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[sthebest]

I'm done with this idiot Jim Buss.. I don't care what anybody says, hes the new al davis, he is the DEATH of the franchise..
I knew that wasnt adding up.. and i knew phil would sign.. but this idiot buss goes an hires another idiot..
Godammnit man..

Jerry Reinsdorf 2.0

 

[tonelow]

Now Im really sad we let Glock go.

 

[cato312]

Jerry Reinsdorf 2.0

c'mon fam, he's not that bad. Buss went into the luxury for D12 and Nash. He didn't hardcap the team for Kirk Hinrich like our Bullies did.

 

[xsalvioutlawx]

I'm curious about the real facts on how this whole thing went down. I guess the only way we'll find out the truth is to hear it from Phil Jackson him self.

Until then, Mike D'Antoni > Mike Brown.

If there's any team he can win a ring with, it's this team.

The difference between those great Sun's teams he coached and this team, Kobe Bryant is finally on his side and he's still balling. Not to mention we have Dwight in the middle and Steve Nash.

 

[grandtheftbike]

very curious of how this team will run under dantoni. he never had a defensive beast like dwight on his roster before so it might not be too bad (hopefully)

cant wait for kobe and nash pnr w/ dwight and pau

 

[daddyrabbit251]

So there you have it. Add another shooter to space the floor. What's James Jones up to? And let's get ready to battle. I think we've definitely upgraded coaches at this point. Shouldn't have rotation issues or Kobe playing 43 minutes in November.

Here we go... Posting with your brain and not your heart. People so butt hurt over Phil they not even looking at what D'Antoni is bringing to the table.

 

[thadocta]

Phil didnt wanna travel to road games. How can u have a coach that only wants to coach half the games and be successful?

Yall are ridiculous and always find something to complain abbout.
We have the best pick n roll players. And now we have the best pick n roll coach.
Excited to see dantoni coach

 

[sthebest]

Talk to Pat Riley.
Micky Arison gave him complete control, all that power, and even made him a part owner of the Heat.
Look what he's done for that Franchise. 2 rings and brought in 3 of the best players in the league today.
And HELL yes Pat Riley is on the same level with Phil Jackson.
Best Believe that..

SMARTEST thing ive read in this thread yet.

Phil has 10 championship rings. If that doesn't qualify him to gain control of the franchise, I don't know what will. This will come back to bite Buss for years to come

 

[grandtheftbike]

riley probably would have killed him if he didnt

 

[pmatic]

@KBergCBS Mike D'Antoni expected to reach out to fellow USA assistant Nate McMillan as potential defensive assistant, league source tells @CBSSports.

Last four full seasons as the Blazers head coach, this is how the Blazers rank in defensive rating:
07-08: 17
08-09: 13
09-10: 15
10-11: 14

 

[kvsm23vs24]

Not bad with this team we can be top 10 in defense.

 

[licensed to ball]

So there you have it. Add another shooter to space the floor. What's James Jones up to? And let's get ready to battle. I think we've definitely upgraded coaches at this point. Shouldn't have rotation issues or Kobe playing 43 minutes in November.

Here we go... Posting with your brain and not your heart. People so butt hurt over Phil they not even looking at what D'Antoni is bringing to the table.

Exactly.

If our coach isn't "Phil Jackson" then he's already the worst hire in the world.
There is no one that would make all these kids happy if it wasn't Phil.

Phil is a legend man, he's amazing...but big deal, its a new era. Time to move on man, let's see what happens.
If D'Antoni sucks you guys are going to be like "see LTB, see Essential, ya'll idiots defended pringles and all he did was ruin our team..."

BUT...if he does well (which he very well can)... "HELL YEAH PRINGLES, great hire Jim Buss. I love my Lakers "

It's going to be one or the other either way. Funny cuz all of you guys that are attacking me right now will be celebrating if he coaches us to a #1 seed.

Im glad CP and essential understand that even though dude isnt Phil Jackson he can still bring a lot to the table.
I'm just happy that we have a new coach...because regardless of what some of you believe, I didn't like Mike Brown at all...i just wanted to see him get a shot, he did...and he failed.

Ready for our next game. So far we're already looking better.

#TeamMoveForward ... Leggo.

 

[armorrig]

This pic is funny as hell 

Thought about this exact same analogy (potato to pringles).

But pringles are chips too...

 

[pyboy28]

Give D'ANTONI a chance...

For me I'm a huge PJ supporter and when I found out about this...this moring I was...

I read the headlines I was in denial...so decided to catch up on what ESPN said (even though most of the times they exaggerate things)

but IMO watching people say D'ANTONI over PJ is a BETTER CHOICE

WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN :x

IN SHORT...let's get that's RING!!!

SERIOUSLY THOUGH L4L!!!

 

[duba169]

I see this thread is already at the acceptance phase of grief. Good for you guys.

 

[sthebest]

c'mon fam, he's not that bad. Buss went into the luxury for D12 and Nash. He didn't hardcap the team for Kirk Hinrich like our Bullies did.

thats true. but the Bulls are holding their own pretty well this season thus far without D.Rose

 

[denni5themenace]

#teammoveforward
#teamoptimistic

he isn't Phil, but mike d can bring a lot of positives to the table. you guys clamoring for Phil (I wanted him as well) are acting like Phil was some defensive stalwart

I stand by my statement, this team has the talent to be decent on defense. they just have to go out there and want it more. doesn't matter who the coach is.

 

[pmatic]

D'Antoni highlights Lakers pick-and-roll

So much for Phil Jackson returning to Los Angeles.

After firing Mike Brown on Friday, the Los Angeles Lakers announced early Monday that Mike D’Antoni will be their next coach. It is D’Antoni’s fourth NBA head coaching job. While Jackson has won 11 NBA titles as a coach, D’Antoni has five playoff appearances – four with the Phoenix Suns and one with the New York Knicks.

D’Antoni’s success with the Suns depended largely on one man – Steve Nash, who happens to be his point guard again. When Nash returns from his leg injury, the 38-year-old will run D’Antoni’s up-tempo offense. From 2004-08, the Suns led the league in offensive efficiency (points per 100 possessions).

One look at D’Antoni’s win percentage with and without Nash shows how valuable the two-time NBA MVP has been to the coach.

Another signature of D’Antoni’s time with the Suns was the pick-and-roll. Phoenix led the NBA in pick-and-roll points per 100 possessions three times during D’Antoni’s tenure. They ranked seventh in 2005-06, a season in which the “roll” man – Amar’e Stoudemire – missed 79 games to injury.

In Los Angeles, Dwight Howard could play the role of Stoudemire. During his time with the Orlando Magic, Howard was one of the league’s premier “roll” men, excelling especially the past three seasons. While he has struggled in that spot this year, Nash only has played in two games.

One area in which D’Antoni is constantly panned is his defense. His Suns teams consistently finished near the bottom of the league in points allowed per game, but those numbers were somewhat skewed by the team’s furious tempo. Taking pace into consideration, Phoenix was near the league average defensively in D’Antoni’s last four seasons there, ranking 16th three times and 13th once. With the Lakers, he’ll obviously have perennial defensive star Kobe Bryant.

Considering his history, D’Antoni is a surprising hire by the Lakers. He has a .534 career winning percentage as an NBA head coach. The last time the Lakers hired a coach with a career winning percentage that low was Del Harris (.493 in 8+ seasons) before the 1994-95 season.

D’Antoni also has a pedigree for leading his teams to terrific regular seasons only to fall short in the playoffs. He finished first or second in the Western Conference from 2004-07 with the Suns. He is one of three coaches since the 1996-97 season to not reach the Finals over a three-year span despite finishing number one or two in the conference (Flip Saunders and Pat Riley were the others).

Speaking of Riley, D’Antoni will join him as the only men to have served as head coach for both the Knicks and the Lakers, according to Elias. Riley recorded a 533-194 record with the Lakers from 1981-82 to 1989-90, winning four NBA title. He then moved on to the Knicks, where he went 223-105 from 1991-92 to 1994-95 with one NBA Finals appearance.

Link

Edit:

Mike D'Antoni fits with Lakers

As head coach of the Phoenix Suns from 2003 to '08, Mike D'Antoni served as the mastermind of an offensive system that changed the NBA in many ways. Concepts that have become staples of offenses across the league -- such as emphasizing the corner 3-point shot and playing smaller, faster front lines (i.e., small forwards playing power forward and power forwards playing center) -- were first popularized by D'Antoni in Phoenix.

I had the good fortune to witness this firsthand while working in the Suns' front office during D'Antoni's reign.

D'Antoni used to preach to the players phrases like "shoot it or move it," "the ball finds energy," "the first three steps in transition are the difference" and, of course, "wings run to deep corners." These were all tenets of his coaching philosophy. And it's a philosophy that could turn around the Lakers' season.

For D'Antoni, offense and defense are intertwined. How many times have we seen players, as individuals, become more engaged defensively when they get a big dunk or a couple of shots to go? The same theory applies on the macro level to the entire team.

Roland Lazenby's tweet sums it up perfectly -- offensive confidence leads to energy on the defensive end. This is the psychology of the game; should we all strive to be consistent defensively, no matter what happens on offense? Of course, but that's not always the case, particularly with offensively talented personnel.

Taking all that into consideration, a renewed confidence in the offense leads to a corresponding vigor on the defensive end, and D'Antoni's playbook is ideal for the Lakers right now. Here's how:

Simple is beautiful

The beauty of D'Antoni's system, in its most basic manifestation, is in the simplicity of the decision-making for those who don't need to be making decisions. Steve Nash has freedom to read the defense and make the appropriate play call. I suspect Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, both extremely high-IQ basketball players, would be given similar freedoms. Everyone else is literally either filling the corners (shooters) or screening on the ball or away (bigs). That's it. If Metta World Peace gets the ball, he's either going to shoot it (because he's wide open) or move it (because he's not).

This reduces turnovers because you aren't letting the wrong people make decisions on the court, but rather are entrusting your higher-IQ guys to evaluate the risks. Furthermore, your role players now have a much clearer idea of where their shots are coming from, allowing them to become more proficient from those spots.

Of course, the full version of the playbook has a lot more wrinkles, and calls for more reading of situations by those peripheral players. But on a bare-bones level, there isn't a playbook that's more capable of being highly operational on short notice, particularly with the caliber of talent the Lakers bring to the table.

Personnel fit

One objection to D'Antoni's offense with the Lakers is they don't have the right personnel; they lack shooters. Indeed, the Lakers could use more shooters, but it's not a major issue. Shooters provide space for the pick and roll (Nash and Dwight Howard) to operate. If Bryant is in the corner, there is not a team in the NBA that's going to help off of him. His reputation alone creates the desired effect of the spacing. And if a team leaves him alone, Bryant had an effective field goal percentage (eFG%) of roughly .650 on unguarded catch-and-shoot situations in the past three seasons, according to Synergy.

World Peace, on the other hand, hasn't been a reliable catch-and-shoot player the past three seasons, even in unguarded situations. I suspect part of this has been due to his tenuous grasp on the triangle offense.

But he is a prime candidate to benefit from a simplification of his offensive duties. The ability to zero in on catch-and-shoot opportunities from specific areas on the floor will help him be a better shooter. If not, expect to see Steve Blake or Jodie Meeks at shooting guard with Bryant bumped up to small forward.

Gasol doesn't need to be able to stretch out to the 3-point line; he has shot .470 on long 2-point shots (farther than 17 feet) over the past three seasons. Again, that's going to create space. Even if the point guard hits Gasol as the open man and the defense closes in time, Gasol is smart and skilled enough to make something happen. For instance, he could put it on the floor and drive to the rim, or throw to Bryant on the weak side and then go into an immediate side pick-and-roll action.

Off the bench, Meeks can be a valuable piece as a pure shooter, and Blake has been a solid 3-point threat for most of his career. Antawn Jamison, to a lesser extent, also can create space; much like Shawn Marion in Phoenix, Jamison isn't a knockdown shooter from range, but he's just successful enough to make you think twice about leaving him open.

Trust

D'Antoni's system should work because, unlike former coach Mike Brown's Princeton offense, the players will believe in it. The players will believe in it because there is a familiarity; obviously, Nash was the maestro who ran it to perfection when he and D'Antoni were with the Suns, and Bryant and Howard have both been exposed to it as a part of Team USA (additionally, Bryant was coached by D'Antoni at the 2007 All-Star Game and spent time as a boy watching his dad, Joe Bryant and D'Antoni play together in Italy). Gasol is the type of savant who could work wonders within the context of the offense, much in the same way Boris Diaw did while playing for D'Antoni. Even reserve forward Jordan Hill got to run it in New York. The familiarity for some of the players will help bring the other players along.

Potential drawbacks

D'Antoni isn't without his flaws; with the Suns, we didn't devote enough practice time to drilling defensive concepts, for example. D'Antoni was an advocate of personal accountability; he'd tell you what the team was going to do defensively, but it was on you to know the coverage. However, some players could grasp and execute, but some couldn't, and more should have been done to bring them along. Outsourcing the defensive responsibilities to an assistant (Chuck Person?) and allocating significant practice time would go a long way toward solving those issues.

Another issue was that D'Antoni's rotations were always short; there wasn't a whole lot of trust in players Nos. 9-13 down at the end of the bench. The Lakers have a short bench as is, and Hill has had his share of run-ins with D'Antoni in the past. Also, can D'Antoni trust Blake enough to play through his mistakes, giving Nash ample rest time on the bench?

Ultimately, D'Antoni's biggest drawback is that he's not Phil Jackson, who has the history, the rings and, as evidenced by the chants Friday night at Staples Center, the hearts of the Lakers faithful. However, having coached in another big market like New York, D'Antoni should be used to the spotlight. With the Lakers in Los Angeles, D'Antoni should have ample opportunity to prove he is up to the challenge.

Link

 

[jbone2308]

Kobes gonna be great regardless. He is still 54% shooting and was over 60% in Mike Browns system. Cut his minutes rest him and by playoff time unleash him.

 

[licensed to ball]

#teammoveforward
#teamoptimistic

he isn't Phil, but mike d can bring a lot of positives to the table. you guys clamoring for Phil (I wanted him as well) are acting like Phil was some defensive stalwart

I stand by my statement, this team has the talent to be decent on defense. they just have to go out there and want it more. doesn't matter who the coach is.

This.

My dude dennis, always taking the words right out of my mouth.
People forget how bad we looked defensively in Phil's last season.
Especially in the playoffs when we were getting our butts swept.

"But Kobe's knee had problems!"
"But...Pau sucked!"
"But...Phil had personal issues"
You guys were very "understanding" then, but now all of a sudden THERE IS NO ROOM FOR ERROR.

Let's just see what the hell is going to happen. When i said whats the worse that can happen earlier, I meant COMPARED to being coached by Mike Brown. Obviously the worse case scenario is not winning the chip, and thats not what any of us wants. I just meant Mike Brown was taking this team no where, if anything he was taking our ship and sinking it slowly. So whats the worse that D'Antoni can do? Because we were on pace to not make the playoffs with our last coach.

Of course we wanted Phil, but Pringles is already a big improvement over Brown...so why not celebrate the fact that we at least upgraded our coach by MILES...instead of being so sad that we didnt give Phil Jackson the moon.

I will always think of Phil as the best bball coach in history, but I'm open to seeing what happens with our team. Like i said, it couldnt be any worse than it was with mike brown.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Looking at Mike D'Antoni as a new era Pat Riley. It's a far-fetched reach to compare the 2 but that's how I like to think of it in general terms.

I think D'Antoni has the personality to survive the Lakers job, something Brown didn't. He's a super nice guy but still commands respect and can be hard-nosed enough.

Other than the fact that Phil Jackson is a legend and would've been a great story, I'm disappointed in 2 things: 1.) No Pippen as an assistant and 2.) Dwight wanted Phil. Neither are big deals.

 

[s dubl]

not going to get involved in the debate, I was just as disappointed when I read the news...

ask yourself this tho... would you be just as unhappy with the decision if PJs name was never brought up as possible coach?

lets give pringles a chance to prove himself with this lineup before we bash him TOO hard.

 

[essential1]

I wish we kept Sessions..... Sessions, Meeks, Hill would have been nice for D'Antoni... Would need one more shooter.. But would have been solid

 

[hybridsoldier23]

not going to get involved in the debate, I was just as disappointed when I read the news...

ask yourself this tho... would you be just as unhappy with the decision if PJs name was never brought up as possible coach?

lets give pringles a chance to prove himself with this lineup before we bash him TOO hard.

Sloan>Pringles if there's no Phil

 

[senorroboto2k5]

SMARTEST thing ive read in this thread yet.
Phil has 10 championship rings. If that doesn't qualify him to gain control of the franchise, I don't know what will. This will come back to bite Buss for years to come

Phil being a successful coach like Pat Riley =/= Phil being successful in control of everything like Pat Riley

2 different things

Remember Phil wanted Jerry West and Kupchak to trade Kobe for Scottie Pippen when he first came to the Lakers. He thought it would make the team better for their championship run with Shaq. It might've been a decent move for the short term (as in until 2003), but it would've definitely been influenced by his love for Pippen... not a sound decision IMO