D'Antoni will join Sixers on West Coast trip

The 76ers confirmed the hiring of NBA veteran Mike D'Antoni as associate head coach on Friday before they hosted the New York Knicks at the Wells Fargo Center.

The Inquirer reported the hiring of D'Antoni on Thursday night, citing two league sources.

Coach Brett Brown said D'Antoni is expected to join the Sixers and be on the bench during the team's West Coast trip, which begins Dec. 26 in Phoenix.

When asked how the hiring would make him a better coach, Brown said: "I think it's up to me. I come into this with just a very excited mind to tap in. I'm excited to learn, I'm instinctively curious. . . . We talk about offense, [but] let's face it. He's been around the NBA, so it's going to extend beyond that . . . I think that it's going to be on me and I think he will make me better."

D'Antoni, 64, is joining the Sixers a week after Brown received a two-year contract extension and after Jerry Colangelo was named chairman of basketball operations and an adviser to team ownership.

D'Antoni, who has 12 years of head coaching experience with four teams, rose to prominence as head coach of the Phoenix Suns' up-tempo offense from 2003-08 while Colangelo was the team's owner.

Brown said Colangelo brought up D'Antoni's name recently while the two exchanged ideas and names of coaches who might help the team.

D'Antoni, who has a career head coaching record of 455-426, also coached the Denver Nuggets, New York Knicks and most recently the Lakers until he stepped down in Los Angeles after the 2013-14 season.

Colangelo and D'Antoni also worked together on the USA Basketball staff, where Colangelo served as chairman and D'Antoni as an assistant under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"This is a good thing," Brown said of the hiring. "He's a hell of a resource and a hell of a coach."