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The vast majority of current Houston Rockets rotation players are already under contract for the 2020-21 NBA season. Arguably, the most significant contributor to this year’s playoff team that isn’t yet under contract for next year… is head coach Mike D’Antoni.
Though D’Antoni is the league’s second-oldest coach at 69 years old, he’s made it clear that he wants to continue coaching for multiple additional seasons. However, the four-year contract he signed upon joining the Rockets in 2016 expires after this season. Thus, a new deal is required.
The Rockets tried to extend D’Antoni in the summer of 2019 for at least one season, but the sides couldn’t reach a financial agreement. However, they’ve vowed to revisit those talks after this season.
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Despite numerous injuries to the roster (including a current one to All-Star Russell Westbrook) and a midseason transition to a smaller lineup, the Rockets finished the regular season as the West’s No. 4 team and decisively won their first playoff game on Tuesday.
At Wednesday’s practice, veteran leader P.J. Tucker was asked how D’Antoni has handled all of this season’s moving parts. He replied:
Mike handles everything the same way. He’s a player’s coach. He always comes to us, me and Russ and James [Harden]. We have meetings all the time and talk about things. That’s one of the things I love about coach is the way he handles things.
His favorite saying is ‘So what, what’s next?’ If something happens, ‘Alright, what’s next? That was a bad play, but what’s next?’ We don’t harp on things that have happened in the past. We’re always looking to get better. In the offseason and all the years I’ve been here, it’s always been like that. Through all the roller coasters, the ups and downs, the winning streaks, the losing streaks, he’s always the same. I think it’s great. 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.
D’Antoni has the best winning percentage of any coach in Rockets history, both in the regular season (.682) and in the playoffs (.600).
On the all-time Houston coaching list, D’Antoni’s current win totals of 217 in the regular season and 24 in the playoffs trail only Hall of Fame coach Rudy Tomjanovich (503, 51). “Rudy T,” of course, led the Rockets to their only two NBA championships in 1993-94 and 1994-95.
Here's the video of P.J. Tucker on #Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni. Listen to it.
I'm confident that most NBA players don't feel this way about their coach. It's rare to have this level of bond. #OneMission pic.twitter.com/CvONkGbNuK
— Ben DuBose (@BenDuBose) August 20, 2020
On paper, there are many reasons to give D’Antoni a new deal, though the team’s complete focus now is on the current playoff run. After that, there are surely negotiations to be had involving D’Antoni, his agent, and the management team of GM Daryl Morey and owner Tilman Fertitta.
The final result of those is still to be determined. But for a franchise that has become known over the years for being player friendly, the Rockets’ players are making their preference quite clear.
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