Kerr admits differences with D'Antoni but wants coach back with Suns

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns' window of opportunity to win an NBA title under coach Mike D'Antoni may have slammed shut with their first-round playoff loss to San Antonio.

General manager Steve Kerr acknowledged differences with the coach but insisted on Wednesday he wants D'Antoni back for a fifth season with the Suns. He said he and owner Robert Sarver would meet with the coach in the next few days.

"I'd like to see him back," Kerr said. "I'd like to see us working together. It's been well documented we have some different ideas and different approaches. And what we have to do is talk and communicate and make sure we can get on the same page in terms of how this organization can get better, how this team can get better."

D'Antoni, though, might not want to make the changes Kerr believes are needed, whether they be expanding his rotation, changing his defensive scheme or altering his staff.

D'Antoni has two years worth $8.5 million on his contract. He won the Coach of the Year award in 2005 and has a 232-96 record over the past four regular seasons. But the teams have never made it to the NBA Finals, losing in the playoffs three times to San Antonio and once to Dallas.

The usually accessible and talkative D'Antoni, the NBA's Coach of the Year in 2005 with a 232-96 record over the last four regular seasons, spoke only briefly with reporters.

He didn't say yes or no when asked if he wanted to return.

Mike D'Antoni's Suns were unable to overcome the talented Spurs once again. (Getty Images)

"I think we've just got to talk and I'm not going to be able to sit here and explain, guys," he said. "I hate to be abrupt but we'll all sit down and talk and evaluate everything and see where we are. I'd love to go on but I'll keep talking and kill myself."

Kerr, a close friend of Sarver and part of five title teams in his 15-year NBA veteran, was hired as vice president of basketball operations and general manager last June. He pulled the trigger on the stunning February trade that brought Shaquille O'Neal from the Miami Heat in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.

The arrival of O'Neal was supposed to make the Suns tougher, especially in a matchup with the Spurs, but it also meant the end of the freewheeling, ultra up-tempo Suns style that had endeared the team to fans around the NBA.

There had to be an adjustment playing with a 7-foot-1, 325-pound player in the middle.

"We were a team that was kind of thrown together midway through the season," Phoenix's Raja Bell said. "That's not an excuse but it's a fact, and we need some more time."

Bell praised D'Antoni's style.