101 Greats of European Basketball

The NBA’s first
“European”
head coach
As you know, that title is not 100 percent
accurate because Michael Andrew
“Mike” D’Antoni is American by birth,
since he was born May 9, 1951, in Mullens,
West Virginia, United States. But
it’s also not a mistake to say that he is
the first European head coach in the NBA. After all, he
also holds an Italian passport.
Plus, his having played in Italy with Olimpia Milano
between 1977 and 1990 and started his coaching career
in the same country between 1990 and 1997, at
Olimpia Milano and Benetton Treviso, left some traces
in D’Antoni’s development as a coach. I am sure his
American foundations, which started with his father,
a long-time coach, were at least influenced by the
European school of basketball. When he went back to
the United States to join the Denver Nuggets in 1997,
getting promoted to the head of the bench for the
strike-shortened 1998-99 season, D’Antoni was a rookie
coach in the most powerful league in the world. But
his formation, skills and knowledge of the sport made
him eligible to work in the NBA without a doubt. Only a
few years later, D’Antoni was named the NBA’s Coach of
the Year in 2005, because of his great season with the
Phoenix Suns. However, this is a story dedicated to the
player in D’Antoni, one of the best Americans to ever
grace European courts.
After having played at Marshall University, D’Antoni
was drafted in 1973 by Kansas City. He played there for
two seasons and nine games of a third one. He spent
the rest of that third season with the St. Louis Spirits
of the ABA and then returned to the NBA for the next
one with the San Antonio Spurs, but played little. When,
in the summer of 1977, he landed in Milan to play with
Olimpia, D’Antoni was literally unknown in Europe.
His arrival was all due to the fact that Olimpia general
manager Cesare Rubini and coach Filippo Faina - both
backed by president Dr. Adolfo Bogoncelli - had positive
reports of this player, who by then was 26 years old.
Dan Peterson memories
Dan Peterson, the famous American coach who
worked with D’Antoni during many years in Milan, had
this memory of his first time meeting Mike:
“The first thing I did when I took over Olimpia Milan
in 1978 was confirm Mike D’Antoni as one of my two
allowed foreign players. I was still coaching Virtus Bologna
in 1977-78 and Olimpia came in and beat us by
15 points in Bologna, 104-89, as Mike D’Antoni stopped
my top scorer, John Roche, and just simply tore us
apart with his play-making ability, his quick hands, his
defense, his steals, his leadership. That was a guy I
wanted on my basketball team.”
Peterson’s wish was granted fast. Olimpia Milan
called Peterson to coach in 1978-79 and he stayed
there until 1987. If anyone can describe Mike D’Antoni
best, it’s Peterson:
“We were together all nine years I coached Olimpia,
1978-87. He was, as they say, a ‘coach on the floor’. I
designed the offense so that Mike could run it without
calling hand signals or voice signals, using only ‘automatics’
to ‘indicate’ the play. This let him dribble with-
Mike D’Antoni
101 greats of european basketball
D