Brown won one more game in the playoffs than PJ did the year before. Brown isn't a great coach, but he's not nearly as bad as everyone is making him out to be. Basically he's being used as a scapegoat for all of the Lakers' problems (poor shooting, no bench, and a glaring lack of athleticism sans Dwight). I expect the Lakers to go on a little run as all teams do when they switch coaches, and then they'll realize the unfortunate truth that unless they change some pieces up, they simply aren't going to be able to hang with the top tier teams in the league due to the age and limited depth of their roster. PJ or D'antoni or Sloan isn't going to fix that.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Kobe is making it pretty clear he wants Phil Jackson to be the Lakers next coach.</p>— J.A. Adande (@jadande) <a href="https://twitter.com/jadande/status/267152906468327424" data-datetime="2012-11-10T06:33:11+00:00">November 10, 2012</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Dude said Nash's PNR doesn't work because he's never won a ring with that. As far as pieces go, they have DH, Gasol, Nash and Kobe as pieces, and you're talking about how they need to add more just to hang in the league? Where Brown went wrong is he tried to make players conform to his system, instead of basing his offense around his players. Kobe, DH and Gasol are half court players, they aren't used to being asked to run around the court looking for a good shot. Nash oth, is used to being able to dominate the ball, and Brown had him turned into a Fisher clone.
Lolololol hahahahaha wow people keep making excuses and letting the players who play the game off the hook. You mean to tell me, as great as these four guys are, they can only be effective in a certain style? As great as Hesse guys are, they can't run a simple Princeton offense and win more than one game? Waaaaaaaaaa but but the lil lakers have to learn a new offense. Oh noes! How dare you ask professional basketball players to play a certain way?!? What do you think they are? Pro basketball players or something? Did they all of a sudden forget how to play the game of basketball? The rockets last year, damn near made the playoffs with 0 all stars by playing pick up style basketball. So I don't want to hear any excuses about how "they've never had to play this way before!!! Brown is so mean for making them do this!" When you go 1-14 with all that talent, it's more than just the coach.
regardless, they should keep Bernie. The man is great with rotations and young talent. Never seen a more motivated Lakers team since 08
I'm not that fond of Mike Brown as a coach either. He deserves most of the blame, I agree with those saying others are escaping blame. Most of the games the Lakers lost were games they were supposed to lose, they had an easier schedule ahead before firing Mike Brown. A part of me wanted Mike Brown to stay so they'd struggle. I hope Phil Jackson doesn't come back because ESPN would make it look like a miracle that Phil won with a loaded roster that was expected to win the West. I'm sorry about his health issues, but I hate how people use that as an excuse for why Phil wouldn't coach a team that's not loaded and that are favorites, like the Knicks. I never entertained the thought of Phil coaching the Knicks despite ESPN planting seeds about it. The media still calls Rudy T a failure with the Lakers while glossing over the rebuilding and players being out that he dealt with. The Lakers have a much better bench than given credit for. Jodie Meeks & Steve Blake can shoot, though Blake has struggled. Antawn Jamison is coming off a season averaging 17 & 6. Jordan Hill can contribute. Chris Duhon is OK. Robert Sacre showed potential during the preseason. Earl Clark has been out, he's not that bad from what I saw of him in Orlando & Phoenix. They shouldn't need a loaded bench since they have 4 players that were top 5 at their positions coming into this season, Artest lost a step but he can still play.
When Phil Jackson returned last time, it wasn't to a stacked roster. They were later gifted Pau Gasol, but that was after back-to-back first round exits (under Jackson). PJ isn't a miracle worker. He's definitely a top coach who knows how to manage egos, but as far as actual offensive and defensive sets, he's not in the caliber of Larry Brown, Rick Adelman, Gregg Popovich, and others. If he can take the current Lakers team to a championship, he's better than I'm giving him credit, because they have huge flaws. The teams Phil has coached to a title previously were far deeper and more athletic. When your best bench player is Antawn Jamison, you are in trouble, because that guy is done (he's basically what PJ had in Mitch Richmond in the early 2000s).
