Mike D’Antoni appears to be in serious consideration for the Houston Rockets’ head coaching job.
D’Antoni was asked to conduct a second interview with the Rockets after impressing in his first, per ESPN’s Calvin Watkins and Marc Stein. The second interview reportedly will be with team owner Les Alexander.
The Rockets have been very open to multiple candidates in the interview process. They have brought in the likes of Jeff Hornacek, David Blatt, Sam Cassell, Stephen Silas, Chris Finch and Kenny Smith. They also were said to have interest in Frank Vogel, Ettore Messina and Jeff Van Gundy, though Alexander reportedly is less sold on a reunion with Van Gundy, who coached the team from 2003-2007.
Hiring D’Antoni might be scoffed at by Rockets fans based on his seemingly unsuccessful stints with the Knicks and Lakers. However, the Lakers became so bad after he left, some may no longer view his coaching job to be quite as poor as initially considered.
D’Antoni is still regarded as a successful offensive coach. If the Rockets are to hire him, they may pair him with a strong defensive assistant who can help the team improve on that side of the ball.
