If you live in Houston you've probably seen NBA COY Mike D'Antoni at your local Starbucks

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The reigning Coach of the Year begins every day at the nearest Starbucks. It’s a habit that stems back to 1977, when a 27-year-old, caffeine-free D’Antoni joined Olimpia Milano as an ABA washout. It wasn’t long before he was downing four cappuccinos a day. “All the Italians did it and I didn’t have anything else to do when I’m sitting at a coffee bar,” D’Antoni says. “I’ll tell you what though: I have dreams about a cappuccino and a brioche in the morning, filled with apricot. Oh… my... God! And they’re hot!” A daily ritual emerged, reading the USA Today in between bites of his pastry and scribbling in the paper’s daily crossword puzzle. “I could not wait to wake up and go get my routine going.”

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“He’s got to have Starbucks,” Dan says. “He’s particular. I can roll with the punches a little better.” Schultz’s Seattle-based coffee conglomerate is (aside from it’s convenience) the only stateside cup of joe that can compare to D’Antoni’s beloved Milan cappuccino. “When I go back to Italy, I run to the closest bar and get one of those,” he says. His morning Starbucks isn’t complete without his complementary 40-year routine. After digesting hours of film the previous evening, D’Antoni gleefully treks to the nearest shop from the team hotel. He basks in the cafe’s aroma and relishes flipping through the paper in relative anonymity, like any other coffee addict on his way into the office. Although, Starbucks has stopped carrying D'Antoni's preferred USA Today. “That’s a bummer. So I have to go hunt one down.”

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After nearly 20 years in the league, D’Antoni has memorized the locations of the nearest Starbucks to his frequented road hotels. If not, the coach feverishly scrolls through his iPad's map application to spot the next morning’s safe haven. Only few cities cause a panic. “Utah’s one, it throws me for a loop. I’m serious,” D’Antoni says. “I dread going there. I like Utah, but they don’t have a Starbucks.” Otherwise, D’Antoni will assuredly start each day with his Venti, sugar-free, vanilla latte. It’s a habit that predates the NBA’s installation of the three-point line in 1979, after all. Then again, not all of D'Antoni's habits involve beans. “When you get to Indiana,” Clifford says. “He’s going right to Steak ‘n Shake.”

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