How much is Mike D’Antoni worth?
| Net Worth: | $13 Million |
|---|---|
| Profession: | Professional Basketball Coach |
| Date of Birth: | May 8, 1951 |
| Country: | United States of America |
| Height: | 1.91 m |
About Mike D’Antoni
Michael Andrew D’Antoni, an American professional basketball coach and former player, was born on May 8, 1951. His estimated net worth is $13 million. The National Basketball Association’s Brooklyn Nets employ D’Antoni as an assistant coach (NBA).
Mike D’Antoni, one of the most significant offensive basketball innovators in recent memory, held one of the most prestigious positions in the sport in 2012 as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. He is now serving as the Brooklyn Nets’ assistant coach.
Strengths: D’Antoni is best known for coming up with the “Seven Seconds or Less” offense, which turned Steve Nash into the league MVP, made Amar’e Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, and Joe Johnson into NBA stars, and transformed the Phoenix Suns into a championship contender and one of the most entertaining teams in recent memory.
The fundamental tenet of D’Antoni’s offense is the notion that the best shots occur in the opening seven seconds of the 24-second clock, before the opposition defense has a chance to properly set. But D’Antoni teams don’t only score a lot because of the quick pace.
The pick-and-roll, often executed by the point guard and center, is the cornerstone play in a D’Antoni offense. Nash and Stoudemire dominated “SSOL,” at its prime. In order to deter rival defenders from the basket and open up more space in the paint for the offense to operate, D’Antoni like to have frontcourt players who can step out and make a three-point shot.
D’Antoni is skilled at creating mismatches by placing players in unusual situations. Stoudemire would have been a power forward and Marion a small forward on the majority of teams. However, D’Antoni’s Suns deployed that pair as a center and a PF, respectively, taking advantage of their speed and agility to outmaneuver bigger, slower players.
Some have attributed D’Antoni’s success to Steve Nash, although the offense has worked for teams with a wide range of skill sets, from some pretty bad Knick teams with Chris Duhon at the point to USA Basketball’s 2008 and 2012 Olympic teams.
D’Antoni’s teams have been very one-dimensional up to this point, being unstoppable on offense while neglecting defense. In the end, his lack of attention on the defensive side caused him to leave both Phoenix and New York. D’Antoni resisted hiring an assistant coach to oversee the defense when Steve Kerr, the Suns’ general manager at the time, requested it. D’Antoni finally left for a job in New York. The Knicks insisted on a defensive assistant as well, and Mike Woodson, the person they chose for the position, eventually took over.
Los Angeles’s defense might not be as problematic since Dwight Howard‘s presence in the middle makes up for a lot of mistakes.
The Kings selected D’Antoni in the second round of the 1973 draft. Prior to beginning a lucrative and successful career playing in Italy, primarily for Olimpia Milano, he spent three seasons with the Kings before playing two seasons in the ABA. After retiring as the team’s top scorer, he would help Milano win two European championships and five Italian league crowns.
A young Kobe Bryant, whose father Joe was competing in the Italian league at the time, also had a very positive impression of him.
D’Antoni began his coaching career in 1990 with Milano before moving to the Benetton Treviso of Italy for a prosperous period. He rejoined the NBA in 1997 and joined the Denver Nuggets as director of player personnel. He took over as Denver’s head coach for the lockout-shortened 1998–1999 campaign, but was fired after his team’s underwhelming 14–36 record at the end of the season.
Prior to accepting a position as an assistant coach in Phoenix in 2002, he spent the following two seasons working as a scout for the Spurs and an assistant coach for the Trail Blazers. Early in the 2003–04 season, he was given the position of head coach.
But it was during the 2004–05 campaign that he truly started to stand out. D’Antoni, who was voted NBA Coach of the Year, guided the Suns to a historic 62-win season – a 20-game gain over the previous year – in part due to the signing of Nash. In each of his four full seasons as head coach, the Suns won 54 games or more, and in 2005 and 2006, they advanced to the Western Conference Finals.
After the 2007–08 season, he parted ways with the Suns to become the head coach of the struggling New York Knicks. D’Antoni was brought in to help rebuild the team after Isiah Thomas’ tenure as general manager had turned it into a laughing joke in the league and to aid in free agency acquisition.
D’Antoni’s Knicks struggled throughout his first two seasons in New York, playing with squads constructed to free up payroll for a run at LeBron James. But in 2010, things began to improve.
The biggest fish in the 2010 free agent class eluded the Knicks, but they did get Amar’e Stoudemire. Stoudemire, along with Raymond Felton and 2008 first-round pick Danilo Gallinari, were instrumental in the team’s significant turnaround, and in December 2010 and January 2011, he was receiving considerable MVP talk.
The squad encountered some difficulty after trading for Carmelo Anthony in 2011, as Anthony and Stoudemire found it difficult to work together in the offense. The Knicks did finish with a 42-40 record, which was their first record above.500 in a decade, and they made the playoffs, but the Boston Celtics swept them in the opening round.
Next the all-star break, D’Antoni’s conflicts with Anthony reached a breaking point in the following season. On March 14, the coach submitted his resignation, and assistant Mike Woodson took over.
Coach Mike Brown was sacked after the Los Angeles Lakers’ dreadful 1-4 start to the 2012–13 campaign, and D’Antoni was brought in as his replacement. Being that Phil Jackson, a coach with five NBA championships with the Lakers and eleven overall, was not retained by the Lakers for a third term in Los Angeles, the decision was somewhat contentious.
On November 20, 2012, D’Antoni presided over the Lakers’ 95-90 victory over the Brooklyn Nets in his debut game as head coach.
Since 2006, D’Antoni has assisted Mike Krzyzewski while working with the senior men’s team of USA Basketball. He was first hired for his knowledge of the international game, but ended up serving as the “offensive coordinator” for the groups that won the FIBA World Championship in 2010 and the Olympic titles in 2008 and 2012.
D’Antoni was appointed as the Rockets’ head coach and won his second NBA Coach of the Year honor for the 2016–17 campaign. Mike D’Antoni’s net worth is projected to be around $13 million as of 2023.
