Who were some of the influential factors in your life to tell you to be yourself? You were an untraditional coach. Mike D'Antoni: Well, you know, besides being from a family that does that, and my brother who was coaching with me that had a similar philosophy, the main two guys were Jerry Colangelo and Bryan Colangelo. They put the team together, and then we’re talking about how to play and whatever, and I’m saying, you know, my gut says we should do this, but the traditional way is that. And they say, “go with your gut, do what you think’s best”. And so that’s when I decided to move Amar’e Stoudemire to the five and Shawn Marion to the four. It comes from years and years of playing, years and years of coaching, and past experiences from when I was a player, and what would feel good, and then as a coach and how it went with my team at Olympia Milano when I really started that.
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Mike D'Antoni on his biggest influences: The two main guys were Jerry and Bryan Colangelo