If anyone can appreciate the greatness of the Golden State Warriors, it's probably Houston Rockets head coach Mike D'Antoni.
D'Antoni is one of the great basketball offensive minds of all-time and in between NBA head coaching jobs, he says that he became a fan of what was going on in the Bay Area.
Two seasons ago, while D'Antoni was watching the Golden State Warriors apply his ball-sharing principles to win the NBA championship, he was cheering for his own vindication.
“Please win,” he said of his feelings. “I wanted to see it. No doubt about it. I wanted them to finally erase the stigma that you can't win that way.”
In many ways, D'Antoni laid the ground work for what teams like the Warriors are doing in today's NBA. Now, it's D'Antoni's job to help the Rockets keep up.
“It's always been a sheep mentality in the NBA, or a copycat league, and right now this is the way. The rules changed, the players got better, they can shoot threes — they can shoot almost from half court. It'll keep evolving and you'll see different things. But the bottom line is the NBA is the most exciting it's ever been. I love the way it's going.”
D'Antoni in Houston could make for a great fit.