ESPN: You were 21-40 in your first season as interim head coach in Phoenix. Second year, 62-20. Was it as simple as adding Steve Nash? Mike D'Antoni: I think that was the missing piece. We were young the year before. And also, I took over halfway through the year ... didn't really have a lot of time. [But] we were missing a point guard. And so when you plug into maybe the best point guard --- not maybe, but the best point guard in the league -- and you got Amar'e [Stoudemire] and you got Shawn Marion and Joe Johnson, and we added Quentin Richardson later, it was just a combination of those guys and Steve together that made that big jump. It surprised us. We didn't think we'd do all that. We were just trying to make the playoffs.
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: We were young the year before. And also, I took over …