Free agent Mike de Anthony supports a return to rockets; James Horton hopes the coach will stay as well

Coach Mike de Anthony, a free agent now out of the Houston Rockets NBA playoffs, said his preference should be with the company.

That too is hope James Horton, The face of entitlement.

Horton said after the Rockets’ season ended 119-96 for the Los Angeles Lakers in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals on Saturday night in Lake Funa Vista, Florida. “Mike has done some incredible things here.”

De Antonio’s racquets 217-101 in four seasons in Houston, 28-23 in the playoffs, passing the first round each season, advancing to Game 7 of the West Finals in 2017-18.

De Antonio, 69, spent the final year of his contract dealing with extension discussions that broke the last office twice in an unusually public manner. Rockets owner Tillman Ferditta and De Antonio’s longtime agent Warren Ligery have publicly blamed each other for failing to reach an agreement on the extension.

However, on Saturday night de Anthony expressed his admiration for the rocket system, reiterating his desire to continue training whether he was in Houston or elsewhere.

“We have a great organization, a great city, a great fan base, the best of the team,” de Antoni said. “I mean, everything’s fine here, we’ll see what happens, but I can not hear a better situation. I had four years. Hopefully it continues, but you never know. But everything on this page is good, of course.

“It was fun, it’s still fun, you always hate the look. It’s always a little bitter, but I ‘ve never heard of working with great people and working with great players. A lot of things stand alone, a lot of small things, but I had a big four years, of course. “

ESPN’s Adrian Wozniacki recently announced that de Antony is considered a leading candidate in the Indiana Pacers training quest. Sources told ESPN that at least one team with a coaching vacancy has a strong interest in De Antony.

672-527 Professional record holder de Anthony, proud to have revolutionized NBA crime. His “seven seconds or less” Phoenix Suns teams pushed the tempo, breaking the usual rules by shooting 3-pointers more than any team was at that point, a game that was followed throughout the league a decade later. The Rockets pushed the pinnacle further, setting the record for de Antonio’s attempted 3s in the first three years, removing the traditional centerpiece this season.

De Antoine and the Phoenix teams grew into a big-and-roll maestro with Steve Nash, adapting his attacking style to match Horton’s strengths as a historically elite isolation player in Houston. The first major decision Horton made with the De Antony Rockets was to thrive together in all four of their seasons, winning an assistant title, three scoring titles and an MVP award.

“The experience was excellent – moving me primarily to the ball handler, the ball handler and coming up with different plans and basically changing the game,” said Horton, who had 30 points and five assists in Game 5 loss. “It was an incredible experience, a tough season for us. Obviously, it didn’t end as we wanted it to. We had to figure it out.”

De Anthony said he would not have thought much of his potential options if he had not returned to the Rockets.

“First, I’ll go to my room now to have a little pathetic dinner,” de Antony said. “After that, we’ll find out. Right now, I’m not going to think a little bit about anything other than this.”