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NBA AWARDS SHOW 2017

June 26, 2017

Mike D'Antoni

New York, New York

Q. If you could just make a brief opening comment about being honored.
MIKE D'ANTONI: You know, obviously I'm just proud of the team and the way they responded all year. Great organization. This is not an individual award. This is a lot of people, a lot of hard work goes into it, and I'm the recipient of some pretty good players.

So just really happy to have the guys on my side and really, really happy about the award.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Coach [Dan] Peterson, his influence on your career as a head coach. I had a chance to work with him as a broadcaster.
MIKE D'ANTONI: You know, when I went to Italy, after the NBA kicked me out a couple times, he was instrumental. The whole Italian experience, I think I matured a lot and became a man over there. I met my wife over there and my son was born over there. And I had a great coach in Dan Peterson, a special relationship.

So the years I was there really propelled me, and also the Benetton [Treviso] Family who I was with got me back in the NBA. So I can't thank the country and the people over there enough.

Q. You joked about having the extra satisfaction of winning the award here in New York.
MIKE D'ANTONI: No, I would never joke about that.

Q. But is there any extra gratification winning it here?
MIKE D'ANTONI: No, the four years I spent in New York, I mean, it was great. Going to the Garden, it's exciting every night. We just couldn't quite get it done. We were trying things and it didn't work out. But I have nothing but fond memories of New York City. Nothing like it, the energy. I can joke about it. I joke about L.A. I joke about them all, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. I wish we had been more successful but it just wasn't meant to be.

Q. Last year you got back into it and you were coaching with the Sixers. How much did that experience help you and kind of help you out as you kept your coaching career going?
MIKE D'ANTONI: Well, it definitely helped me out. You know, Jerry Colangelo brought me out there and he did so much for me in Phoenix. And then Brett Brown took me in where a lot of coaches wouldn't to be honest with you. It was a tough situation. But Brett was terrific and he's a great coach, and obviously with Bryan [Colangelo], they are turning around, and they are going to be good.

So yeah, the experience was fantastic. You know, living downtown in Philadelphia has been great. Surprised to be honest with you. I only know it from the hotel and the arena, but really enjoyed my time there.

Q. Back to those good days in New York. When you win the first time in Phoenix and maybe people don't know what you do yet, and now you win this time and maybe people aren't sure what you do works any more after a couple bad runs in New York and L.A., does it mean more?
MIKE D'ANTONI: You know, because again, and I'm not just saying it, but it's the players that win it for you. I had an unbelievable group in Phoenix, and everything we seemed to do, clicked.

New York, we didn't. We tried some things and we tried to build it, and then it just didn't work out, and for a lot of reasons, not just one. But obviously what Golden State has done the last three years and how most of the league is playing now, because you're trying to beat Golden State, that validated and got me back in the game. So more than anything, that helped me, them doing better than what we ever did.

But again, I wouldn't -- it's all experiences, all good stuff. I mean, my son loved the high school that he went to up in Rye. I wouldn't change it for anything. I just wish, like I said, I wish we had won more, a little bit more stable. If we knew now probably the way we need to play, people would be a little bit more patient. But that's not New York's way. But hey, it was great.

Q. You talked about having the players that you have. Can you walk us through what it's been like working with a GM like Daryl Morey and an owner like Leslie Alexander who let's you have the freedom to run whatever offense you wanted to run?
MIKE D'ANTONI: You know what it is, what's really nice and it really starts from Leslie that he has the same vision that Daryl and myself and the coaches and all the players, and they know what they are going to get into when they come to Houston. So there's no question. There's no, like, I don't know.

And then the players themselves -- you know, I asked James Harden to be a point guard. In the first meeting, there was no pushback. Of course, if there was pushback, I wouldn't have got the job in the first place. So you know, he bought in immediately and I asked Eric Gordon to come off the bench and I asked Pat Beverley to come over to the two guard and especially Pat. But there's never any doubt in what we're doing, and that's terrific, and that's to Daryl and to Les, bringing in guys that fit the system, guys that are want to go play that way, and good guys.

Sometimes you get lucky, and we did. No doubt about it. But you know, I can't say too much about James, how he became an unbelievable point guard, unbelievable, but he did. And everybody else we have from Pat to Trevor [Ariza] to Ryan [Anderson] and Clint [Capela], I could just go on and on, and obviously Eric and everybody else.

You know, the only thing I'm going to ask them is you gotta do it next year. It was fine we did it one year. Most of the time the second year, the Coach of the Year gets fired and hopefully that's not the case, but hopefully we'll be okay.

Q. If James is able to get this MVP, what will it mean to the franchise, and what is your summing point for him being MVP?
MIKE D'ANTONI: The summing point is us winning and the culture that the players had. I think he asked each player how much they like playing with each other and in the system and in the City of Houston. I just want it for James. I'm selfish in the sense of what he did this year was phenomenal. You know, I know we get stuck with numbers and I'm not taking anything from Russell [Westbrook] or from Kawhi Leonard, and you've got a lot of guys, you've got LeBron James who could be MVP, Kevin Durant, just could go on and on, but James was unique.

I got to watch him a lot of games being the best player I've ever seen offensively ever play the game. So I'm hoping for him, because again, my success was due to all of the players, and obviously he was a big part of it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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