D'Antoni's coaching - strictly average?

Charley Rosen of FOX Sports rated the top NBA head coaches and I had to scroll all the way down the page to find D'Antoni! Maybe its my purple sunglasses but I expected D'Antoni to be atleast in the top 5. He was after all, voted Coach of the Year in 2004-05 - his first full year as NBA head coach. But well Rosen disagrees and he has his reasons, which I will get to shortly.

A quick rundown of his list:

Phi Beta Kappa - Phil Jackson, Greg Poppovich, Pat Riley

Dean's List - Jerry Sloan

Honor Roll - Rick Carlisle, Bernie Bickerstaff, Avery Johnson

Among the Elite - Lawrence Frank, Eddie Jordan, Eric Musselman, Flip Saunders, Byron Scott, Scott Skiles

A Cut Above - Mike Fratello, George Karl, Nate McMillan

Strictly Average - Mike Brown, Mike Casey, Mike D'Antoni, Mike Dunleavy, Brian Hill, Bob, Hill, Sam Mitchell, Don Nelson, Doc Rivers, Terry Stotts, Jeff Van Gundy, Mike Woodson

On Probation - Isiah Thomas

On the Verge of Flunking - Maurice Cheeks

His reason for D'Antoni's low rating -

"Is only interested in half of the game. The wrong half."

Well, can't really argue with his first sentence, but the second one? So long as the 'half' that Coach is interested in is good enough to take the Suns to back to back WCF, I will have to STRONGLY DISAGREE.
I guess its damn good to be 'wrong' in Rosen's books ;)

Back to the Suns style, Coach D'Antoni has pledged to not joke about defense this season. He has also promised to play a faster offense and better defense. Interesting combination there, though they're often pretty much mutually exclusive.

What do you say to this guys : Let's give him 10 games to get his D in place.
We don't see defense, we drop the D from his name. Hell! at least it makes typing his name easier ;)
You listening, Coach Antoni?