D'Antoni—the New Coach of the Lakers

He's been hired. I think it's a great pick. I've always wanted to see what color is formed when purple and gold melt.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ijYCxPsLWW5Rur7bm8SH2HJoN6Iw?docId=b284306c373e45cdba8704b202153d27

Sam

Good hes gonna run the Lakers into the ground, while Mike Browns offense was way too slow, they don't have the personnel to run and run and run for 48 minutes either.

Guess Phil didn't think they had enough or he'd jumped at another ready made team...............

They may score 110 a game..............

but they may well give up that much and more

beat

The Lakers chose D'Antoni over Phil.
Phil is "stunned" that they didn't choose him.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8622878/stunned-phil-jackson-was-prepared-return-los-angeles-lakers-source-says

Hi,
I don't get it. Are LAL so desperate to get (No-)D(efense) 'Antoni?
How in the world they expect Kobe, Gasol and MWP, let alone Nash, to run so much? Oh well...
As for PJ, I suspect all this "is stunned" is just a farce on his or both his and Lakers side.

Sorry, TJ. I have a feeling that your team goes from bad to worse.

sinus007 wrote:Hi,
I don't get it. Are LAL so desperate to get (No-)D(efense) 'Antoni?
How in the world they expect Kobe, Gasol and MWP, let alone Nash, to run so much? Oh well...
As for PJ, I suspect all this "is stunned" is just a farce on his or both his and Lakers side.

Sorry, TJ. I have a feeling that your team goes from bad to worse.

D'Antoni is not going to expect LA to run like some younger teams.
If LA was going to run the triangle offense, that is not suited for Nash.
Nash/Gasol and Nash/Howard pick and rolls should be effective for the Lakers.
Kobe will score and be effective in any offense.

Hiring D'Antoni is not the popular choice, but apparently the Lakers didn't feel the "easy choice" was the best choice for this team.
We don't know how much Phil's demands (salary/roster power/not going to some/many road games) played a factor in the Lakers decision.
Miami made Spoelstra into a championship coach.
Dallas made Carlisle into a championship coach.
With the Lakers talent, I don't doubt that Mike D'Antoni can become a championship coach.

WOW Stephen A and Skip Bayless both agreeing with me saying on First Take right now that Lakers core is too old to play at frenetic pace required for D'Antonios system, that they don't have adequate shooters to space floor and bomb away. Bottomline the system not a good fit with this personel.

Mitch Kupchak, Jim and Jerry Buss were all in agreement about D'Antoni.
I would take their opinion over Steven A. Smith and Skip Bayless.

D'Antoni is not going to implement an unrealistic offense.
Will this offense be better then what Phil or Mike Brown had?
I believe so.

The Lakers made a decision after they lost in the playoffs two years ago to go away from the triangle offense and got rid of all of the coaches that were part of that offense. They did not want Phil back. They did not want Brian Shaw. They did not look to hire Rambis. A triangle offense does not do anything for Nash and is not great for Howard.

History tells something but it does not tell the future.

Is it some sort of law that they have to play no defense because D'Antoni is coach now? Maybe they pick up some Thibodeau type guy to run the offense and let D'Antoni deal with offense/big picture/substitutions. Pistons aint doing too well so who knows, maybe Lawrence is available soon.

He does not have a super record but on the other hand the teams he had were different from the Lakers he had now.

Time will tell but I would not be surprised if it works out well.

What is often missed about D'Antoni is the fact that he's a pretty decent defensive coach. With Phoenix and NY he didn't have the best collection of stoppers, but now he will have some players capable of playing strong D. Howard, World Peace (I still can't get used to that name) and Bryant are all strong defenders. Guys like Duhon can come in and contribute on D and they have good potential with others like Hill.

I wouldn't expect to see him try and run with this group, but a coach who can institute an uptempo offense also has to have a good understanding of other approaches too.

I agree with Swede. A surprise, maybe. Once you look at what he brings to the table with the personnel the Lakers have it could be a good move.

watching the lakers in disarray is priceless. enjoying the ride from afar

This should also be a big help for Darius Morris who I believe will be the back up pg once Nash returns. Morris can get to the rim and finish strong unlike Steve Blake or Chris Duhon.

I don't know if hiring D'Antoni will turn out to be the best decision, but I am more excited about watching a D'Antoni's offense over a Brown or Jackson offense.

In all fairness to D'Antoni, he never had the talent he has now. His best big man on Phoenix (Stoudemire) was/is a terrible defensive player.

mrkleen09 wrote:watching the lakers in disarray is priceless. enjoying the ride from afar

If disarray in November equates to fixing a problem, making the team better come winter and spring, I am ok with that.

Ok, it took something like this to pull me out of posting retirement. I may be a little rusty, but here it goes.

I don't get it! First, I was not too excited about the Brown hire, but figured I would ride it out and see what happens. Now, to fire a guy after 5 games with no backup plan. I know Brown was there last year. But to fire him after only 5 games (this season) with apparently no better option. This was not the off season and you were in the market for a new coach. This was not the off season where you interview several options before hiring a coach. You fire someone without a plan of who you want to come in to save your sinking ship. Unbelievable!

After watching the last couple home games for the Lakers and hearing the crowd chant, "we want Phil, we want Phil", I can hardly wait for the first home game with Mike no D' Antoni on the bench. I would have rather they left Bernie Bickerstaff at the helm.

TJ, I appreciate your optimism for whoever the coach is for the Lakers. First Brown, now D’Antoni, you have been optimistic. I am not as optimistic as you are. Hear in San Diego, I have already been dealing with a similar situation when ownership panicked and hired Norv Turner after firing a 14-2 Coach. Norv turner has had a longer stint to get it right than Marty Schottenheimer got. History shows us how that turned out. Well, that is another story for another time, and a different forum. My point is my teams really know how to pick-um with coaches of late. Makes me wonder sometimes why I ever became a sports fan. Drives me crazy.

The Lakers are becoming the best Prime Time Soap out there. Tune in at 7:30 PST to see how the (Lakers) World Turns, or if D’Antoni has One (Lakers) Life to Live. Shhhhhhsh! What is that I am hearing? Sounds like cheering in San Antonio, and Oklahoma City. I can even hear a little hee hee, haw haw, snicker snicker coming out of Boston and Miami. Hopefully I get the last laugh. I just am not too optimistic about that. Sorry TJ.

Good Day Celtics Nation

MG

P.S. I would be curious to know who Celtics Nation would pick if Brown and D'Antoni were the only two options? Just my curiosity at work here.

tjmakz wrote:If disarray in November equates to fixing a problem, making the team better come winter and spring, I am ok with that.

And if it ends up as a miserable failure - like the Mike Brown experiment, you will ALSO be ok with it.

Being a die hard fan is something we can all understand out here. Being a person that is such a homer that he deflects any and all criticism on his team, makes your position harder to take seriously.

MG,

Do players make coaches into championship coaches or do coaches make players into championship players?

Spoelstra was blasted on this website for about a year and a half and all we heard was that he is not a championship coach. It's funny how that changed...

The Lakers could have hired Phil.
There had to be something that spooked the Lakers management.
It could have been:
1) His salary requirement. 2) Wanting too much power over roster decisions. 3) Lack of travel on road games. 4) They might have lost faith in the offense or defense he would bring. 5) They didn't feel some players were a good fit for the triangle. (Nash and Howard)

I am very optomistic about the players that are on the Lakers.
I really don't care a whole lot about the coach.
Bobby Valentine should be able to coach Kobe, Dwight, Pau, Nash and MWP to 55 wins this season...

mrkleen09 wrote:

tjmakz wrote:If disarray in November equates to fixing a problem, making the team better come winter and spring, I am ok with that.

And if it ends up as a miserable failure - like the Mike Brown experiment, you will ALSO be ok with it.

Being a die hard fan is something we can all understand out here. Being a person that is such a homer that he deflects any and all criticism on his team, makes your position harder to take seriously.

kleen,
I am realistic about the Lakers strengths and weaknesses. Why is it that anybody that feels D'Antoni is a good hire has to be wrong?
Do you realize that you and some others here only bring up negative things about the Lakers?
I bet I have a more respected reputation on this website about being open-minded about my team then you do.

Nobody knows if Phil would be a better coach for this group of players.
Is he the easy hire? Yes.
Do the Lakers management feel he is the best coach at this time? No.
The Lakers need to get more easy, transition baskets.
They should do so under D'Antoni.
That doesn't mean they will be a running team.
Nash and D'Antoni have never had this much talent on a team they played/coached for.
They should be given a chance to do what they do best.

The Lakers management did not tell Mike Brown to use the Princeton offense, that was Mike's decision.
They lost confidence in Mike's ability to win with this team.

Perhaps they won IN spite of him!

For quite a while, I thought Jim Buss was a tool. Then I gave him credit for the roster moves they made in the offseason. Now, I'm back to thinking he's a tool.

It's not just the D'Antoni hire. It is, as MustangGator pointed out, that they fired Brown without already having a replacement coach hired. Maybe their thought process was that they felt Bernie Bickerstaff was plan B, and if they could get a better option, that was plan C. But the Jackson whirlwind followed by the surprise D'Antoni hire, all in the matter of a few days, reeks of desperation and panic.

I can see the relatively sunny side of the hire. Nash loves the guy, and I love Nash. Kobe has a very good relationship with him because D'Antoni was an assistant coach for the national/Olympic team. I don't think he's as one-dimensional as, say, Paul Westhead, where all he can do is the seven-seconds-or-less offense. I think he's smart enough to use the skills of the players on the Lakers, including a huge dose of Nash/Howard pick and rolls with Gasol sneaking to the basket and Kobe free to attack a collapsing defense. I don't think he's as bad defensively as his reputation, though I think the name Antoni (no D) is a hoot, partially because of that kernel of truth in there. If you feel jobbed by the refs, that's nothing compared to how Phoenix felt when Stoudemire got suspended in the playoffs for taking one step -- one! -- on the court when Robert Horry threw a cross-block on Nash and sent him crashing into the scorer's table, and if he doesn't get suspended, the Suns likely win that series and romp over Cleveland in the finals.

We don't know what goes on behind the scenes, but I find it hard to believe that the Laker brain trust didn't have discussions before the season, buy into the Princeton offense thing together, and acknowledge that it would take time to implement, so firing Brown (especially over the reported objections of Kupchak) makes Jim Buss look toolish. But I really cannot get past the fact that they fired Brown without a replacement in place. Tool. Major tool.

Please don't let this man ever negotiate for me. Of course Jackson had the leverage once they fired Brown, but if they negotiate with him before firing Brown, the Lakers are in a much stronger position. Not in a rush. Not desperate. Can work things out without the fans chanting Phil's name at games and "unnamed Laker sources" telling reporters that int 95 percent sure that Jackson is returning. Wow. And even if they settled on D'Antoni, they announce it at a time when he's not just coming off a knee replacement surgery and can't even walk freely or maybe even fly without his knee ballooning up.

It's not just the decisions you make that can make you look foolish, like hiring Brown instead of Adelman. It's also how you execute your decisions, like the Brown firing/Jackson interlude/D'Antoni hiring.

Wow.


P.S. Nice to see you're around, MG.

Maybe Phil really was asking for the moon:

(Phil) Jackson was the overwhelming favorite to return to the Lakers until they heard his informal demands, which included a stake in team ownership, according to a person familiar with the situation.

“He was asking for the moon,” said the person, who also declined to be identified because they are not authorized to discuss the situation.

via Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times

Outside,

I can't disagree with you more about the way they went about firing Brown. In today's age of Twitter, how soon do you think it would have been known by all that the Lakers are looking for a new coach? At that point, they might as well fire Brown anyway, because he is toast.

What difference would have it made if they waited two or three days to fire Brown? The same coaches are out there?

I think they made the right and respectful decision and that was to fire Brown immediately when they knew he wasn't their long-term head coach.

Hi,
My take on the firing MB and hiring D'Antoni can be summarized in: something fishy in the kingdom of the LAL.
I think that the decision to fire Brown wasn't made at the point of 1-3 start of the season:"OK. you have one more game to turn things around. Or else." Especially considering they didn't have Nash, one of the main kegs on the team. I believe this was brewing for quite some time.
If so, why wait until the start of the season, why to not do it in August-September. And bring a new coach after a thorough research and preparation.
Also, this deal of no-deal with PJ. I don't know if he'd be able to bring the team to a championship level or not, but I have no doubt that he's a better coach than either Brown or D'Antoni.
All in all, I have to agree with MG about cheering in San Antonio and OKC.

AK

sinus,

There is no indication that the Lakers were looking to fire Brown before the season started. The 0-8 and 1-4 start was a big part of them letting him go. The Lakers didn't feel that they were making progress under Brown. I have read that Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak were supporters of Brown but Jerry Buss was the one that wanted him gone.

LA had to do something. It was clear that what they had planned on just wasn't going to work. This may not work either but I think they have a better chance at simulating continued excellence in this storied franchise. Coaches don't get hired to change their system, they get hired to institute it. By the end of the years LA will once again be firing on all cylinders, only wondering why they are driving a four cylinder in the NBA fastlane. putt putt here comes superman bringing up the rear