Lakers Hire D'Antoni

[cd021]

Wow. How is this going to work?

No 3pt Shooting
No Versatility
No Athleticism

[Creation88]

i believe you meant LOLakers

[lefty]

Looking forward to facing that mean playground D

[Fireball]

Kobe is happy ... now he can jack up 3 point shots as much as he desires ...

[Raven]

Kobe is happy ... now he can jack up 3 point shots as much as he desires ...

prepare for standard games of 10-40 from 3point and 5-5 from ft ..

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

prepare for standard games of 10-40 from 3point and 15-15 from ft ..

[BatManu20]

Well considering the list of demands that the Zen Master had, i'd say this is a bargain. But, they'll be much better offensively. Nash doesn't fit well in the triangle offense anyways. It still would've worked, but the ball needs to be in Nash's hands. Now they'll run an uptempo offense and Nash will run a bunch of pick-and-roll with Dwight and Kobe on the wing. The real issue with that team is defense. They look slow on D and hiring D'Antoni isn't going to solve that.

[bigfan]

This is great; if Jackson wants to coach again, let him coach a Hornets or Bobcats or whoever and lets just see what a great coach he really is without a Jordan or Bryant.

[Maddog]

This is great; if Jackson wants to coach again, let him coach a Hornets or Bobcats or whoever and lets just see what a great coach he really is without a Jordan or Bryant.
If he was the Bobcats coach he would still have Jordan.....

[Raven]

really, I don't see how could noD-antoni start artest... may be possible something like a nash-rapist-meeks combination..

[swaggerjackson]

Thank god. Jackson was always the only coach I was afraid of. I do think he would be much less effective without Jordan, Shaq, or Bryant. But the roster he is stepping into has Dwight, Kobe, Pau, and Nash. I am interested to see what D'Antoni does, and I am so glad we don't have to worry about Jackson. It might be irrational but ever since that series where we went up 2 games to none and then the Lakers just packed the lane and ended up losing the series I have been terrified of going up against him.

[8FOR!3]

If he was the Bobcats coach he would still have Jordan.....

:lol

[YoMamaIsCallin]

Popovich has always been able to outcoach D'Antoni. He is quite predictable and doesn't make adjustments well.

[Mugen]

Def an upgrade over Brown but i'm happy it wasn't Phil. And I'm pretty sure Pop is happy as well.

[Mark in Austin]

Dr. Buss: "what would you need to take this job?"
D'Antoni: "well, I wouldn't need to sleep w/ your daughter."
Dr. Buss: "you're hired"

[eric365]

Wow. How is this going to work?

No 3pt Shooting
No Versatility
No Athleticism

Gasol for Diaw, Danny Green and Mills
Help the Lakers for the 3 points they miss in the run and gun and we get the big we need for way too many years.
Do you do it?

[PÒÓCH]

The fact that Phil Jackson turned down this gig tell you a lot, either he doesn't believe in this group or the Laker system is not passable (speaking of the drama involved ). Why people covet D'Antoni is beyond comprehension, his players don't buy into defense, He's never been able to take his teams onto the next level I.E. championship, and on a personal note I find the guy an arrogant, egocentric screaming narcissist.

[Mugen]

Boris/Neal/Blair for Pau :hungry:

[Mugen]

The fact that Phil Jackson turned down this gig tell you a lot, either he doesn't believe in this group or the Laker system is not passable (speaking of the drama involved ). Why people covet D'Antoni is beyond comprehension, his players don't buy into defense, He's never been able to take his teams onto the next level I.E. championship, and on a personal note I find the guy an arrogant, egocentric screaming narcissist.

According to sources, it was the Lakers who turned Phil down.

[Dex]

It remains to be seen how this will play out. As has already been noted, Lakers have a great cast of players, but not really the parts needed for the D'Antoni run and gun system ala the 7-seconds-or-less Suns. And I don't think D'Antoni's system or tenure in New York is necessarily going to strike fear in the hearts of any opponents.

Also, Pringles is known for running his starters into the ground, which probably isn't the best idea for TOSB Kobe or TOSB Nash, especially since Nash doesn't have the trainers/miracle workers in Phoenix to keep him healthy anymore.

Personally, I'm just glad that Jackson didn't get the position. That would've worried me just because of his past success vs. the Spurs and in general.

[Horse]

Thank god. Jackson was always the only coach I was afraid of. I do think he would be much less effective without Jordan, Shaq, or Bryant. But the roster he is stepping into has Dwight, Kobe, Pau, and Nash. I am interested to see what D'Antoni does, and I am so glad we don't have to worry about Jackson. It might be irrational but ever since that series where we went up 2 games to none and then the Lakers just packed the lane and ended up losing the series I have been terrified of going up against him.

He won that series by bitching to the officials, you'll notice after the first two games we could not get any calls when we went to the basket. That took Parker out of his game. Phil's bitching has won him more than any coach in history. Good riddance stay in montana you old fuck!

[timvp]

Tbh, I think D'Antoni will be pretty good for the Lakers. Good fit personnel-wise and personality-wise.


That said, we Spurs fans should be breathing a huge sigh of relief that Phil Jackson didn't get the job. Come playoff time, D'Antoni's version of the Lakers will be much more beatable for the Spurs than Jackson's version of the Lakers.

[DPG21920]

Wow. How is this going to work?

No 3pt Shooting
No Versatility
No Athleticism

Disagree somewhat. It's not guaranteed to work because they have no bench, it's tough to implement things on the fly and who knows about health, but:

No 3pt shooting: Kobe, Nash, Meeks, Jamison, Artest, Blake are all capable shooters. They, to varying degrees have struggled lately but all of them have proven before that they can shoot.

No versatility: Dwight/Pau/Kobe are all versatile players. Pau is incredibly skilled in many facets of the game: passing, shooting, low post...Dwight can many things as well. Kobe can shoot, handle and operate extremely well in the low post for a guard.

No Athleticism: Dwight (while not fully healthy) is an athletic freak. Pau is a very athletic big man as well, very mobile. Kobe, while older is always in supreme shape and is still a good athlete. They aren't full of mind blowing athletes but they have some guys that are better than people give credit for.

[Obstructed_View]

Well considering the list of demands that the Zen Master had, i'd say this is a bargain. But, they'll be much better offensively. Nash doesn't fit well in the triangle offense anyways. It still would've worked, but the ball needs to be in Nash's hands. Now they'll run an uptempo offense and Nash will run a bunch of pick-and-roll with Dwight and Kobe on the wing. The real issue with that team is defense. They look slow on D and hiring D'Antoni isn't going to solve that.

You have a point, but unless something's changed, they have Dwight Howard out there without a contract extension. Someone said they signed a three billion dollar tv contract. Say what you want, but I can't think of a player who hated playing for Jackson. Paying 30 million dollars for a coach that could get that team to win and get Dwight to stay in LA instead of leaving for nothing would likely be worth it.

[DPG21920]

I just don't see Dwight leaving LA. They can pay him the most money and that will win a large percentage of the time.

[Mr. Body]

Disagree somewhat. It's not guaranteed to work because they have no bench, it's tough to implement things on the fly and who knows about health, but:

No 3pt shooting: Kobe, Nash, Meeks, Jamison, Artest, Blake are all capable shooters. They, to varying degrees have struggled lately but all of them have proven before that they can shoot.

No versatility: Dwight/Pau/Kobe are all versatile players. Pau is incredibly skilled in many facets of the game: passing, shooting, low post...Dwight can many things as well. Kobe can shoot, handle and operate extremely well in the low post for a guard.

No Athleticism: Dwight (while not fully healthy) is an athletic freak. Pau is a very athletic big man as well, very mobile. Kobe, while older is always in supreme shape and is still a good athlete. They aren't full of mind blowing athletes but they have some guys that are better than people give credit for.

'Athleticism' is not precisely accurate - perhaps speed is the better way of looking at it, although I'm far from the first person to mention it. Their team speed is awfully slow. In fact, I'm not sure you could say any of their main players has any speed at all. Certainly their starting guards are slow, but Artest, Gasol, and even Howard, are all pretty plodding for their positions. What happened to them against the Clippers should be replicated by the best teams - they'll just get run down. I don't see this changing with this personnel.

[DPG21920]

I've never heard the term plodding used for Kobe, Dwight or Pau, but I agree, they aren't what you would call speedsters. We will just have to wait and see, but they have a lot of talent for a D'Antoni system IMO.

[Bambililos]

I love Boris and I hate the idea of helping the Lakers, but this sounds interesting.

[Darius Bieber]

Spurs' championship chances just got better.

[ginobilized]

Can't wait for tomorrow's game....

Lakers might be pretty fired up, should be a great test

[cd021]

prepare for standard games of 10-40 from 3point and 5-5 from ft ..
B

best quote by far LOL

[cd021]

Gasol for Diaw, Danny Green and Mills
Help the Lakers for the 3 points they miss in the run and gun and we get the big we need for way too many years.
Do you do it?

No. As much as I like Gasol. Diaw fits very well into our system. He plays good defense a smart passer and can play multiple positions. Green has been ,after Duncan the best offense player on our team this season. Mills is valuable when Parker is injured or resting. We are deeper at every position than they are. Granted they have a better Center.

[SpurPadre]

Def an upgrade over Brown but i'm happy it wasn't Phil. And I'm pretty sure Pop is happy as well.

No, not def an upgrade over Brown, it's a downgrade. Brown gets too much of a bad rap while D'Antoni's lack of any attention to defense doesn't get stressed enough.

[spurraider21]

Thunder trade Harden, the Lakers hire D'Antoni... are the stars aligning? If only we can get the Clippers to do something dumb too.

[Richie]

Anyone else think Pau could be in play? He doesn't fit with D'Antoni's pick and roll game with Howard/Nash. He will just clog the lane.

The Lakers are lacking 3 point shooters, and we are overrun with them. Could we send Bonner, Splitter, Jax and possibly Neal for Gasol? Lakers get the 3pt shooters for D'Antonis system, we get the 4 we've needed for ages.

[DPG21920]

Wow, some people are crazy. It's not that Pau might not be available (which I doubt, but there are arguments for it), but nothing the Spurs can offer outside of the big 3 will come close to what they could get. Not only that, but Pau is mobile, a great passer and can shoot all the way out to the 3 point line, so I don't see him exactly clogging the paint like most bigs would.

They may very well trade Pau for more shooting and depth, but it won't be to the Spurs .

[Mel_13]

Thunder trade Harden, the Lakers hire D'Antoni... are the stars aligning? If only we can get the Clippers to do something dumb too.

I was thinking much the same thing. In the past 12 months:

1. Lakers hire D'antoni over PJ.
2. OKC trades Harden for Martin.
3. Dallas chooses cap space over Chandler and others from a title team.
4. Clippers exercise team option to retain VDN when they could have had either van Gundy brother, Sloan, or D'antoni.

[Mugen]

Thunder trade Harden, the Lakers hire D'Antoni... are the stars aligning? If only we can get the Clippers to do something dumb too.

I'll start to take notice if LeBron tears an ACL tbh.

[angelbelow]

Pau is a very athletic big man as well, very mobile. Kobe, while older is always in supreme shape and is still a good athlete. They aren't full of mind blowing athletes but they have some guys that are better than people give credit for.

Either Pau broken down as an athlete or he just isn't motivated but he's displayed extremely poor effort (to the standard we are used to from him) for the past 2 years. Doesn't run the floor like he used to or does he defend with much purpose. Maybe Mikey D can inspire him to play with some fire again.

[temujin]

Stern should prohibit this hiring: it's unfair to everything he has done to make the Lakers go to the Finals again.

[Richie]

Wow, some people are crazy. It's not that Pau might not be available (which I doubt, but there are arguments for it), but nothing the Spurs can offer outside of the big 3 will come close to what they could get. Not only that, but Pau is mobile, a great passer and can shoot all the way out to the 3 point line, so I don't see him exactly clogging the paint like most bigs would.

They may very well trade Pau for more shooting and depth, but it won't be to the Spurs .

If they want 3 point shooters, they won't get better than Bonner and Neal. Splitter would be a great backup for Howard as he is an excellent pick and roll player and would be very good with Nash. Jackson makes love to pressure, would be a big time player come playoffs for them.

I actually think that trade is pretty good for the Lakers. They get a good bench who have basically been playing in a D'Antoni style for the last couple years with the Spurs.

[99 Problems]

Gasol for Diaw, Danny Green and Mills
Help the Lakers for the 3 points they miss in the run and gun and we get the big we need for way too many years.
Do you do it?


I think it's interesting. People hang it on Pau but he's still a very good baller. I'd like to see him away from Kobe and under a Pop like character. Millsy, well he'd thrive in an D'Antoni run and gun. Nash do the P&R then let Millsy go for 15 - 20 a game. However if Pop sees something longer term in him he's probably better sticking with Pop at this stage of his development. Boris (solid NBA player) no risk of shooting too much if he a Laker. Green, young and can improve I have no doubt. Not sure we wanna give him up yet.

[swaggerjackson]

I would not be surprised if the Lakers wanted to deal Pau. But I don't think they would deal him to the Spurs. You have to get him into the east hopefully, but you certainly can't trade him to a team you will likely see in the playoffs 2nd round or conference finals. Plus we don't have salaries big enough to match Pau's unless we trade Jax and two other players. I am not sure he is worth that package. But I have always wanted to see him play next to Duncan. In my eyes he is Tim Duncan lite

[Baseline]

Yes, I'm surprised. Stern usually does better than this with his Lakers.

I can only assume that Stern is orchestrating an Artest for Luol Deng trade, and/or a Ray allen for Steve Blake trade.

Regardless, count on the Lakers to bolster their bench with trades that are dirty and make no sense, a la Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol.

[SequSpur]

Gasol sucks.

[Stabula]

Gasol sucks.

[dunkman]

The Spurs won't dismantle the team in mid-season, and the Lakers would never make that trade to the Spurs. D'Antony was near the title in 2007 with the Suns.

This signing is less dangerous than Phil Jax tbh. I agree the Spurs could have a shot at making the finals, but winning a series vs the Heat would be much more difficult.

[Kidd K]

Terrible move imo. Of the three "big name" option, D'Antoni seemed like the worst to me. Phil would've been a big hit to the bank, plus drama, but at least had a good track record (though he looked very lethargic his last 2 seasons with LA). And Sloan is an underrated coach who demands a solid defensive effort, and would work well with Nash/Gasol.

D'Antoni's "wait until they shoot the ball so we can go on offense again" defensive scheme is going to be their undoing. I don't think their team is really built to suit D'Antoni's offense either.

[cd021]

Anyone else think Pau could be in play? He doesn't fit with D'Antoni's pick and roll game with Howard/Nash. He will just clog the lane.

The Lakers are lacking 3 point shooters, and we are overrun with them. Could we send Bonner, Splitter, Jax and possibly Neal for Gasol? Lakers get the 3pt shooters for D'Antonis system, we get the 4 we've needed for ages.

I don't see two potential playoff opponents trading pieces to each other during the season. Paul is the only versatile player they really have though stats do say he plays Center better than he does PF.

[cd021]

Yes, I'm surprised. Stern usually does better than this with his Lakers.

I can only assume that Stern is orchestrating an Artest for Luol Deng trade, and/or a Ray allen for Steve Blake trade.

Regardless, count on the Lakers to bolster their bench with trades that are dirty and make no sense, a la Kwame Brown for Pau Gasol.

Mark Gasol for Paul Gasol.

That trade looks awesome for the Grizz in retro.

Younger better player to build around as a traditional big.

[maverick1948]

Don't know about ya'll but I spent the better part of today LMAO over this and D Cousins suspension. I cant believe the Lakers are expecting their ancient old players to play the 7 second shot. I have never seen it work in the NBA and dont think it will be any different in LA. As for Cousins, it would be best to leave announcers like Sean alone. After all he is 6'8 and wont cower like a regular announcer.

[therealtruth]

The guy who should be happiest is Pop. PJ has owned him but he has owned D'Antoni. Seriously everything keeps happening in the Spurs favor. The Lakers start off bad then hire D'Antoni. The Thunder trade their difference maker in Harden. I think the Spurs are guaranteed to come out of the West now if they don't mess it up.

[racm]

The guy who should be happiest is Pop. PJ has owned him but he has owned D'Antoni. Seriously everything keeps happening in the Spurs favor. The Lakers start off bad then hire D'Antoni. The Thunder trade their difference maker in Harden. I think the Spurs are guaranteed to come out of the West now if they don't mess it up.

Don't forget Tim Duncan playing like he was the league MVP and the Spurs being 6-1 even with all these screwups in rebounding and turnovers.

[spurraider21]

Not worried about the Clippers
A healthy CP3 is one of the few point guards in the league that can literally outplay parker game in and game out. Add their athletic bigs and shooters, and yeah, I'd call them a team to be reckoned with

[DAF86]

I just don't see how can you say that the Lakers' talent fits D'antoni's system. No speed, no reliable 3pt shooting, two elite bigmen (so no smallball), old bodies (bad for the short rotations that he loves and the up-tempo game).

Lakers will be good because they have just too much talent and D'antoni is an upgrade over Brown (if only for eliminating the princenton offense), but I can think of many coaches that would have been a better fit with this Lakers squad.

[Obstructed_View]

I'll start to take notice if LeBron tears an ACL tbh.

This.

[baseline bum]

:rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin
:rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin
:rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin :rollin

[Fabbs]

The guy who should be happiest is Pop. PJ has owned him but he has owned D'Antoni. Seriously everything keeps happening in the Spurs favor. The Lakers start off bad then hire D'Antoni. The Thunder trade their difference maker in Harden. I think the Spurs are guaranteed to come out of the West now if they don't mess it up.
Heard loud and clear and certainly far better it's now D'Antoni rather then squinty eyed WWE Phil owning Pop again for years to come.
However, Popped had prime Duncan GNob Parker Bowen Horry etc bailing him out vs Phx all those years.
No such luxury now.

[ace3g]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=w5Mi3b4vcCE

[ColinB]

:lol

I love Next Media Animation.

[dbreiden83080]

The Championship is as good as theirs.. :lol

[ace3g]

Ira Winderman ‏@IraHeatBeat (https://twitter.com/IraHeatBeat) Popovich, of course, had great pregame line, saying bringing back Phil Jackson would have been like trying to put Soviet Union back together