LA Lakers Hire Mike D'Antoni

[Randolphkeys]

If the Lakers are in the lottery, the Cavs have to waive their rights to their pick. I want the Lakers to be somewhere in the 6-8 seed range in the West... and that is exactly inside D'Antoni's coaching level.

So, it's hard for me to get too upset about this Lakers maneuver.

 

[Ohio]

Hilarious. Wow LA.

 

[Huber.]

If the Lakers are in the lottery, the Cavs have to waive their rights to their pick. I want the Lakers to be somewhere in the 6-8 seed range in the West... and that is exactly inside D'Antoni's coaching level.

So, it's hard for me to get too upset about this Lakers maneuver.

So it is confirmed that that pick is lottery protected? Ben's and realgm.com sources were conflicting.

 

[Randolphkeys]

So it is confirmed that that pick is lottery protected? Ben's and realgm.com sources were conflicting.

I'm still not convinced that RealGM is wrong, but on the other hand I think the Lakers have too much talent to miss the playoffs entirely. On paper, they should be the #4 seed in the West. I have no doubt the Spurs and Thunder have a better team. I think the Clippers will win more games than the Lakers as well.

With the coaching and injury issues, I'm suggesting they slide two or three slots. Memphis, Denver and perhaps Dallas can capitalize on a new system and new coaching staff being ushered in. I doubt the Lakers slide any further than that without some season-ending injuries.

 

[KI4MVP]

I would normally agree, but from what is coming out Phil wanted to be able to skip certain road trips and have his hand picked successor coach those games, as well as have significant say over personnel.

Couple those demands with wanting a reported $12-15 million a year salary and it just sounds like it was a bridge too far.

The travel restrictions thing to me would have been the dealbreaker. You have to be there every night to coach the team, and if that was even a question in his mind then his heart clearly wasn't in it and he was just looking for a big payday.

Do they want a championship or not. Phil has health issues. Missing a trip to play the kings isn't going to hurt anything. And in the long term would help by giving a successor plenty of on the job head coaching experience.

The problem is Jim Buss doesn't like Phil Jackson.

Instead, Jackson was concerned for Shaw's future in L.A., because Jim Buss was taking control of the Lakers from his father, Jerry Buss, the most successful owner of the NBA's modern era.
"Phil let me know going into the interview [with the Lakers] for me to almost disassociate myself from him, that anything that I said about him or the triangle system would hurt me because of his lack of relationship with Jimmy Buss," Shaw said.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/ian_thomsen/11/01/brian.shaw.lakers/index.html

and

After Phil Jackson officially stepped down as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers there was plenty of talk about the 11-time NBA champion not being able to see eye-to-eye with Lakers Executive VP Jim Buss. With Buss wanting to run the Lakers organization a certain way and Jackson knowing how to win championships with his style of coaching, it was rumored that the two never really got along or wanted to work together.

Even with the calm and cool demeanor that Jackson displays in his interviews, when talking about his time with the Lakers, it becomes more and more clear that arguably the greatest NBA head coach of all-time was pushed out of Los Angeles due to a conflict of how the team should’ve been run moving forward.

http://www.lakersnation.com/phil-ja...rences-with-jim-buss-philosophies/2012/06/20/

basically Jim Buss == Jerry Krause

 

[rabman_gold]

I think this philosophy is appropriate here:

Great offense wins games, great defense wins rings.

Right now, without Nash, they probably will stay competitive, but they're all old except for Dwight. Even if we can't get a better draft pick, they could easily implode like the Knicks did. But I doubt how far D'Antoni will take this team...

 

[KI4MVP]

If the Lakers are in the lottery, the Cavs have to waive their rights to their pick. I want the Lakers to be somewhere in the 6-8 seed range in the West... and that is exactly inside D'Antoni's coaching level.

So, it's hard for me to get too upset about this Lakers maneuver.

where did you get this? One of the teams specifically said there was no protection when the trade was made. Doesn't matter, Lakers are making the playoffs.

 

[Huber.]

Those saying D'Antoni was a mistake seem to forget Phil's last season coaching. Not to mention Phil's request were getting more and more ridiculous. He wanted do be on a year-by-year contract, didn't want to go on east coast road trips, part ownership of the team and wanted control over basketball decisions.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakersnow/la-sp-ln-lakers-hire-mike-dantoni-20121112,0,7850509.story

 

[Frank Reynolds]

I think the team believed that they could not beat this Heat team by stopping them on defense.

They are going for a fundamentally different approach, and that is to simply out score Miami.

Not even sure this team makes the Western conference finals. I still could see the Denver Nuggets ousting them again. George Karl takes a shit on D'antoni's coaching ability. Igoudala is in his absolute prime and can lock up Kobe, nobody on LA can deny Ty Lawson's quickness and penetration, and JeVale McGee can do enough to bother Dwight and not make him a huge factor.

 

[CardiacCavs]

It doesn't matter who coaches this team, they are going to win a lot of games in the regular season. I still think they will end up as one of the top 3 seeds in the West. The playoffs will be interesting to see though.

 

[Jack Brickman]

Have to say I did not see this coming.

 

[Mdog1]

@Frank Reynolds

Sorry couldn't reply with quote for some reason, but when Javale McGee is one of your keys to the game, you're losing that game 9/10 times. When he is a key to a series you're screwed. That guy, while talented, is a complete and utter bone head.

 

[Randolphkeys]

@Frank Reynolds

Sorry couldn't reply with quote for some reason, but when Javale McGee is one of your keys to the game, you're losing that game 9/10 times. When he is a key to a series you're screwed. That guy, while talented, is a complete and utter bone head.

JaVale is being used off the bench with Dre Miller behind Koufos so that they can two man game the opponent's second line. They got off to a rocky start, no pun intended, but they are coming along.

 

[Mdog1]

JaVale is being used off the bench with Dre Miller behind Koufos so that they can two man game the opponent's second line. They got off to a rocky start, no pun intended, but they are coming along.

Don't get me wrong I don't watch too many Nuggets games, but Javale is just not someone you want to say is an x-factor because if that' the case then you're losing that game/series. That is of course unless he miraculously pulled his head out of his ass...

 

[Jon]

Well, it's going to be a fun ride.

Steve Nash (if he can stay health) can still run that offense, but D'Antoni's system is based around his 5 guys beating the opponents 5 guys up the court and taking advantage of the extra man and the defensive mismatches that are created.

But can the Lakers sustain that sort of pace? Howard can certainly run the court, but what about Gasol and all the old men on their team?