Magic Johnson has nothing good to say about D'Antoni hiring, mourns over no Phil

[Davidgta1]

Come On magic just say something good I'm tired of the media talking **** about us these comments don't help.

[Cimos21]

Magic was on the halftime show last night for the Clippers / Heat game and he said that Mike D'Antoni called him yesterday to sit down and talk. About what he didn't say, but I think this is a great gesture by Mike D'ANtoni. You can tell that D'Antoni wants to be a Lakers coach for a while.

[MissinShowtime]

You mean like the Heat last year?



Or Dallas the year before that?



And didn't we have Phil coaching the team the year before that, when we didn't win a title?

Where would Dr. Jack Ramsey be if the criteria for being a great coach meant you had to win a title? How about Doc Rivers? Give me a break! Many coaches are using some of D'Antoni's offensive schemes in their playbooks.

Many of you are forgetting how many new faces are on this team. It would be much harder for these new players to grasp the triangle than it would for them to grasp D'Antoni's system. Nash had his best seasons under him, and Dwight knows the pick-and-roll under Van Gundy's system.

I was excited about the thought of Phil coming in...but I'm more optimistic about D'Antoni than I ever was about Mike Brown. Magic says a lot of things the wrong way. He even went about the Mike Brown thing wrong last season. Time to sit back and let the show begin!

[LightUpTheHalo]

I was excited about the thought of Phil coming in...but I'm more optimistic about D'Antoni than I ever was about Mike Brown. Magic says a lot of things the wrong way. He even went about the Mike Brown thing wrong last season. Time to sit back and let the show begin!

Yup.

[Laker Legend42]

Yup.

He says mike brown is a great coach but wasn't right for the team. That sounds dumb .

[gr824]

Pat Riley had won championships at multiple levels as a player

What has Dantoni ever won?

Probably not the best example

I know you do not really want an answer, but others might be interested:

D'Antoni, as a player and a coach in Europe for more than 20 years, won 15 titles. Some consider him the best European PG ever ...

He also won Coach of the Year overseas at least twice and won the same honor in the NBA once [ 2004-2005 ] ...

His coaching career in the NBA [ 1998-1999 and 2003-2012 ] ran concurrent with Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, and Pat Riley [ Miami ], so the fact that he has so far failed to win an NBA title after coaching only ten seasons over here is not particularly surprising [ certainly not a crushing indictment in any case, as you implied with your earlier comment about him having coached "forever"; Sloan was the one who truly coached "forever" and never really won anything, yet many wanted him to be the Laker HC, even though he is a decade older and would represent more of a risky retread than M. D. ] ...

As an assistant with USA Basketball, D'Antoni's involvement contributed to an overall record of 36 wins in 37 contests during his three-year stint ...

During his last four seasons with Phoenix, D'Antoni's teams won nearly 71% of their regular season games [ granted, though, they were only 26-25 in the playoffs ; see the notes about Popovich and Jackson above ] ...

[Gaucho]

I know you do not really want an answer, but others might be interested:

D'Antoni, as a player and a coach in Europe for more than 20 years, won 15 titles. Some consider him the best European PG ever ...

He also won Coach of the Year overseas at least twice and won the same honor in the NBA once [ 2004-2005 ] ...

His coaching career in the NBA [ 1998-1999 and 2003-2012 ] ran concurrent with Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, and Pat Riley [ Miami ], so the fact that he has so far failed to win an NBA title after coaching only ten seasons over here is not particularly surprising [ certainly not a crushing indictment in any case, as you implied with your earlier comment about him having coached "forever"; Sloan was the one who truly coached "forever" and never really won anything, yet many wanted him to be the Laker HC, even though he is a decade older and would represent more of a risky retread than M. D. ] ...

As an assistant with USA Basketball, D'Antoni's involvement contributed to an overall record of 36 wins in 37 contests during his three-year stint ...

During his last four seasons with Phoenix, D'Antoni's teams won nearly 71% of their regular season games [ granted, though, they were only 26-25 in the playoffs ; see the notes about Popovich and Jackson above ] ...

For a being a computer, you seem very well adjusted to human conversation patterns.

[GailGoodrich]

I know you do not really want an answer, but others might be interested:

D'Antoni, as a player and a coach in Europe for more than 20 years, won 15 titles. Some consider him the best European PG ever ...

He also won Coach of the Year overseas at least twice and won the same honor in the NBA once [ 2004-2005 ] ...

His coaching career in the NBA [ 1998-1999 and 2003-2012 ] ran concurrent with Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich, and Pat Riley [ Miami ], so the fact that he has so far failed to win an NBA title after coaching only ten seasons over here is not particularly surprising [ certainly not a crushing indictment in any case, as you implied with your earlier comment about him having coached "forever"; Sloan was the one who truly coached "forever" and never really won anything, yet many wanted him to be the Laker HC, even though he is a decade older and would represent more of a risky retread than M. D. ] ...

As an assistant with USA Basketball, D'Antoni's involvement contributed to an overall record of 36 wins in 37 contests during his three-year stint ...

During his last four seasons with Phoenix, D'Antoni's teams won nearly 71% of their regular season games [ granted, though, they were only 26-25 in the playoffs ; see the notes about Popovich and Jackson above ] ...

I love a Laker fan with actual facts.

One of the things I learned watching Showtime was that dominant teams don't just win, they take titles away from other teams that might be great for only a year or two. The same thing happened with Chicago. We crap on Stockton and Malone because they didn't win a ring, but that's really only because they ran into a dominant team. They were certainly good enough themselves to have won in many other years.

Say what you want about D'Antoni and the players he had, I don't think anyone's ever made the argument that he had the BEST players or the most dominant teams when he was coaching them.

Now he's got some truly great players to work with, and I'm interested to see what he can do.

[Pearljammer II]

Earvin Magic Johnson
@MagicJohnson

I leve Magic... I know he loves the Laker more than anything... but how the heck do yo make thiese two statements back to back??...

My mom told you me if you have nothing nice to say don't say it all ... but then continues to say that he wished Jackson was hired instead of D'Antoni.... if that is not the most contridictory think I've ever heard.

#1 if he's not happy with D'Antoni hiring than he shouldn't have said anything, but be supportive of the decision

#2 To go and say that Lakers should have hired someone with championship experience like Jackson, Pat Riley or Brian Shaw??.... did he really saw Brian Shaw???... you give an assitant coach with no head coach exprience to lead this built for now championship team? seems a bit absurd. If you can't agree to terms with Jackson, D'Antoni is our best chance to win. I'm disappointed in Magic for this. What happens if Lakers are successful under D'Antoni and actually win it all this year... how ackward will it be to see Magic take part of the celebration? at the end of the year.

[ldawg]

Magic has been right on all his claims to date, I sure hope he is wrong on this one. IMO Mike is the better fit this time not living in the past.

[ldawg]

Shaw cant get a chance out of LA why do we want a rookie coach? Sorry Magic Mike is the best fit at this point. Sure he dont have Phil resume But what present coach does? Phil cant coach forever his time is up time to turn a new page. The last two champions were not coached by Jackson infact he got the broom in the last one looking tired out coached and he lost his players. you know What he did after that Magic? Phil will be remembered as one of if not the greatest coach of all time.

[LakerMan24]

I think we should give Mike a chance at coaching this team, he never had an all-star calibre team before so now is his chance to get this team intact and ready for competition. I believe he can make Steve great, along with Kobe, Dwight and MWP.

Pau is the toughest one, because Laker fans want to see him succeed and be a monster in the paint, so watching Pau in D'Antoni's system will be very interesting. However, I'm willing to give Mike a chance, more than Potato Head, and plus who doesn't like Pringles???

[ldawg]

Its more like what are they going to do with piece.

[kobebabe]

If Miami won with Spoelstra as their head coach, i don't understand why some pple here dont think MDA has a chance with this loaded team.

[ldawg]

If Miami won with Spoelstra as their head coach, i don't understand why some pple here dont think MDA has a chance with this loaded team.

You nuts? No team have ever won a ring without Phil