5 days ago, Quin Snyder stepped down as head coach of the Utah Jazz after 8 seasons.
Since then, there have already been 14(!) candidates confirmed for an interviewed with the Utah Jazz (LINK). Bryant, Hardy, Lee, Mazzulla, Jensen, Stotts, Vogel, Skeeter, Quinn, Griffin, Young, Sweeney, Allen, and Terry. And if you count the Fizdale rumors that's 15 candidates.
With such a wide net, there is one name that I cannot believe isn't on this list yet:
Mike D'Antoni.
And today, it was announced that D'Antoni officially would not get the Charlotte Hornets job (Kenny Atkinson named HC). So maybe the Jazz have been waiting to reach out to D'Anotni while he was finalist for the Hornets job?
Personally, I believe Mike D'Antoni is the perfect head coach for the Utah Jazz at this time. He checks every box the Jazz are looking for.
The Utah Jazz want a head coach who can manage "chaos" aka manage the different personalities of the players on the Jazz. They want someone who is willing to work and is willing to work together. They want someone who will help Donovan Mitchell to be the best he can be. And they want someone who will win playoffs games.
Reason #1 - Managing Chaos
In an recent interview with David Locke, The Jazz CEO Danny Ainge talked about the head coaching search. A word he kept using was "chaos."
Danny Ainge: "It's complex, and you also have to be able to manage chaos. Everybody wants a beautifully run machine; but my NBA experiences tells me that most of the great players & most of the great teams I've been around are mostly chaos. Managing an entire organization, all that it entails, from medical staffs to training staffs to travel, which hotel, and 17 players and their agents... you're managing a lot of chaos. And sometimes you have to focus on some of the chaos as opposed to the just basketball. It would be nice if I could just concentrate on which offense we're going to run tonight for the game but the job is much, much bigger than that."
Mike D'Antoni has more success "managing chaos" than any other available candidate.
In his first head coaching job, with the Phoenix Suns, D'Antoni made deep playoff runs between 2005-2007. D'Antoni was managing all sorts of wild personalities on those teams. Raja Bell, Boris Diaw, Amar'e Soudemire, Steven Nash, Shawn Marion, etc. He was able to put together incredible successful playoff runs.
In his last head coaching job, the Houston Rockets, he was also managing some big personalities. Particularly James Harden and Chris Paul who didn't get along. Yet, the Rockets are the only team to have ever pushed the Steph Curry / Kevin Durant Warriors to 7 games. And they might have won if Chris Paul didn't get hurt after going up 3-2.
In that same interview, Danny Ainge talked about Doc Rivers. Ainge said Doc Rivers impressed him with that he "had command of the locker room even with strong personalities... Doc was in charge of that team." Ainge also mentions Phil Jackson and Steve Kerr "being able to manage all of the personalities, especially on the NBA level where there's big egos and big dreams and All Star appearances lead to millions of more dollars. It's complex."
Mike D'Antoni is the only available head coach that was shown he can do that.
Reason #2 - Someone that's willing to work and willing to work together.
Danny Ainge also said that an important characteristic of a head coach is "A partner. Someone you can work with. That you can build something special together." Ainge then said one of the biggest things that made Doc Rivers and Brad Stevens successful was "our relationship and our willingness to work together."
Let's be honest. At 71-years-old, Mike D'Antoni is likely looking for his last head coaching job. D'Antoni isn't looking to prove himself for a next job. He isn't looking to make name for himself. He's looking to be the best head coach he can be, probably for the last time. Because of that, I believe D'Antoni extremely willing to work with Danny Ainge and the Jazz front office. At this point in his career, I think he truly just wants to win. There's nothing else to prove.
Danny Ainge says later in the interview: "I want a coach with integrity that's willing to work and that's willing to work together. Someone that understands that it's bigger than 'his' program and that we have to work together to have success. I want a coach that knows how hard he has to work and has a hunger and is going to give all that he has to the franchise and to his players."
I am not sure if Mike D'Antoni in the past would understand "it's bigger than his program." But at 71-years-old, again, this would likely be his last stop as a head coach, so I would expect that he would put everything he has into this last stop. D'Antoni would be willing to give all that he has to make this work, while also being willing to work together with the Utah Jazz front office.
And some people might point to age being a problem. But in this case, I think the experience is only a benefit. The Jazz have Donovan Mitchell under contract for three more seasons. In my opinion, finding "the next Jerry Sloan" who will be the Jazz head coach for the next 20+ years is way down the list in terms of importance. The Jazz need someone that will have success with Donovan Mitchell now. Which brings me to my next point.
Reason #3 - MVP Donovan Mitchell
This one is simple. The Utah Jazz want to build around Donovan Mitchell.
Offensive minded guards are Mike D'Antoni's specialty.
- Steve Nash's only two MVP awards came during the four seasons he played under Mike D'Antoni.
- James Harden's only MVP came during the four seasons he played under Mike D'Antoni.
You want to build a team around an offensive minded guard? Mike D'Antoni.
Reason #4 - Proven Success.
A lot of people love to say "D'Antoni is a great regular season coach but is a bad playoff coach." That's completely unfair. D'Antoni has done extremely well in the playoffs. But he might be the most unluckily coach of all time.
The Utah Jazz want to build around Donovan Mitchell and win now with Donovan Mitchell. If winning is what they want, they should hire the available coach that is best at winning.
Here's Mike D'Antoni's 5 best teams and how they ultimately fell short:
- 2005. Western Conference Finals. First year of D'Antoni's head coaching career. Ran into the best team of the 2000s right in their prime; the San Antonio Spurs (Duncan/Manu/Parker/Horry). Also, Suns' lead player in minutes all season Joe Johnson missed the first two games.
- 2006. Western Conference Finals. All-Star Amar'e Staudamire missed the entire season and playoffs. After going up 1-0, Raja Bell also got hurt and missed two games. Mavs took advantage of the Suns missing two starters and went up 2-1. Bell tried to play through injury, but Dallas ended up winning in 6.
- 2007. Western Conference Semifinals. Ran into the best team of the 2000s right in their prime again. But this time, the Suns should have won. The Mavs had been upset by the 8th seeded Warriors and the East was weak. Although this was just a "semifinals," everyone (correctly) suspected the winner of this series was going to win the whole thing. Tied 2-2 going back to Phoenix for game 5, both Amar'e Staudamire and Boris Diaw received a one-game suspension for “immediate vicinity of their bench,” after Robert Horry "hip checked" Steve Nash into the stands. A rule that was immediate changed after this because of how bad it was. The Spurs barely beat the short handed Suns 88-85, and then finished them off in San Antonio in game 6.
- 2018. Western Conference Finals. Going against what I believe to be the greatest team ever assembled (Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguadala, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green), Mike D'Antoni's Rockets were up 3-2 and Chris Paul got hurt. On top of missing Chris Paul, they went completely ice cold in game 7, missing 27 consecutive 3-pointers.
- 2019. Western Conference semifinals. Lost again to the greatest team ever assembled. I cannot call losing to the 2018 and 2019 Warriors a "failure."
If we're being honestly, untimely injuries and two ridiculous "letter of the law" suspensions probably cost D'Antoni multiple championships.
Also, again, I can't call running into the prime Duncan/Manu/Parker Spurs (twice) and the Curry/Klay/Durant/Draymond Warriors (twice) a "failure."
Mike D'Antoni is not a bad playoff coach. He might be the unlucky playoff coach though.
Conclusion
The Utah Jazz need someone who can manage the chaos, is willing to work with the front office, will unlock Donovan Mitchell's potential, and will win playoff games.
Mike D'Antoni is the one for the job.
