Perfect Sense

May 6, 2022

D'Antoni can help the Hornets' young pieces reach superstardom Michael Jordan may have gotten tired of his team's consecutive 10th-place finishes The Charlotte Hornets decided that it was time to change head coaches, and they are part of a handful of teams who are looking for a new captain to right their ship. With a young core in tow, having a veteran coach that knows his players’ strengths and working on their weaknesses is going to be the challenge moving forward and a two-time NBA Coach of the Year could be their best bet. It was recently reported by the Associated Press that Mike D’Antoni was on the list of potential options for the Hornets’ head coaching position alongside several coaches such as Kenny Atkinson (Golden State Warriors), Sean Sweeney (Dallas Mavericks) and David Vanterpool (Brooklyn Nets), as well as Milwaukee Bucks’ Darvin Ham and Charles Lee. Former Hornets head coach James Borrego was let go from the team following a 43-39 season, which saw the team fall to the Atlanta Hawks in the play-in tournament. Borrego had amassed a 138-163 record in his four-year tenure with the Hornets, but it appears that the franchise is looking to become a major player in the Eastern Conference after deciding to fire him. Currently serving as an advisor to the coaching staff of the New Orleans Pelicans, D'Antoni has an opportunity to guide young stars LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges to take the next step to NBA stardom in the same way that he did with James Harden and Steve Nash. Famous for his famed “Seven Seconds or Less” offense with the Phoenix Suns in the mid-00s, the now 70-year-old D’Antoni has not taken the reins of a franchise since his Houston Rockets fell in five games to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2020 postseason. A mastermind of offensive innovation, D’Antoni’s scoring-heavy philosophy is going to benefit the Hornets’ core of Ball, Bridges and Terry Rozier while also getting the most out of guys like Cody Martin, Kelly Oubre Jr. and P.J. Washington. While Borrego has done a great job with the Hornets in his stint, majority owner and NBA icon Michael Jordan has obviously had enough of his franchise treading water by finishing 10th in the East in two consecutive seasons. The Hornets hiring D’Antoni would be a massive coup to expedite their stars’ development while also possibly attracting talent that would want to learn under a proven and decorated coach. Former Head coach Mike D'Antoni of the Houston Rockets reacts against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on November 01, 2019 in New York City. Photo: Steven Ryan/Getty Images © Copyright IBTimes 2022. All rights reserved. Related Stories