Mike D’Antoni likes what Rockets have built, hasn’t completely closed door on coaching

Mike D’Antoni has been away from NBA head coaching for a while now. He still sounds like a coach.

In an exclusive interview with Eric Jay Santos of NBA On SI, D’Antoni praised the current Rockets roster and explained why he believes the talent would be fun to work with.

“Houston would be a great team to coach right now,” D’Antoni said. “It must be fun with the defensive elements and shooting that (Ime Udoka) has. He’s got a lot of weapons.”

D’Antoni, inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame last month, said he wouldn’t try to force the current roster into one of his old systems anyway.

“It’s up to me to change my scheme to fit them,” he said. “You adapt to the talents of your players.”

That roster now includes Kevin Durant, Alperen Sengun and Amen Thompson, among others.

As for whether D’Antoni might ever return to an NBA bench? He isn’t exactly planning on it.

“I don’t realistically think that’s going to happen, so I don’t worry about it. I go play golf,” he said.

Still, he wasn’t quite ready to slam the door.

“Does coaching still excite me? Sure it does. I think I’ll take that to the grave.”

So, yeah. D’Antoni may be enjoying retirement. But the coach in him apparently never retired.