ll take the blame. He’ll always look at us and have the same demeanor. Having a veteran group and guys who have been around, having a coach that you can rely on and always be there and have our backs no matter what, I think that’s big. I think that’s why every guy on our team will go to bat for him.

With Houston defeated Oklahoma City in the first round of the 2020 playoffs, the Rockets advanced to the second round for the fourth straight year under D’Antoni. They made it farther than that in 2018, of course, and they’re hopeful of that being the case this year, as well.

In the 19 previous seasons from 1997-98 through 2015-16, the Rockets had advanced beyond the first round just twice. (That period also includes the first four years of James Harden‘s time in Houston.)

Since 2016-17, the Rockets are the only Western Conference team to have advanced to at least the semifinals in each postseason.

Known best for his innovative, guard-friendly offenses, D’Antoni has the best winning percentage of any coach in Rockets history — both in the regular season (.682) and playoffs (.596).

On the all-time Houston coaching list, D’Antoni’s current win totals of 217 in the regular season and 28 in the playoffs trail only Hall of Fame coach and former NBA champion Rudy Tomjanovich (503, 51).

In this year’s playoff run, D’Antoni has also proven adept as a defensive coach. As evidence, the Rockets entered Sunday with the NBA’s No. 1 defense in net rating during the 2020 playoffs.

Any negotiations for a new contract won’t occur until after the current postseason run concludes. But from Morey’s perspective, he doesn’t expect that uncertainty to be a distraction for the coach or team.

“99.7% of America don’t even have a contract for one day, let alone multiple years,” Morey told Medina. “I think it’s his [D’Antoni’s] West Virginia background. He’s a hard working guy. We all come in to work and do a good job. If you do a good job, it takes care of itself.”

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