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LA Lakers Hire Mike D'Antoni

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So they went from a coach who only knew defense to a coach who only knows offense? Speaking of which, has D'Antoni even been more successful than Brown?
 
MD has had much mOre talent then MB with less results. But he was in the west playing against some really tough teams. MB should never have been hired by the lake show in the first place. But firing him for MD might not be the smartest thing they could have done. MD needs youth and shooters (as mentioned by previous poster) and the lakers don't have that.
 
Actually I like this hire. Hard to argue with Phil Jackson's success, but I will. I think the Lakers are already too far into the season to switch to the triangle offense which Phil is so famous for. I know Kobe, MWP and Gasol all know the offense but Nash and Howard do not. Given Howard's mental aptitude I have serious doubts about him picking it up. Also the Triangle offense minimizes the role of a PG, with Steve Nash, why would they want to do that? I don't think that's the best system for them to run right now.

D'Antoni's system is 1 step above street ball. Get out and run and forget about defense. All these players know how to run D'Antoni's system, it's been every coach in their entire life that's tried to teach it out of them. I think the transition will be much smoother than you think. I also think they will be extremely fun to watch and very dangerous. They are going to play games that make their opponents out score them. Try out scoring a team of Kobe, Nash, Howard and Gasol. The major concern I have with it, are they in the right physical condition to do this on a night in and night out basis? They may be able to sustain it for part of the season but come the end of the season and in the playoffs, will they be out of gas?
 
Im not seeing anywhere that states the Lakers Choose D'antonio over Jackson. in fact it looks like he was their 2nd job. The only other real option if he was willing to come was Jerry Sloan.

Jackson may have not wanted the job and only spoke to the lakers as a courtesy.
 
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Im not seeing anywhere that states the Lakers Choose D'antonio over Jackson. in fact it looks like he was their 2nd job. The only other real option if he was willing to come was Jerry Sloan.

Jackson may have not wanted to jobs and only spoke to the lakers as a courtesy.

They apparently interviewed Mike Dunleavy. Just wow there. Sloan went on record saying he wasn't contacted by the Lakers nor did he think he would be.
 
They apparently interviewed Mike Dunleavy. Just wow there. Sloan went on record saying he wasn't contacted by the Lakers nor did he think he would be.

The Dunleavy guy isnt much of a reach. he has ties with the lakers organization and has had success as a coach.
 
Actually I like this hire. Hard to argue with Phil Jackson's success, but I will. I think the Lakers are already too far into the season to switch to the triangle offense which Phil is so famous for. I know Kobe, MWP and Gasol all know the offense but Nash and Howard do not. Given Howard's mental aptitude I have serious doubts about him picking it up. Also the Triangle offense minimizes the role of a PG, with Steve Nash, why would they want to do that? I don't think that's the best system for them to run right now.

D'Antoni's system is 1 step above street ball. Get out and run and forget about defense. All these players know how to run D'Antoni's system, it's been every coach in their entire life that's tried to teach it out of them. I think the transition will be much smoother than you think. I also think they will be extremely fun to watch and very dangerous. They are going to play games that make their opponents out score them. Try out scoring a team of Kobe, Nash, Howard and Gasol. The major concern I have with it, are they in the right physical condition to do this on a night in and night out basis? They may be able to sustain it for part of the season but come the end of the season and in the playoffs, will they be out of gas?

so, you prefer them to run a system that they physically aren't suited to do because it's simplified, rather than asking two NBA vets to try and learn a new system that the rest of the starters already know, and better fits the personnel they have? doesn't make a lot of sense.
 
No matter what you think of D'Antoni, it was clear that Brown had to go. He had absolutely no respect from his players and that just won't work. When your star player is trying to light you on fire with his eyes, you have an issue. I'm not a huge fan of D'Antoni, but I'm really not sure there was a better option at this point. Obviously Phil, but who knows if he wants to come out of retirement.
 
I am not sure how I feel about this move. They are going to be a dangerous offense, but run'n'gun doesn't work the same in the playoffs as it does in the regular season.
 
so, you prefer them to run a system that they physically aren't suited to do because it's simplified, rather than asking two NBA vets to try and learn a new system that the rest of the starters already know, and better fits the personnel they have? doesn't make a lot of sense.

I don't feel Howard can learn the Triangle offense in 3 years let alone 3 months, plus as I said, the triangle de-emphasizes the PG. That doesn't seem to make sense with their 2 biggest off season acquisitions, does it?

Kobe, Gasol, MWP, Steve Blake, Devin Ebanks: what do they have in common? They are the only ones left on the roster who played for Phil Jackson, which means they are the only ones who know the triangle offense if it were to be turned on immediately. Blake is the backup PG and Ebanks played all of 20 games in the system with Phil and has played in 4 of 7 games this season, a non-factor. So 3 starters, 1 reserve and a deep bench guy know the offense while 2 starters, 4 reserves, and 4 deep bench guys don't. The odds of the dramatic offensive switch like that mid season being successful have to be awful.

Conversely, D'Antoni's system is pretty basic. Yes it would take time to implement but the fundamentals are all ingrained in each player already. To be fair though, there is a lot of risk. D'Antoni's system is for a younger team, which the Lakers are not. There are athletes on the team but can the starters sustain that fast pace play for the whole season and deep in the playoffs? Major question mark. Still, I like D'Antoni's chance for success over Phil's at this point with this team.
 
Kobe, Gasol, MWP, Steve Blake, Devin Ebanks: what do they have in common? They are the only ones left on the roster who played for Phil Jackson, which means they are the only ones who know the triangle offense if it were to be turned on immediately. Blake is the backup PG and Ebanks played all of 20 games in the system with Phil and has played in 4 of 7 games this season, a non-factor. So 3 starters, 1 reserve and a deep bench guy know the offense while 2 starters, 4 reserves, and 4 deep bench guys don't. The odds of the dramatic offensive switch like that mid season being successful have to be awful.

Took me a second to figure who MWP was. At first I thought it was a bad joke calling Nash MWP saying he didnt earn his MVP's ie, Most White Player and won only because he was the Great White Hope.

But I figured out it was Metta.
 
I completely expect Nash, Kobe, Ron, and Pau to miss multiple games if MDA tries to instill his offense. This isn't PHX where players miraculously don't get injured. Hell even Dwight is an injury concern because he is coming off of back surgery. That Lakers swap is looking great right about now.
 
So a team with a decent offense and a terrible defense fires Mike Brown and hires D'Antoni... Let me know when someone figures this one out.
 
If you just look at personnel, D'Antoni was a decent hire. He was probably the coach who best knows how to utilize Nash. If he can figure out Howard's offensive limitations, he should be able to get some Amare numbers out of Howard. Kobe apparently lobbied hard for D'Antoni after Phil turned them down, so you appease the one guy who has the final say on a coach. Mike Brown never had Kobe's trust, and therefore Potato Head never had a shot.

One other interesting side story: Lakers fans care more about luring LeBron James in 2014 than winning it all this year. D'Antoni has been coaching LeBron and forming a relationship with him since the first Olympic summer practices in 2006.

I do agree with everyone who calls out D'Antoni's actual Xs and Os ability. He is going to game plan for high scoring, player-friendly games that won't win squat in the end.
 
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Really? This stiff again? I guess at least he has Nash and a stacked roster to hide his enormous coadching deficiencies this time.

I would have let Phil have whatever travel schedule he wanted and had a custom Lakers crown and throne made for him to wear and use on the sidelines. Throw in a gold-plated Lakers cane to hit Kobe with when he shoots too much and Dwight when he whines and watch the titles come pouring in.
 

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