All the griping about no defense... it's an exaggeration. They'll be fine with Howard, Gasol and Artest. This isn't Amare and Diaw up front. D'Antoni gives them the best possible chance to hit the ground running and contend. This should be fun.
Ya, what a slap in the face to HOF coach Phil. I just want to say that I called this a few years ago and no one would listen. When Buss Sr. turned the team management over from his successful smart older daughter(who happens to be dating their HOF coach) to his dopey younger son based on what amounts to favoritism, that it was going to ruin the Lakers franchise. I knew Buss Jr was trouble the first time I saw him bumbling through a championship acceptance speech(remember that embarrassment?). I still think Kuptchak will eventually get tired of Buss Jr and leave as well. The Lakers will always have an advantage over the competition by virtue of their location and wealth but thankfully Buss is the Laker's handicap in the near future and I think rebuilding is a lot closer away than people realize for this team.
As a rocket fan, I am just so happy that the lakers have D'Antoni. As I posted in the Brown firing thread, I was just hoping the lakers got D'Antoni, I just got my wish. That guy is going to create lot of dramas in LA without winning a big thing, maybe that is what lakers want.
Do you have information different? I read from several places that he wanted control over basketball things. How can a outsider get a stake in the team without paying anything or even expect to? No one gives away a business to another man for free. The media spin is from the Lakers here, they are the ones saying that D'Antoni was their guy and #1 choice....any one actually believes that? It's odd that they did this this quickly. They could have sat on this decision for weeks. D'antoni was not going any where and neither was Phil.
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I love this. No guaranteed championship for Lakers. YES! On the other hand, the Heat will win it. Oh well, they are the lesser evil. I guess.
I've always thought that the 04-07 Suns could have won a title if they had a player like Howard instead of Stoudemire. I guess that theory will be put to the test.
LOL. Yeah, Mike I-don't-play-bad-rookies D'Antoni is reunited with Jordan Hill. BTW, does this mean we can now trade Lin for Nash? ducking the flame...
I think passing on Phil makes sense for LA for multiple reasons: - How much of a commitment are you really going to get from a guy that's retired twice already, has medical issues popping up, and is getting up there in age? How long before LA's looking for a replacement AGAIN? They may be better off thinking long term. - As stated elsewhere, if the team is taking forever to get the Princeton down, the Triangle will only prolong their time in learning curve limbo. It's pretty much a given that even higher-IQ types need a full year (if not two) to figure out the Triangle. If Buss wants to Win Now, this is probably not the right approach. - Additionally regarding the Triangle, the personnel doesn't fit well. The system is ideal with versatile players that can almost play interchangeable positions. You don't employ a traditional ball handling/dominating PG (Nash) or a low post fixture (Howard). You want two tall guards, a swingman, and mobile bigs that can all shoot at least out to the FT line extended. Phil made it work with Shaq before, mainly by interjecting occasional post plays that weren't Triangle. - Finally, Phil's (alleged) contract demands were the nail in the coffin. He did not get along well with the Junior Buss, and his call for control of basketball operations was never going to go over well. A stake in ownership along with it pretty much killed things. You could argue he deserves them, but no way is that going to be under consideration by Jim Buss. Jerry would have to come back in and go over everyone's head (Phil may have been counting on that). I do agree that D'Antoni will be a poor choice in the long run. He'd be great....except for Howard. I've seen zip over the years to suggest his system can accommodate a traditional low post center. When you watch this current Lakers team, you notice the awkward mess on offense...but you can really tell the more pressing issue is the nonchalant attitude on defense. That's a killer. That's also D'Antoni's calling card. If I were running the organization, the guy I would have been throwing millions at is JVG. He gets (and earned) a bad rep for his offense, but really, he'd be perfect with this group. He loves focusing on low post play first, but he also has a history of giving his perimeter star players (Sprewell, McGrady) the green light to play the way they want to play. He's not a players coach....but he absolutely gives his stars a lot of slack to keep them happy. But in the end? I'm more than happy to watch LA continue to screw itself out of championships.
Lakers will just have to outscore their opponents every game cuz D'Antoni doesn't believe in defense. :grin: At least they will be fun to watch.
Yeah, D'Antoni is going to run those old legs to death. It remains to be seen how healthy Nash will be. He has been relatively tough throughout his career. But he's down just two games into the season so far.
Just FYI...I'm not a big fan of PPG because it does not control the variable of FG% and no. of possessions per game. Can anyone pull the stats on opponent FG% AND no. of possessions per game? I'm very interested in this...
We'll see. I don't think this is a bad hiring personally, especially if they keep Bernie as an assistant coach. Btw D'Antoni gives much more chances to young guns like Darrius Morris (who's emerging as a good PG) and Hill, whose game is off the hook this year, than PJ ever did. We'll see.
the same d'antoni who kept hill glued to the bench when he was in NY -- that guy loves to give time to young guys?
Pringles hates playing young players and runs his starters to the ground. Ask Steve Nash and Goran Dragic.
