Marshall's D'Antoni recognizes 'family resemblance" in NBA champions
Jun. 21—PRINCETON — Marshall University men's head basketball coach Dan D'Antoni recognizes a 'family resemblance' in the style of basketball played by the NBA world champion Golden State Warriors.
What they do obviously derives from the offensive philosophy his brother, Mike D'Antoni, injected into the NBA ... an innovation that eventually became the league's dominant style of play.
Dan D'Antoni was in Princeton in early June as part of the Marshall Big Green Coaches Tour.
"The game has changed a lot and a lot of it is due to my brother Mike coming in and establishing a faster-paced 3-point shooting game," said the Herd head coach, referring to the changes his brother brought to the NBA when he took over the Phoenix Suns in 2003-04
"You look at the finals, that game is dominated by 3-point shooting and smaller players. You don't see the typical big center that sits inside. They're all mobile centers.[Boston's Al] Horford for instance, comes out and shoot 3s. He's mobile," he said.
Mike D'Antoni's style of offense was in part a product of his playing and coaching career in Italy. He began to 'downsize' the Suns — for instance, filling the center position with more-mobile power forward types — and built his fast-paced offense around guard Steve Nash, who was league MVP twice playing under him.
The Nash-driven Suns and the Curry-powered Warriors aren't identical twins by any measure, but it isn't an apples-to-oranges comparison. Both of these apples fall from the same evolutionary tree that was planted in the NBA by Mike D'Antoni.
"It's changed the game defensively. It used to be you could pack your defenses in and play. Now you have to guard all the way out to the sidelines and deep at the 3," said Dan D'Antoni.
"So you've got to play harder. It's making you play with a lot more heart an that's why you see a lot of substitutions ... they have to play with a lot more energy than they have in the past.
"I love it, because you see athleticism and quick decisions ... that's another thing. The ball moves much faster. It's not caught in somebody's hands pounding it down now so much. That ball's moving and they're moving and penetrating up in and making quick decisions ... rips into the basket and kicking it back out shooting the 3's."
A few old school fans may bemoan the lack of physicality of today's NBA compared to the mano-y-mano smackdowns Michael Jordan's Bulls fought through to get to the top of that heap.
Dan D'Antoni believes his brother's innovations gave rise to a style of NBA play that is more dynamic and exciting, relying more on endurance and athleticism all over the floor than brute force in the paint.
"Sometimes [the NBA] makes rule changes that change the game a little bit. When they took the hands off of them in the pros and told them they have to take the hands off [when defending] outside people, then it was like opening the door to the basket because they're so good offensively. The defenses are trying to catch up, trying to figure out how to slow the offenses down," said Dan D'Antoni.
The end result is pro basketball that tends to be more fun to watch.
"I love the change myself. I think it's faster paced, harder-played, more ups and downs. Scores will swing. They'll go way up to 20 and the game's not over. Before, a 20-point lead was safe. It's not safe any more. That can dissipate in a heartbeat," he said.
