Philadelphia 76ers: Mike D’Antoni feels like the favorite

The Philadelphia 76ers and Mike D’Antoni feel like an increasingly likely match. Is it the right one?

The Philadelphia 76ers’ head coaching search has presumably been narrowed to a two-person race. Mike D’Antoni and Tyronn Lue are the only names prominently attached to the Sixers’ opening, and both have a compelling case. It’s D’Antoni, however, who seems to be gaining steam.

I have penned my endorsement of D’Antoni in the past, and truthfully, I believe he is a good coach. One of the best coaches in the NBA, even. He would not be a bad hire, and his reputation for innovation is something the Sixers desperately need.

Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer recently reported that rumblings around D’Antoni and the Sixers are growing louder. Nothing concrete — the Sixers’ so-called search is ongoing — but all signs point to D’Antoni eventually getting the role.

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As is typically the case with Philadelphia, it’s fair to question the procedure. Why is D’Antoni the favorite? Should he be the favorite? And, most importantly, has Philadelphia explored all the necessary avenues.

The answer to that last question, I can almost certainly assure you, is no. The Sixers have still not fired a member of the front office despite indications of looming change many weeks ago. After such a disastrous season, simply firing the coach and making no further changes in the organization is insufficient. And yet, it feels perfectly in line with Sixers ownership and management.

With no concrete changes made, it’s a bit unnerving to have frontrunners in the coaching search already. Even if Elton Brand does have full autonomy this time around — which may not even be a good thing — it would be nice for a fresh set of voices to have input on the situation. Alas.

As for why D’Antoni is the favorite, you can look at it from two perspectives. One perspective is simple — he is an accomplished coach with a lengthy track record of offensive success. The other perspective, however, is that he was a former assistant under Brett Brown who Bryan Colangelo’s front office was once very fond of. With most of Colangelo’s group in tact, it stands to reason that support for D’Antoni would emerge once more. This variation of the Sixers’ front office has been mighty comfortable with maintaining the status quo. D’Antoni is someone the front office, and more importantly ownership, is familiar with.

While I’m still intrigued and excited by the idea of D’Antoni, he is not devoid of shortcomings. And it’s clear the front office is probably operating from a place of safety, not a place of innovation or bold, transformative action. It’s fair to assume that D’Antoni would not be a frontrunner had he not been a Colangelo favorite many moons ago. This front office, until proven otherwise, is essentially a reshuffled deck of the Colangelo administration.

The room for skepticism is abundant, and we have seen D’Antoni flounder with rosters not built to his taste in the past. One needs only to look at Dwight Howard in Los Angeles to see a supposedly star-caliber center who crumbled in a Mike D’Antoni system.

While Joel Embiid is far better than Lakers-era Dwight Howard, it’s true that D’Antoni has never been a fan of post-ups or slowed-down, grind-it-out basketball. He’s much more in tune with a player like Ben Simmons. Would Philadelphia thereby be showing preference to one star over another, and potentially be tipping its hand on a foundational change in the near future?

One can only hope that is not the case.

The Sixers should not not hire Mike D’Antoni. Again, I think he’s a tremendous coach who knows how to win basketball games. I do, however, have my concerns about how Philadelphia’s front office and ownership has arrived at D’Antoni as a frontrunner. This should not be a case of predetermination. D’Antoni should have to earn the job in interviews, and prove he can make appropriate use of Embiid’s talent.

We shall see.