Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Adoring Italy Welcomes Mike D'Antoni, Coach of Phoenix Suns and Team

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Mike D'Antoni and the Phoenix Spurs are in Italy, and will continue on to Germany for a Mini Tournament, while three other NBA teams conduct a series of preseason exhibition games across Europe as part of NBA Europe Live tour. The San Antonio Spurs  are in France, the Philadelphia 76ers are in Spain, and the Los Angeles Clippers are in Russia.

 

Mike D'Antoni is loved, adored and revered by basketball fans from Milan to Treviso, Italy, since he was an outstanding point guard  for Benetton, and had two successful spells as coach in 1994-97 and 2001-02, twice leading Benetton to the Italian League championship.

 

 

SUNS MIXING CULTURE, FOOD, AND PRACTICE

KVOA-Phoenix

 

The Phoenix Suns have cruised the canals of Venice and dined for hours on Italian cuisine. They've watched glass blowers and soccer.

It's been a mixture of tourism and training for the Suns in Treviso. two-time defending league MVP Steve Nash talked about the team's time in Italy via conference call on Tuesday.

"All you have to do is take a taxi through Venice and you're in awe, We're going to Rome from here and God knows how many statues and stuff we're going to see."

Nash is an avid soccer fan, and will  watch the World Cup champion Italian national team play on Saturday night.

Nash has traveled the world. This is his second trip to Italy.

"Generally, when I travel, I seem to love the people the most, then the cultural differences come next," he said. "In Italy, you think of the wine, the food, the meals. ... It's a great opportunity for us to be here, bonding and enjoying the culture."

The Suns play their first preseason game Friday night against Virtus Lottomatica Roma in Rome.

 

 

D'ANTONI HONORED IN RETURN TO ITALY

Paul Coro
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 2, 2006

TREVISO, Italy - You might love Mike D'Antoni for what he has done with the Phoenix Suns, but they have you beat here.

D'Antoni and his wife Laurel walked into the Palaverde like the king and queen of Treviso on Sunday night. Kisses, hugs and handshakes swallowed them up with affection as the arena's upper-deck, flag-waving rowdy section serenaded him with a personalized love song and rhythmic applause.

D'Antoni is loved, adored and revered by basketball fans from Milan to here, and that was clear from his homecoming. He was honored with a glass vase at midcourt just beneath two of the Italian championship banners he helped hang.

"He was like an Italian for us when he was in Italy," said Gilberto Benetton, who helped start the family business in 1965 and is now among the world's richest people, through an interpreter. "We know him as a former player and coach (in Milan), so it was really famous when he came to Benetton. ! We knew he'd be the right man in the right place to make success for Benetton basketball.

"Three days ago I called him, and he said he was emotionally excited to come back. I told him I was excited, too, because it was a great moment for me, too."

Fans like Christian Bucciol, 22, came from more than an hour away for D'Antoni as much as the night's Supercoppa Italiana. Locals see about 75 games per NBA season, so they still get their fill of D'Antoni's fun-and-gun teams.

"He's a great coach and has the drive to take the Phoenix Suns to the Finals," Bucciol said. "For Italy, he did the same thing. I like the way his players play."

The locals share some of the same sentiment for D'Antoni that those around the Suns franchise appreciate most. There is the coaching, but his daily co-workers are more impressed with the person who is as decent as he is driven.

"The way he acts with people and fans, he's been the most friendly coach," said Alberto Buz! zavo, a scout for Benetton. "We never had a guy like that. He left a big mark behind. Everybody was going crazy for him."

Flavio Tranquillo, called "the Voice of Italy" for his basketball broadcasting, recalls the legendary player who would give fans a treat with a behind-the-back dribble as the time during a win wound down. But he knows the man who matched his playing success with his work on the sideline.

"It doesn't happen much that you have a chance to meet your idol and he's a nice human being," Tranquillo said. "Of course, I'm biased. On a scale of 1 to 10, he's 300."

After two days of training at La Ghirada's practice facility, D'Antoni's Suns team moves to the Palaverde for practice today with 50 members of the Italian media credentialed to attend.

"I had four years here that were just fabulous," D'Antoni said. "I enjoyed every minute of it. Great people, good teams. To come back with the best team in the world, that's just too good."
Suns Director of Player Personnel Vinny Del Negro, who played on Treviso's first championship team in 1991, was honored at halftime with a uniform presentation.

 

 

 

 

SUN'S BIG QUESTION

By Steve Kerr. Yahoo! Sports
October 3, 2006

The question now, as the Suns conduct training camp here in northern Italy, is whether or not  Amare Stoudemire  can return from microfracture surgery in his left knee (and a year-long absence) to fill that role. Can he be the missing piece ? the imposing inside presence ? that carries this exciting, up-tempo club to a title?

The last time Stoudemire was on the floor in a contest that mattered was during Phoenix's five-game series loss to the Spurs in the 2005 Western Conference finals. Stoudemire used his ridiculous athleticism to average 29.9 points per game against Tim Duncan and the NBA's stingiest defense, and his future looked limitless. But then came the injury just before the start of last season and Stoudemire spent the past year rehabilitating

Without him, the Suns made a remarkable run back to the West finals, ultimately losing to Dallas in six games. They begin this season's quest with a deep roster, and even though it remains to be seen if Stoudemire can rediscover his game and fit in smoothly, his comeback  combined with the return of last year's key players ( Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, and Boris Diaw)  has made Phoenix a popular pick to win the NBA title next June. But there are several issues for Stoudemire and the Suns to overcome.

 

 

The ANNOTICO Reports

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