The Case for Mike D'Antoni

[Maddog-99]

I fealt this post needed to be written & where better to put it than the rabid waters of (my favorite) PSDs Laker forum.


So, Why all of the hating on D'Antoni? It took me a while to get into this choice as I was early on the Phil wagon. I called for that after going to the Lakes v. Clips game early & seeing in person that NO ONE knew what they were doing under Brown. Total cluster F$%^.

But, Ive come around on D'Antoni.
The key points that get lost in the hating or comparisons to me are...

1. Phils not coaching & hes not going to coach!
- We arent going up against him. He is removed from the equation. So when we didnt select him, its not like we have to face him or someone else has him. Phils also the reason Mike doesnt have at least 1 title IMO, you could argue 2. So again with Phil out, its wide open for Mike.

2. Mike has always had a short rotation...
- And we have a limited bench. Perfect Fit! It takes a key weakness of ours and negates it. Im sure he will extend a bit beyond 7 players given our ages, but again this is great for us.

3. Mikes system maximizes team talent
- Philosophy being, if you are the best talent on the floor, you should push for the most possessions (tempo) and stack the odds in your favor. This bets heavy on talent, as opposed to the Triangle or Princeton, which bet on systems of interchangeable parts (a serious over simplification, but you get me). Lakers have the most talent. Lets bet on that talent, not hide it in a system. Perfect fit.

4. Mikes system is extremely fun to watch.
- This is important to me as a fan & sometimes attendee of games. Ive been watching full games on TV lately, waiting for wife & kid to be asleep. I didnt do that with Phil & Co, they were often boring, but effective. Its so fun to watch the ball move & players play. This matters to me & I like it.

5. Mike is the real deal.
- Its not like hes chopped liver. Suns, Knicks (ouch, but hes learned from that), Olympics. He is the real deal & is respected by his colleagues & players. We are always complaining that this league is run by players & here we have a coach that runs a style players love & is successful. Perfect fit!

There is much work to be done with these Lakers but I think we are in good hands & going the right direction. How fun it will be to win a championship with this philosophy & style, & we will have a great regular season of fun games to boot.

And for all the Laker Haters who think they are piling on as we "struggle":

The Lakers only measuring stick is themselves. No one else comes close. When we make mistakes, we clean them up & then win. You want to call that fumbling, I call it solid management.
Any other franchise would give their left nut to get half of what the Lakers pulled off this offseason. Im looking at you Boston, Dallas, Miami.
And oh by the way, have you seen what our books look like in 2014.

Go D'Antoni.
Go Lakers.

[Ballistix]

Finally someone with some common sense. Thank you Sir!

[LAL-LAA-LAK-USC]

Lets just hope the Lakers win the ship this season n next

[Pearljammer II]

Plus remember you want to give the best chance to resign Dwight. If we'd sign PJax... he would have stayed what one, maybe two years.... signing a younger, experienced & respected coach to a four year deal.. will give Dwight some security in knowing who the coach is for most of his next max contract. Having a coach on the books for one or two years may make him less likely to commit not knowing who could be the coach a couple of years into his contract.

[Maddog-99]

Plus remember you want to give the best chance to resign Dwight. If we'd sign PJax... he would have stayed what one, maybe two years.... signing a younger, experienced & respected coach to a four year deal.. will give Dwight some security in knowing who the coach is for most of his next max contract. Having a coach on the books for one or two years may make him less likely to commit not knowing who could be the coach a couple of years into his contract.

+1 good point I left out.

[Pluvious]

I fealt this post needed to be written & where better to put it than the rabid waters of (my favorite) PSDs Laker forum.


So, Why all of the hating on D'Antoni? It took me a while to get into this choice as I was early on the Phil wagon. I called for that after going to the Lakes v. Clips game early & seeing in person that NO ONE knew what they were doing under Brown. Total cluster F$%^.

But, Ive come around on D'Antoni.
The key points that get lost in the hating or comparisons to me are...

1. Phils not coaching & hes not going to coach!
- We arent going up against him. He is removed from the equation. So when we didnt select him, its not like we have to face him or someone else has him. Phils also the reason Mike doesnt have at least 1 title IMO, you could argue 2. So again with Phil out, its wide open for Mike.

2. Mike has always had a short rotation...
- And we have a limited bench. Perfect Fit! It takes a key weakness of ours and negates it. Im sure he will extend a bit beyond 7 players given our ages, but again this is great for us.

3. Mikes system maximizes team talent
- Philosophy being, if you are the best talent on the floor, you should push for the most possessions (tempo) and stack the odds in your favor. This bets heavy on talent, as opposed to the Triangle or Princeton, which bet on systems of interchangeable parts (a serious over simplification, but you get me). Lakers have the most talent. Lets bet on that talent, not hide it in a system. Perfect fit.

4. Mikes system is extremely fun to watch.
- This is important to me as a fan & sometimes attendee of games. Ive been watching full games on TV lately, waiting for wife & kid to be asleep. I didnt do that with Phil & Co, they were often boring, but effective. Its so fun to watch the ball move & players play. This matters to me & I like it.

5. Mike is the real deal.
- Its not like hes chopped liver. Suns, Knicks (ouch, but hes learned from that), Olympics. He is the real deal & is respected by his colleagues & players. We are always complaining that this league is run by players & here we have a coach that runs a style players love & is successful. Perfect fit!

There is much work to be done with these Lakers but I think we are in good hands & going the right direction. How fun it will be to win a championship with this philosophy & style, & we will have a great regular season of fun games to boot.

And for all the Laker Haters who think they are piling on as we "struggle":

The Lakers only measuring stick is themselves. No one else comes close. When we make mistakes, we clean them up & then win. You want to call that fumbling, I call it solid management.
Any other franchise would give their left nut to get half of what the Lakers pulled off this offseason. Im looking at you Boston, Dallas, Miami.
And oh by the way, have you seen what our books look like in 2014.

Go D'Antoni.
Go Lakers.

Solid post. Now make a post about Gasol using the same formula. Losing Gasol would be a horrible mistake. He is a huge asset and makes perfect sense for this team. And I'm not a Gasol fan or anything.

[LAKERMANIA]

Good post, agree completely, and I'm a huge PJ fan and also wanted him to be our coach

[Maddog-99]

Solid post. Now make a post about Gasol using the same formula. Losing Gasol would be a horrible mistake. He is a huge asset and makes perfect sense for this team. And I'm not a Gasol fan or anything.

Im going to do that.

I feel exactly the same way you do on Pau.
Dont want to hijack my own thread just yet, Ill do it in a seperate post.

[duane v]

I fealt this post needed to be written & where better to put it than the rabid waters of (my favorite) PSDs Laker forum.


So, Why all of the hating on D'Antoni? It took me a while to get into this choice as I was early on the Phil wagon. I called for that after going to the Lakes v. Clips game early & seeing in person that NO ONE knew what they were doing under Brown. Total cluster F$%^.

But, Ive come around on D'Antoni.
The key points that get lost in the hating or comparisons to me are...

1. Phils not coaching & hes not going to coach!
- We arent going up against him. He is removed from the equation. So when we didnt select him, its not like we have to face him or someone else has him. Phils also the reason Mike doesnt have at least 1 title IMO, you could argue 2. So again with Phil out, its wide open for Mike.

2. Mike has always had a short rotation...
- And we have a limited bench. Perfect Fit! It takes a key weakness of ours and negates it. Im sure he will extend a bit beyond 7 players given our ages, but again this is great for us.

3. Mikes system maximizes team talent
- Philosophy being, if you are the best talent on the floor, you should push for the most possessions (tempo) and stack the odds in your favor. This bets heavy on talent, as opposed to the Triangle or Princeton, which bet on systems of interchangeable parts (a serious over simplification, but you get me). Lakers have the most talent. Lets bet on that talent, not hide it in a system. Perfect fit.

4. Mikes system is extremely fun to watch.
- This is important to me as a fan & sometimes attendee of games. Ive been watching full games on TV lately, waiting for wife & kid to be asleep. I didnt do that with Phil & Co, they were often boring, but effective. Its so fun to watch the ball move & players play. This matters to me & I like it.

5. Mike is the real deal.
- Its not like hes chopped liver. Suns, Knicks (ouch, but hes learned from that), Olympics. He is the real deal & is respected by his colleagues & players. We are always complaining that this league is run by players & here we have a coach that runs a style players love & is successful. Perfect fit!

There is much work to be done with these Lakers but I think we are in good hands & going the right direction. How fun it will be to win a championship with this philosophy & style, & we will have a great regular season of fun games to boot.

And for all the Laker Haters who think they are piling on as we "struggle":

The Lakers only measuring stick is themselves. No one else comes close. When we make mistakes, we clean them up & then win. You want to call that fumbling, I call it solid management.
Any other franchise would give their left nut to get half of what the Lakers pulled off this offseason. Im looking at you Boston, Dallas, Miami.
And oh by the way, have you seen what our books look like in 2014.

Go D'Antoni.
Go Lakers.

You left out one important point............

D'Antoni's system dont win rings

[midwestlaker75]

You left out one important point............

D'Antoni's system dont win rings

But D'Antoni has never had the Black Mamba, D-12 & Pau to go along with Nash. Let's give it 30 games or so before we assess if we like this guy or not. I, too was a bit miffed at his hiring...Not because of him personally,But because I like Phil and we know Phil is a proven commodity. But i'm a fair man and I do like some of the thing I've been seeing so far. We must give him time to teach, I figure we will have a better assessment by the ASB. And D'Antoni's system does play better for us in the long term.

[BlackPurpleGold]

But D'Antoni has never had the Black Mamba, D-12 & Pau to go along with Nash. Let's give it 30 games or so before we assess if we like this guy or not. I, too was a bit miffed at his hiring...Not because of him personally,But because I like Phil and we know Phil is a proven commodity. But i'm a fair man and I do like some of the thing I've been seeing so far. We must give him time to teach, I figure we will have a better assessment by the ASB. And D'Antoni's system does play better for us in the long term.

You and Maddog have some good points.

Not saying I'm jumping on the D'Antoni bandwagon - he is a Jimbob hire, after all - but I don't have a problem giving him and them some time to put it together.

[C-Style]

Good post...but my concerns is that his offense is dictated on 1 player only and he's 39

[Maddog-99]

Good post...but my concerns is that his offense is dictated on 1 player only and he's 39

Yes, that is a very fair comment.

I cringe a little bit when he talks (literally all the time!) about how Nash will make this go etc etc. That concerns me for the same reasons.

[Angels4Ever]

I fealt this post needed to be written & where better to put it than the rabid waters of (my favorite) PSDs Laker forum.


So, Why all of the hating on D'Antoni?

The hating is only on here where people complain no matter what result happens. The Lakers win the Championship and those people disappear from here like what happened a few years ago.

[lakers4sho]

The hating is only on here where people complain no matter what result happens. The Lakers win the Championship and those people disappear from here like what happened a few years ago.

You said that for the past couple of seasons as well