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Assuming the team played here in San Antonio. Pop would never coach in Los Angeles
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As it's currently constructed, with the lack of bench and the variety of issues of age, injury history, ego, etc. in the starting five, that's not a championship team under anyone's leadership. It's not a team that should be under .500 and looking lottery bound, either.
I think a team with Kobe, Dwight, Pau, Nash, and Artest as your starting 5 could and should win championships. Jamison is your 6th man and you just plug and play from there. Hill and Ebanks give you energy off the bench. It's actually a pretty damned good team tbh
That's what Buss thought when he signed off on paying 130 million dollars for that team. Should have brought back Phil to protect that investment.
I don't think so. If he had had an off-season to build a bench, then there'd be more hope. Even if Pop could get the Lakers to get over themselves, that team is still nothing but a collection of aging and injured stars and d-league role players.
Pop would be sure to use Pau effectively on offense and teach Dwight to be more disciplined on D instead of chasing stats by running 9 feet out to try to block a low percentage shot. He also wouldn't take any of Kobe's BS on offense and would let the offense work for Kobe. Much less iso and less jacking up contested shots with 15 on the clock. Spacing with Nash too. Pop has shown he can coach many styles, from being a drag it out defensive team to the motion offense we have now. Not to mention even in our slow paced years we would ramp it up vs the Suns and beat them at their own game. Versatile as they come, and he could to wonders with the roster.
I guess Mike Brown didn't know what to do with all that talent. He coached a one man show in Cleveland for so many years that it made him a one trick pony.
It is a pretty good team, but even if the pieces were to get healthy and gel as a team I think the lack of shooting and athleticism would spell doom against Miami or OKC.
I agree that they are old and perhaps not as athletic, but they are all winners. With the proper motivation this team would be scary as in the playoffs
Plus OKC and Miami are looking a lot more beatable these days imo
No. Kobe is uncoachable. Gregg Popovich can only do his job when players are willing to do what the coach asks.
Then there's Dwight Howard, who I think it's safe to say at this point is a locker room cancer. Then there's Metta, another seemingly uncoachable player.
Popovich would have to try doing something with Gasol, Nash, and Jamison who seem to be the only players who will actually listen, and limit Kobe's minutes and shots. Problem is, two of those three are really old and shadows of their former selves, and the other is getting up there.
I don't think even Pop could win with them because of the nature of the Lakers' best two players, Bryant and Howard.
Probably not. This team is not clicking on personal ground. 2 coaches, 2 diffrent ideas on how to win basketball games, and both didnt work out.
Having a full training camp Pop would be 34-0
Nobody can salvage this squad. It is flawed to the core.
A big fat NO !!! Dude couldn't survive in LA....He's too ugly..in fact I read somewhere that he's the ugliest coach in NBA History..and tbh that's hard to disputeAssuming the team played here in San Antonio. Pop would never coach in Los Angeles
This is the wrong question tbh; the only one that matters here is whether Pringles can lead this group of Lakers to a playoff seed.
Media there would hate Pop, but Jack Nicholson and the rest of the Laker faithful would be all over his nuts guaransheed
Who would Pop bring off the bench? I could see him starting Hill and bringing Pau off the bench.
Nash. He's the only guy on that team who can make random scrubs(read: Laker bench) around him better.
if the players had the right at ude, Pop could definitely do wonders with that group. But Kobe, Dwight would never accept a pain in the ass I don't care about your resume you will play off the bench coach
Pop would need an RC Buford type GM and a Peter Holt type owner. It's not just Pop. Flamboyant personalities never fared well in SA, Jax not withstanding but even Jax has his issues. The Lakers are so ego heavy it would be hard for Pop to just go in and change the culture. However, he would do things that earned the trust of the players, like take a fine just to rest them if he thought they needed it, and no way Kobe gets 40 minutes a night under Pop. He'd get the most out of all of them, and we'd actually get to see if what they were capable of. Not all "stacked" teams are capable of playing championship level ball as a team.
He'd find a way to bring Bonner off the bench.
Neither coach had the foggiest idea how to win a championship. Mike D won games because he had Nash and Amare, and some serious outside shooting. He lost games because other teams could just shut him down and play the scoring game better.
Brown won because he had Lebron James, who's underrated as far as his ability to bring a team together, be unselfish and be basically unstoppable. He also makes his teammates better.
Pop has 4 rings, two of them with a team not greatly different than the one he has now. He has a system that's not a gimmick like Mike D's Italian no defense system. If he had the defensive pieces LA has, SA would be looking like the 72 win Bulls about right now.
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