Mike D’Antoni’s Hall of Fame weekend brings Houston right back into the picture.
The former Rockets coach is set to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for his coaching this weekend, and even with the NBA calendar still more than two months from opening night, his name still hits hard in Houston. D’Antoni’s run with the Rockets from 2016 to 2020 left a clear mark: a 217-101 regular-season record and a trip to the Western Conference Finals in 2017-18, when Houston got within one game of the Finals despite injuries and a cold stretch from three.
His time in Houston came with plenty of hardware, too. D’Antoni was Coach of the Year in 2017, earned the Western Conference All-Star Head Coach nod in 2018, and the National Basketball Coaches Association named him Co-Coach of the Year in 2017.
More than the awards, though, it was the offense that defined him. He helped steer James Harden’s MVP season in 2018 and got some of Harden’s best years out of him overall.
The Rockets haven’t had that same offensive punch since D’Antoni left in 2020.
It’s easy to overlook the stretch between his Phoenix days and his Houston revival. He spent time with New York, Los Angeles, and had a brief stint as associate head coach in Philadelphia, but none of it carried the same weight.
That makes the jump from the Suns’ “Seven-Seconds-or-Less” era to Harden’s prime years in Houston look even more impressive. He found a way to bring those ideas back to life.
D’Antoni had already won Coach of the Year once before with the Suns in 2005, when Steve Nash was running the show. Winning it again 12 years later with Harden says plenty about his staying power. Rockets fans had their complaints, especially about his use of the center spot, but his years in Houston still produced some of the most enjoyable basketball the franchise has seen.
The ceremony begins at 7 p.m. at the Springfield Sympathy Hall in Springfield, MA. D’Antoni will be introduced by a group of five that includes former players Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemaire, with Stoudemaire also going in as an inductee this year. The event will air live on NBA TV and on NBA League Pass for viewers outside the United States.
Houston may not be where D’Antoni sees his defining masterpiece, but the Rockets were still part of the climb. He never won a ring, but he earned plenty of respect along the way.
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Mike DAntonis Hall Of Fame Moment Brings Rockets Fans Back to Harden Era
Mike DAntonis Hall of Fame induction served as a reminder of how much of the Rockets most explosive modern basketball still traces back to his time in Houston. Enshrined as a contributor for helping shape the NBAs current offensive era, DAntoni built a resume that already included two Coach of the Year awards, and Houston ended up being where he posted the highest winning percentage of his coaching career.
His Hall speech naturally pulled Rockets fans back into the Harden years, especially when DAntoni credited James Harden for influencing the way he thought about the game. For Houston followers, it was a familiar connection between coach and star, and a nod to an era that changed the franchises identity even if the bigger question of how that team should be remembered still hangs around. [Read more 🡒]
Mike DAntoni Still Sparks One Big Debate For Rockets Fans
Mike DAntonis time in Houston still gets talked about because his offense changed the way the Rockets played and, in some ways, the way the league talked about offense. His approach put the ball in the hands of lead guards such as James Harden and leaned hard into pace, spacing and shot selection, creating some of the most distinctive basketball the franchise has seen in recent memory. Even now, his name comes up whenever fans compare him with other Rockets coaches and weigh how much of the teams modern identity can be traced back to his system.
The debate, though, has never really gone away because style and results do not always travel together cleanly. DAntonis offense helped shape a modern NBA playbook, but his critics still point to the 2017-18 playoffs and the questions that lingered about in-game adjustments when the stakes were highest. For Rockets fans, it leaves his legacy in a familiar place: admired for the innovation, argued over for what it did not quite deliver. [Read more 🡒]
Reed Sheppard Faces A Tougher Rockets Reality Than Ever
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The pressure only increases with the way the roster has shifted around him. Houston has brought in Marcus Smart, and Fred VanVleet is expected back from injury, which gives the Rockets a crowded guard group and leaves Sheppard fighting for every opportunity. For a young player whose development matters to the teams long-term ceiling, the challenge now is less about potential and more about proving he can carve out a place when the rotation gets tighter. [Read more 🡒]