Daily Rocket Science: More on Mike

Today’s Daily Rocket Science is for those of you who have been living under a rock for the past few days.

In case you somehow missed it, the Houston Rockets hired Mike D’Antoni as the new head coach, a publicly unpopular decision. He’s a revolutionary on the offensive end of the court, but has been known to neglect the other side of things: defense.

We’ll look at some professional opinions of the hiring choice, some negative and some positive.

Houston Rockets news and notes from around the web

First, the negative. One of the loudest voices in all of the sports world is that of Stephen A. Smith of ESPN. His opinions, whether accurate or not, are often taken as fact by his loyal fans. His opinion of the Rockets’ decision to hire D’Antoni, as stated on First Take last week, is that it will not be fruitful, similar to his last two stops in New York and Los Angeles.

Second, a more positive reaction. ESPN’s J.A. Adande wrote that D’Antoni will be stepping into an NBA world that he helped to create considering the fact that the Rockets’ fast-paced offense with an emphasis on the three-pointer is something that he pioneered in Phoenix back in the mid-2000s. James Harden is a much different player from Steve Nash, but the same values could be implemented in Houston.

"Yes, Harden tends to hold onto the ball as if it contains vital corporate secrets. Nash could actually keep his dribble a long time, too. The difference was he was always holding out hope to catch an open teammate, not exhausting every last chance to score before passing as a last resort the way Harden does. I’m of the belief D’Antoni can get Harden to buy in to the notion that if he gives the ball up he will get it back."

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Third, a more realistic, middle-ground opinion. Sean Deveney of SportingNews.com wrote that D’Antoni’s system could work beautifully…as long as the right players are involved. It will now be up to Harden and the rest of the Rockets to become the players necessary to make the system work.

"No one has ever confused Patrick Beverley, or James Harden for that matter, for Nash or Curry. And no one has ever seen D’Antoni coach any way but in the style he used in Phoenix, even if he blatantly lacks the personnel. D’Antoni has typically coached to his system and not to his players, only to find that you can’t put beagles on a dirt track and expect them to turn into greyhounds."

Hopefully you’re all caught up on everything you need to know on Mike D’Antoni and the system he will almost assuredly implement into the Houston offense. We’ll see if it actually works out or not.

Send our Editor any Rockets-related article/video/tweet/gram/vine that we may have missed via Twitter direct message to @TTOTambz.

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