I previously transmitted a Report on Mike D'Antoni on Dec 19, from the Washington Post. The "Cinderella" story of D'Antoni's Suns with a 29-5 start, will probably suffer a serious set back, since the Sun's Star Point Guard Steve Nash has gone down with an injury, and the Suns have since lost four in a row.

That terrific record while now only a pleasant memory, should not prevent the Suns from resuming it's sterling play, when Nash returns, assuring it a Playoff spot, and a serious run at the Championship.

New York Times
By Liz Robbins
January 16, 2005

Bo. It's an all-inclusive Italian expression in which you swallow the 'o,' shrug, then open the palms as if to say, "Oh well, whatever."

For Mike D'Antoni, West Virginia native and dual citizen of the United States and Italy, it is a sideline motto. He has transferred it from Milan to Treviso to Phoenix, from his playing and coaching career in the Italian League to his first full season as the coach of the N.B.A.-best Suns.

Highly competitive, D'Antoni, 53, can also be laid-back and knows not to micromanage. "A guy takes a bad shot - Bo," D'Antoni said last week from Phoenix. "A guy makes a bad pass - Bo. We care about the big things and let some of the little things go."

In his first coaching job, in Milan, D'Antoni introduced a small-ball running game, the Suns' hallmark this season. It was captivating but controversial even then.

"That's his life philosophy, he likes to take risks, but always keeping things in the right perspective," said Maurizio Gheradini, the general manager of Benetton Treviso, in an interview from Italy last week. "He's a smiling guy, but he wants to win playing cards. What he did throughout his life was a constant challenge, and he met that challenge with a smile."

D'Antoni's father, Lewis, was a coach in West Virginia, and after graduating from Marshall, D'Antoni played for two seasons with the Kansas City Kings in the N.B.A and for one with St. Louis of the American Basketball Association.

At 25, he accepted an offer to play for Olympia Milan. He became the club's career leading scorer and was voted the Italian League's greatest point guard, winning five league championships in 13 seasons. He added two more titles as the coach of Treviso.

He was called Arsenio Lupin, for a burglar character from a movie. "Because he was such a clever stealer," Gheradini said, likening D'Antoni's game to John Stockton's.

"I owe everything to that experience - my life and my basketball," said D'Antoni, who met his wife, Laurel, an American fashion model, in Milan and bonded with distant relatives from Umbria. "I was 25 years old, I grew up in Italy, it broadened my way of life, how you deal with players, how you communicate."

In 1997, D'Antoni returned to the United States for his first job as an N.B.A. head coach, with Denver during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season. He went 14-36 and was fired. His second stint has been more auspicious. Hired by the Suns as an assistant in 2002, D'Antoni replaced Frank Johnson as coach last December. He endured trades and injuries and was rewarded with the free-agent point guard Steve Nash.

"He's competitive, but not competitive enough to let his ego get in the way of what his teams do," Phoenix General Manager Bryan Colangelo said of D'Antoni. "You have to be able to adapt to your circumstances."

By Way of Italy, D'Antoni Adds a Little 'Bo' to Suns
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