Eighteen months after joining the Suns staff, he took the reigns of Phoenix as head coach on Dec. 10, 2003.
The 2007-08 NBA season saw D’Antoni lead the Suns to 55-27 regular season record and a fourth consecutive trip to the NBA Playoffs. In 2006-07 his team finished the regular season with a 61-21 record, the second best record of all NBA teams, and his Suns captured the Western Conference Pacific Division title.
Thanks to the Suns posting the best winning percentage through games of Feb. 4, 2007, among the Western Conference teams, D’Antoni earned head coaching honors of the 2007 NBA West All-Star squad. He led the West to a 153-132 victory over the East, and in the process the Western squad set All-Star records with 69 made field goals and 52 assists.
In 2005-06 D’Antoni guided the Suns to a 54-28 record, the fourth most wins in the NBA, and to the Western Conference Pacific Division title. Phoenix in 2005-06 averaged an NBA-high 108.36 points a game and owned a NBA fourth-best 5.54 average margin of victory.
In his first full season (2004-05) as Phoenix' head mentor, D'Antoni engineered the third-largest turnaround in NBA history, guiding the Suns to a club record-tying 62 wins, a remarkable 33-game improvement on the team's 29-53 record in 2003-04.
By claiming 62 victories, Phoenix became only the second NBA team (1979-80 Boston Celtics) to win 60 or more games after a 50-loss season. After finishing 11-30 on the road in 2003-04, the Suns finished a league-best and franchise-best 31-10 (.756) on the road, the seventh-best road winning percentage in league history.
He was named the winner of the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA Coach of the Year for the 2004-05 season. D’Antoni led the Suns' explosive offense to a league-best 110.4 points per game, as they became the first team since the 1994-95 Orlando Magic to average more than 110 points. The team's 16.2-point increase from 2003-04 (94.2) ranked as the largest increase in team scoring since the advent of the shot clock. Phoenix topped 100 points in 68 of 82 games in 2004-05 and broke the NBA single-season record for 3-pointers made with 796 (previously 735 by Dallas in 1995-96).
D'Antoni also served as head coach of the Denver Nuggets in the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season (14-36), and was the club's director of player personnel in 1997-98. He was also an assistant for Portland in 2000-01 and a scout for San Antonio during the 1999- 2000 campaign.
D'Antoni also coached eight seasons in the Italian League and compiled a 288-101 regular season win-loss record for a 74.0 winning percentage. He also compiled a 37-23 record (.617 winning percentage) in the Italian League Playoffs.
In his eight years (1990-91 through 1996-97, 2001-02) as a head coach in the Italian League, he served as a head coach for four seasons (1990-91 through 1993-94) with Milan Olympia and four seasons (1994-95 through 1996-97, 2001-02) with Treviso Benetton. He led teams to two Italian League regular season championships (1991 and 1997), his teams made the playoffs in each of his eight seasons there and he won two Playoffs (1997 and 2001). He was twice named the league's Coach of the Year.
His Benetton team captured the Cup of Europe and Cup of Italy in 1994-95 and won the Italian League title in 1996-97 after a 22-4 regular season. D'Antoni guided Philips Milan to the 1993 Korac Cup and to the Italian League regular season crown in 1990-91.
D'Antoni - a dual citizen of the United States and Italy - was an All-NBA Rookie second team choice in 1974 after the Kansas City-Omaha Kings selected him with the 20th pick in the 1973 NBA Draft. He played two-plus seasons for the Kings before joining the ABA's Spirits of St. Louis and the NBA's San Antonio Spurs.
D'Antoni then moved to Italy where he played 13 seasons for Milan and became the club's all-time leading scorer. An Italian League legend, Milan teams with D'Antoni as a member compiled a regular season mark of 378-160 for a sterling 70.3 winning percentage, and he also aided his teams to a 62-28 win-loss record in playoff games for a 68.9 winning percentage.
He was voted the league's top point guard of all time in 1990 and paced his team to five Italian League regular season titles (1980, 1983, 1984, 1985 and1986), five playoff championships (1982, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1989), two Cups of Europe (1987 and 1988), two Cups of Italy, one Korac Cup (1985) and one Intercontinental Cup. He was selected to play on the Italian national team for the World Cup in 1989 and was a part of the Milan team that competed in the inaugural McDonald's Open in 1987.
A native of Mullens, W. Va., D'Antoni played three varsity seasons (1970-71 to 1972-73) at Marshall University (W.Va.) and
compiled a 59-21 win-loss record for a 73.8 winning percentage. Graduating as the school's career assist leader (659), while compiling 1,227 career points, D'Antoni earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 1972 and 1973, and was invited to the 1972 U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball Team Trials.
He and his wife Laurel have one son, Michael.
