Published: May 15, 2008 11:01 pm         

The big stage D’Antoni has reached the top of his profession

Long before Mike D’Antoni became a household name in the NBA, the words “Mullens” and “basketball greatness” were synonymous.

The great Mullens teams of the 1950s coached by Lewis D’Antoni, Mike’s father. The powerhouse squads of coach Don Nuckols in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Players like Willie Akers, Dan and Mike D’Antoni, Jerome Anderson, Greg White, Willie Stewart, Herbie Brooks and Shawn Finney.

Do you know that Mullens High School — a school that no longer exists, having been absorbed in the Wyoming East consolidation — is the only school in West Virginia basketball history to win state championships in three classifications?

“I think there’s something in the water in Mullens that makes people basketball players,” Finney once quipped.

And, by the way, Wyoming East has won three state titles in its short history.

But now, the spotlight is back on Mike D’Antoni, who last weekend was named coach of the NBA’s New York Knicks.

Of course, this is no sudden rise for D’Antoni, now 57. He long ago established himself as a top-notch pro basketball coach in Italy, where he also played. He coached the NBA’s Denver Nuggets before spending four full seasons as head coach of the Phoenix Suns.

The Suns won 50 or more games each year, including two seasons of more than 60 victories, and captured three Pacific Division titles. D’Antoni was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2004-05.

But this is New York. Madison Square Garden. Where the pressure to win can drive mortal men, coaches and players alike, crazy. Where rabid yet knowledgeable fans have little tolerance for mediocrity.

But this is also the Knicks, a team that was in disarray during the 2007-08 season when it won only 23 of 82 games, tying the franchise record for losses (59) in a season.

We believe D’Antoni can and will get the job done in the Big Apple. Even the most rabid fans don’t expect a miracle. And sports talk show analysts believe D’Antoni is the right man for the job, that his entertaining style of play will win over the fans long enough to turn things around.

D’Antoni learned a long time ago, while growing up in Mullens, what it takes to win. And as his record indicates, that knowledge continues to serve him well.