Jerry Colangelo: 'Stars aligned' when Mike D'Antoni was Suns coach
the third story in our series on Phoenix Suns coaches whose legacies left the greatest impact on the franchise.
D’Antoni immediately reversed the team’s fortunes and led it to 62 wins the following year and consecutive Western Conference finals appearances in his first two seasons. He was helped greatly by the return of Steve Nash to the Suns for the 2004-05 season. That offense, led by their All-Star point guard Nash, high-flying forward Shawn"The Matrix" Marion and top-scoring big Amar'e Stoudemire, revolutionized the guard-oriented, fast-paced "small ball" seen in today's game.
The Suns' first building block of that era was the rising star Stoudemire, who they drafted out of high school ninth overall in 2002. They also traded for Nash in 2004 from the Dallas Mavericks, returning him to the city that drafted him in 1996. Phoenix averaged a league-best 118.6 points per game, ranked second in offensive rating and net rating, third in pace and fifth in defensive rating during the 1988-89 season. They were 10th, 14th, 18th seventh, and third from last in those respective categories the year before Fitzsimmons returned to their sideline.
After his departure, the Suns turned to Terry Porter for the 2008-09 season, but fired him after 51 games even though his record was 28-23, mainly because he was unable to get the Suns to change from their high-octane attack to a more defensive-oriented approach. “When Mike took over, he and Alvin are the same. They learn from each other. They both like high-paced play," Johnson said."They allow the players to be the players and play, but hold them responsible for other stuff. Cotton separated himself from those two because he was a disciplinarian."
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