Nick Piccone
When Jerry Colangelo brought on Mike D’Antoni to be an associate head coach alongside Brett Brown, many thought that the Sixers had their next coach in waiting if Brown was eventually fired. Given the Sixers’ record the last few years, it wasn’t a given Brown would stick around long-term, and it was even moreso in question after Sam Hinkie resigned.
However, D’Antoni might now not be around to supplant Brown as Sixers head coach if that does indeed happen. That’s because he’s receiving a lot of interest around the league, and is close to being hired by the Houston Rockets as their next head coach.
As Rockets move toward formal offer to Mike D'Antoni, organization working to shape strong staff around him, sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 19, 2016
ESPN’s Marc Stein said yesterday D’Antoni was the leading candidate for the position.
Sources told ESPN on Wednesday that D’Antoni has emerged as a leading candidate for the post, having impressed Rockets owner Leslie Alexander in multiple conversations since the search began. Alexander vowed to ESPN last month during the playoffs that he would take a more active role in this coaching search than he has in the past.
The Houston Chronicle on Wednesday labeled D’Antoni as the front-runner for the post. One source close to the process told ESPN that the Rockets’ search had not yet progressed to that point but did say D’Antoni was indeed gaining steam in the search for a successor to Kevin McHale and interim replacement J.B. Bickerstaff.
D’Antoni led the Phoenix Suns to their best record in franchise history in 2005 at 62-20, and would eventually go on to coach the New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers, which was pretty much the polar opposite of what happened in Phoenix.