D'Antoni defends Harden: 'He's been unbelievably great'

Mike D'Antoni rushed to defend James Harden against sharp criticism from his predecessor.

Former Houston Rockets head coach Kevin McHale said Harden wasn't a leader and denigrated his defense in a recent episode of Open Court while discussing the addition of Chris Paul.

Naturally, Harden took exception to those comments and defended himself while discrediting McHale. The typically understated Harden called McHale a "clown," among other things.

While D'Antoni stayed mum on McHale, he did lavish Harden with praise.

"All I can do is talk about my experience, and he's been unbelievably great," D'Antoni told ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "Obviously, I got Coach of the Year last year because of him and the other 10 guys on the team."

Harden responded strongly to D'Antoni's coaching in their first season together. He arranged a minicamp for his teammates last offseason, embraced his position change, and led the Rockets to the third-best record in the league. None of that was lost on D'Antoni.

"He's been great with everything I asked. I asked a lot of him last year. I asked him to be the point guard. I asked him to talk in D. I asked a lot of things, and he responded great," he said.

"We had great chemistry. He's the first one to get them all together in the summertime or take them out during the year to keep the team together. So I didn't see it. He's been great for me."

In all fairness to McHale, he didn't necessarily have the same experience as D'Antoni. McHale's last season with Harden ended prematurely as the Rockets got off to a poor start in 2015 amid bitter infighting between Harden and Dwight Howard.