Source: Suns' D'Antoni to Be Coach of Year

PHOENIX (AP) -- After unleashing the Phoenix Suns to a frenetic pace and guiding them to a league-best 62 wins, Mike D&#39;Antoni is the NBA&#39;s coach of the year, a league source said on Monday.<br> <br> The outcome of the vote first was reported by the East Valley Tribune in Mesa and was confirmed by a source speaking on the condition of anonymity.<br> <br> The selection is to be announced at a news conference on Tuesday, two days after Suns point guard Steve Nash was named the league&#39;s most valuable player.<br> <br> &#34;Mike&#39;s been unbelievable this year,&#34; Nash said at the morning shootaround prior to Monday night&#39;s Game 1 against Dallas in the Western Conference semifinals. &#34;He&#39;s extremely bright and finds a terrific balance that&#39;s so important in this league of holding guys accountable and at the same time giving guys the freedom to use their tools to help the team win.&#34; <br> <br> D&#39;Antoni spent 20 years in Italy as a star point guard, then a highly successful coach. His first stint as an NBA head coach was with Denver, where he went 14-36 in the lockout-shortened 1999 season.<br> <br> He was fired at the end of the season and general manager Dan Issel named himself coach. D&#39;Antoni was a scout with San Antonio and an assistant to coach Mike Dunleavy in Portland before returning to Italy in 2001.<br> <br> A year later, he was lured back to the NBA to become an assistant to Suns coach Frank Johnson. When Johnson was fired in December 2003, D&#39;Antoni took over.<br> <br> The young team finished 20-41, but the seeds of this year&#39;s turnaround were sown when Phoenix traded Stephon Marbury and Penny Hardaway to the New York Knicks.<br> <br> That cleared salary cap room for the signing of Nash and Quentin Richardson before this season. D&#39;Antoni, who loves a fast-paced game, decided to go with a small, speedy lineup because those were his five best players and they all wanted to start. The result was a 31-4 record out of the gate, and a 33-win turnaround.<br> <br> &#34;It&#39;s an honor, no doubt about it,&#34; D&#39;Antoni said of the impending award. &#34;I mean, (Suns president) Bryan Colangelo had the vision. He&#39;s the one who put all the pieces together and held true and got the players on the floor. From there, the players took over and did a heck of a job.&#34;<br> <br> &#34;Hopefully, I helped out and tried to get them going in the right direction,&#34; D&#39;Antoni said, &#34;tried to put them where they could perform the best. But those are two pretty big pieces that have to be in place before I get any kind of award.&#34;<br> <br> Nash said D&#39;Antoni&#39;s easygoing style, and lack of ego, meshed perfectly with the team.<br> <br> &#34;That&#39;s a huge part of him,&#34; Nash said. &#34;He&#39;s willing to kind of relinquish the reins sometimes. That&#39;s gutsy in this league. He does it for the betterment of our team, but it takes a guy who&#39;s not worried about his own ego.&#34;

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