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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Hitting a high note


Phoenix Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni, shown during a January game in Salt Lake City, learned how to express himself with gusto while playing and coaching basketball in Italy. 
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
Associated Press

PHOENIX – Mike D’Antoni is an easygoing mix of small-town West Virginia and cosmopolitan Milan, and he’s brought a taste of Italy to spice up the bland NBA game.

His audacious philosophy as coach of the Phoenix Suns: Let the players play – and the faster the better.

“It’s the players’ game,” he said. “To me, a coach has a big role in it, and we can mess it up. I don’t want to mess these guys up. I want to put them in the best light I can to perform at the highest level. They’re the ones who are going to get us over the top.”

Phoenix and its frenetic style have lit up the NBA this season, routinely ringing up triple-digit scores and keeping pace with San Antonio for the league’s best record, an astonishing turnaround from last season’s 29-53 team.

The Suns lured away Steve Nash from Dallas, and his talents mesh perfectly with D’Antoni’s vision of how the game should be played.

“He finds that great balance between letting guys play their game and be confident,” Nash said, “and at the same time being accountable. I think he’s a terrific coach.”

D’Antoni, 53, grew up in Mullens, W.Va., the son of a longtime, highly successful basketball coach in a town that was crazy for the sport. He went on to Marshall University, then played two-plus seasons for the Kansas City Kings and another year with the ABA’s Spirits of St. Louis.

He was released after two games with San Antonio in 1977.

“That’s when I went to Europe and spent the next 20 years,” he said.

D’Antoni’s two decades in Italy, as a player and then a coach, shaped his view of basketball and the world. He learned the language, and he met his wife Laurel, an American fashion model.

As an intense point guard with an Italian-sounding name, he became a fan favorite for his hustling defense and playmaking ability.

“They talk about the heart and passion for the game,” D’Antoni said. “That’s their big thing. Their fans are like that and their society is like that a little bit. It just kind of fit what I was doing.”

He played 13 seasons for Milan, leading the team to five Italian League titles, two Cups of Europe, two Cups of Italy, one Korac Cup and one Intercontinental Cup.

Along the way, D’Antoni fell in love with Italy.

“I like their rhythm of life, and their passion for life,” he said, “and also what they deem important and not important. I think they have it right.”

He took to the camaraderie among players.

“After every game we went to a restaurant as a team – friends, family, everybody,” D’Antoni said. “There were about 30 or 40 of us every night, and we’d sit there and we would eat for five or six hours. You drink wine, talk, laugh and get to know everybody. That was the best experience. You develop bonds that are just incredible as you’re winning and playing.”

When his playing career ended, D’Antoni turned to coaching, directing Benetton Treviso to the Cup of Europe and Cup of Italy in 1995 and the league title in 1996-97.

As much as he enjoyed Italy, the lure of the NBA was too much. Friend Allan Bristow made him director of player personnel, then assistant coach in Denver. D’Antoni was promoted to head coach, but after going 14-36 in the lockout-shortened 1999 season, he was fired and general manager Dan Issel named himself coach.

D’Antoni went on to scout for San Antonio, then spent a season as an assistant to Mike Dunleavy in Portland. With his NBA situation uncertain, D’Antoni went back to Italy and coached Benetton to another Italian League title.

When Suns general manager Bryan Colangelo was looking for experienced assistants to work under Frank Johnson, D’Antoni was one of the picks. Again, he couldn’t resist the NBA, particularly with an organization with a good reputation, and in a city that appealed to him.

The Suns made the playoffs in D’Antoni’s first year as an assistant, but they faltered badly last season, and Johnson was fired. The job went to D’Antoni, who welcomed it but worried.

“It was more ‘here we go again,’ ” he joked, “because I wanted to be here a long time, and once you get the head spot, your odds go up dramatically that you’re not going to be here a long time.”

Then came the big trade that sent Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway to the New York Knicks, clearing huge cap room but dooming the Suns to a miserable season. D’Antoni supported the move as necessary in the long term, and he was given a two-year contract extension at the end of the season.

The blockbuster deal cleared the way for signing Nash and Quentin Richardson, and D’Antoni had the players to go with the style he loved. The results have been far beyond the coach’s expectations.