just face it lakers made two bad coaching choices!

[timebandit]

Plain and simple Lakers made 2 bad coaching choices in coaches!
come on do you guys honestly think they could win with a better coach??
I was so happy we got Howard Lakers are way better team than what they are now come on that coaching staff sucks!

[LAKobeBryant]

Who thought someone could be worse than Mike Brown at coaching?
Who thought Bynum would play better than Howard with Kobe?

[Avenged24]

Pretty sure the majority already knew this. No need to face it.

[Grabmeone2]

Who thought someone could be worse than Mike Brown at coaching?
Who thought Bynum would play better than Howard with Kobe?

I did. When they fired Brown I thought it was to get PJ and that's fine. Not this joker. MB had better defensive teams than this.

And Bynum actually has post moves. Not that bs that Howard does when he shows everyone in the building the ball, hesitates with the ball low and away from his body, then swings it up as fast as he can. I'm really surprised at how taken back people are at Howard's post game. He has always been like this. Bynum worked on his post game for years and its paid off.

[Leftcoast_yg]

Correction 3 1)hiring mike b 2)not hiring phil 3) hiring mike d

[Big Moves03]

Howard will get it together and play consistently in about another 4 weeks or so. Still not 100%, Howard is dominant when he is active, but his activity level varies from game to game. And yeah, horrible coaching decisions. People are giving jim buss a lot of heat, but he has brought in great players, while bringing in horrible coaching. I feel it's not all jim buss though. Jerry buss has been wanting to bring back showtime for a long time, so I feel he may have also played a role in the hiring of d'antoni.

[lpdunks8]

Correction 3 1)hiring mike b 2)not hiring phil 3) hiring mike d

I don't think it matters who the coach would be big picture-wise. Don't people remember the horrendous defensive performance under Phil in the '11 play-offs (even against CP3, Carl Landry, and crew in the 1st round)?

If the players do something as simple as see ball and man on defense; there is no hope. That is grade school defense.

Howard is one of the strongest cats in the league, yet he gets stripped so many times even when he has two hands on the ball.

SMH

[KillaInstinct24]

I don't think it matters who the coach would be big picture-wise. Don't people remember the horrendous defensive performance under Phil in the '11 play-offs (even against CP3, Carl Landry, and crew in the 1st round)?

If the players do something as simple as see ball and man on defense; there is no hope. That is grade school defense.

Howard is one of the strongest cats in the league, yet he gets stripped so many times even when he has two hands on the ball.

SMH

Howard has no space to work with and yes for some odd reason I think if pop was coaching this exact roster we'd be 20 games over 500

[stranger]

Blind Leading Blind!!!!!!

[mOrphosis]

I don't think it matters who the coach would be big picture-wise. Don't people remember the horrendous defensive performance under Phil in the '11 play-offs (even against CP3, Carl Landry, and crew in the 1st round)?

If the players do something as simple as see ball and man on defense; there is no hope. That is grade school defense.

Howard is one of the strongest cats in the league, yet he gets stripped so many times even when he has two hands on the ball.

SMH

I think it does matter. Yes, the defense was bad in the 2011 playoffs with Phil Jackson as coach, but I think the Lakers were dog-tired from a series of years of deep playoff runs. Phil's teams did net 2 additional championships along the way in his second run as coach...so really you cannot find fault when the wheels of the Lakers finally fell off.

What bugs me about d'Antoni is that he has arguably two of the best big men in the game...both with complementary skills sets...YET, he wants to play a completely different style of basketball built on guard speed (which the Lakers do not possess), hyper-perimeter shooting (which works only when players make their shots), and ZERO dedication to defense. More importantly, it seems to me that when you force players to play outside of their strengths (i.e. Pau Gasol shooting 3-pointers) as part of your "system"...not only does erode confidence in the players, but it compounds itself when players get benched for not playing up to the standards put forth in an incongruous system.

Just as much as Mike Brown wanted to be everyone's friend and cheerleader...he coached like he was in high school, outsourcing his offense to assistants because he was clueless about it at the professional level. That is just not going to work with championship-level players and egos used to playing under a coach like Phil Jackson. Jackson played in the NBA, coached Jordan and the Bulls to 6 titles, then came to LA and won 5 titles...he had the credibility and respect of today's players . So...the Mike Brown hire was flawed to begin with because he simply wasn't ready to coach a team with the talent and history of the Lakers. It may work in a dead end town like Cleveland, but it was the wrong hire to begin with for the Los Angeles Lakers...Brown was way in over his head.

It was the correct move to dump Brown, because it was obvious that he was sending the team into an abyss with a Princeton offense that simply wasn't working. The team as a whole was thinking way too much and it was distracting the team from performing well on the defensive end of the court.

The d'Antoni hiring just compounded the problems of the Brown...because it just brought in another clueless, never won anything, retread coach to implement another "system". A team with the experience and talent level of the Lakers really didn't need to re-learn basketball...they just needed to know how to make adjustments. Bernie Bickerstaff did such and let the players play...free of all of the gimmicks of a system...and that is when they were playing arguably their best basketball of the season. Maybe more would need to be done in a playoff scenario, but the Lakers were essentially an All-Star or Olympic team in terms of talent and knowledge of the game..you simply let them play to their strengths and make adjustments in regard to the play of the opposition.

The talent is still on this team...but the spirit was broken a long time ago...and it is not coming back. I saw it when Pau was benched in the 4th quarter in the November Grizzlies loss and thus officially put him into d'Antoni's dog house. I saw it when Antawn Jamison was forgotten on the bench for 5 straight games in late December, even after a night where he and Jodie Meeks shot the lights out a game or two before. Mike d'Antoni is a coach whose ego gets the better of him...unable to adapt to his environment and unwilling to effectively work with this players. James Worthy commented that there was something going on in the locker room after another uninspiring loss...I believe that is the was the personality of d'Antoni and his inability to communicate and inspire his players.

Phil Jackson was tested, proven, and completely capable of picking up the pieces of this team after Brown was dumped. But the decision to blow him off and go with the absurdity that is Mike d'Antoni is going to be painful decision that will haunt the franchise for a loooong time. Perhaps the breakdown started when there was no continuity plan in place after the retirement of Jackson...as all the assistants and scouts were sent packing. But under no circumstances would the Lakers be this bad at this stage of the season if Jackson was brought back in as coach. This decision not to and the consequences of it...is all on the Buss family.

You think this team is bad now. I think it is only going to get worse. Broken team chemistry, bloated salary, old legs, and no trade or draft options in sight. Jerry Buss gambles with the Lakers as he always does in cards, but with Jimmy Buss making the decisions...the Lakers are bleeding chips right now.

The Lakers needed to do what they should have done after Jackson retired...blow-up the team and re-build. Unfortunately, the Lakers dedication to Kobe Bryant winning a 6th ring took precedence over better decisions for the franchise. I think the sooner they start on tearing apart this team...the better it will be and the sooner the Lakers will get back being legitimately competitive for a championship. The franchise needs to decide what to do with Kobe in his final years...they need to decide on if Dwight really is the worth the hassle and investment...they need to get their salary and draft situation back in order...and they need a coach that qualified and capable of coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. Voila!

[Lakersfan2483]

I think it does matter. Yes, the defense was bad in the 2011 playoffs with Phil Jackson as coach, but I think the Lakers were dog-tired from a series of years of deep playoff runs. Phil's teams did net 2 additional championships along the way in his second run as coach...so really you cannot find fault when the wheels of the Lakers finally fell off.

What bugs me about d'Antoni is that he has arguably two of the best big men in the game...both with complementary skills sets...YET, he wants to play a completely different style of basketball built on guard speed (which the Lakers do not possess), hyper-perimeter shooting (which works only when players make their shots), and ZERO dedication to defense. More importantly, it seems to me that when you force players to play outside of their strengths (i.e. Pau Gasol shooting 3-pointers) as part of your "system"...not only does erode confidence in the players, but it compounds itself when players get benched for not playing up to the standards put forth in an incongruous system.

Just as much as Mike Brown wanted to be everyone's friend and cheerleader...he coached like he was in high school, outsourcing his offense to assistants because he was clueless about it at the professional level. That is just not going to work with championship-level players and egos used to playing under a coach like Phil Jackson. Jackson played in the NBA, coached Jordan and the Bulls to 6 titles, then came to LA and won 5 titles...he had the credibility and respect of today's players . So...the Mike Brown hire was flawed to begin with because he simply wasn't ready to coach a team with the talent and history of the Lakers. It may work in a dead end town like Cleveland, but it was the wrong hire to begin with for the Los Angeles Lakers...Brown was way in over his head.

It was the correct move to dump Brown, because it was obvious that he was sending the team into an abyss with a Princeton offense that simply wasn't working. The team as a whole was thinking way too much and it was distracting the team from performing well on the defensive end of the court.

The d'Antoni hiring just compounded the problems of the Brown...because it just brought in another clueless, never won anything, retread coach to implement another "system". A team with the experience and talent level of the Lakers really didn't need to re-learn basketball...they just needed to know how to make adjustments. Bernie Bickerstaff did such and let the players play...free of all of the gimmicks of a system...and that is when they were playing arguably their best basketball of the season. Maybe more would need to be done in a playoff scenario, but the Lakers were essentially an All-Star or Olympic team in terms of talent and knowledge of the game..you simply let them play to their strengths and make adjustments in regard to the play of the opposition.

The talent is still on this team...but the spirit was broken a long time ago...and it is not coming back. I saw it when Pau was benched in the 4th quarter in the November Grizzlies loss and thus officially put him into d'Antoni's dog house. I saw it when Antawn Jamison was forgotten on the bench for 5 straight games in late December, even after a night where he and Jodie Meeks shot the lights out a game or two before. Mike d'Antoni is a coach whose ego gets the better of him...unable to adapt to his environment and unwilling to effectively work with this players. James Worthy commented that there was something going on in the locker room after another uninspiring loss...I believe that is the was the personality of d'Antoni and his inability to communicate and inspire his players.

Phil Jackson was tested, proven, and completely capable of picking up the pieces of this team after Brown was dumped. But the decision to blow him off and go with the absurdity that is Mike d'Antoni is going to be painful decision that will haunt the franchise for a loooong time. Perhaps the breakdown started when there was no continuity plan in place after the retirement of Jackson...as all the assistants and scouts were sent packing. But under no circumstances would the Lakers be this bad at this stage of the season if Jackson was brought back in as coach. This decision not to and the consequences of it...is all on the Buss family.

You think this team is bad now. I think it is only going to get worse. Broken team chemistry, bloated salary, old legs, and no trade or draft options in sight. Jerry Buss gambles with the Lakers as he always does in cards, but with Jimmy Buss making the decisions...the Lakers are bleeding chips right now.

The Lakers needed to do what they should have done after Jackson retired...blow-up the team and re-build. Unfortunately, the Lakers dedication to Kobe Bryant winning a 6th ring took precedence over better decisions for the franchise. I think the sooner they start on tearing apart this team...the better it will be and the sooner the Lakers will get back being legitimately competitive for a championship. The franchise needs to decide what to do with Kobe in his final years...they need to decide on if Dwight really is the worth the hassle and investment...they need to get their salary and draft situation back in order...and they need a coach that qualified and capable of coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. Voila!

Good post man, I couldn't have said it better myself.

[midwestlaker75]

While it is not the whole problem, It definitely is part of the problem. D'Antoni and Brown always has that look of having no clue on what to do. Combined with bad roster construction and here you have it.

[Iron24th]

Pretty sure the majority already knew this. No need to face it.

This.

As Lakers fans, we were expecting by some miracle it would have worked but we all knew it was a bad hire.

[MickeyMgl]

I think it does matter. Yes, the defense was bad in the 2011 playoffs with Phil Jackson as coach, but I think the Lakers were dog-tired from a series of years of deep playoff runs. Phil's teams did net 2 additional championships along the way in his second run as coach...so really you cannot find fault when the wheels of the Lakers finally fell off.

What bugs me about d'Antoni is that he has arguably two of the best big men in the game...both with complementary skills sets...YET, he wants to play a completely different style of basketball built on guard speed (which the Lakers do not possess), hyper-perimeter shooting (which works only when players make their shots), and ZERO dedication to defense. More importantly, it seems to me that when you force players to play outside of their strengths (i.e. Pau Gasol shooting 3-pointers) as part of your "system"...not only does erode confidence in the players, but it compounds itself when players get benched for not playing up to the standards put forth in an incongruous system.

Just as much as Mike Brown wanted to be everyone's friend and cheerleader...he coached like he was in high school, outsourcing his offense to assistants because he was clueless about it at the professional level. That is just not going to work with championship-level players and egos used to playing under a coach like Phil Jackson. Jackson played in the NBA, coached Jordan and the Bulls to 6 titles, then came to LA and won 5 titles...he had the credibility and respect of today's players . So...the Mike Brown hire was flawed to begin with because he simply wasn't ready to coach a team with the talent and history of the Lakers. It may work in a dead end town like Cleveland, but it was the wrong hire to begin with for the Los Angeles Lakers...Brown was way in over his head.

It was the correct move to dump Brown, because it was obvious that he was sending the team into an abyss with a Princeton offense that simply wasn't working. The team as a whole was thinking way too much and it was distracting the team from performing well on the defensive end of the court.

The d'Antoni hiring just compounded the problems of the Brown...because it just brought in another clueless, never won anything, retread coach to implement another "system". A team with the experience and talent level of the Lakers really didn't need to re-learn basketball...they just needed to know how to make adjustments. Bernie Bickerstaff did such and let the players play...free of all of the gimmicks of a system...and that is when they were playing arguably their best basketball of the season. Maybe more would need to be done in a playoff scenario, but the Lakers were essentially an All-Star or Olympic team in terms of talent and knowledge of the game..you simply let them play to their strengths and make adjustments in regard to the play of the opposition.

The talent is still on this team...but the spirit was broken a long time ago...and it is not coming back. I saw it when Pau was benched in the 4th quarter in the November Grizzlies loss and thus officially put him into d'Antoni's dog house. I saw it when Antawn Jamison was forgotten on the bench for 5 straight games in late December, even after a night where he and Jodie Meeks shot the lights out a game or two before. Mike d'Antoni is a coach whose ego gets the better of him...unable to adapt to his environment and unwilling to effectively work with this players. James Worthy commented that there was something going on in the locker room after another uninspiring loss...I believe that is the was the personality of d'Antoni and his inability to communicate and inspire his players.

Phil Jackson was tested, proven, and completely capable of picking up the pieces of this team after Brown was dumped. But the decision to blow him off and go with the absurdity that is Mike d'Antoni is going to be painful decision that will haunt the franchise for a loooong time. Perhaps the breakdown started when there was no continuity plan in place after the retirement of Jackson...as all the assistants and scouts were sent packing. But under no circumstances would the Lakers be this bad at this stage of the season if Jackson was brought back in as coach. This decision not to and the consequences of it...is all on the Buss family.

You think this team is bad now. I think it is only going to get worse. Broken team chemistry, bloated salary, old legs, and no trade or draft options in sight. Jerry Buss gambles with the Lakers as he always does in cards, but with Jimmy Buss making the decisions...the Lakers are bleeding chips right now.

The Lakers needed to do what they should have done after Jackson retired...blow-up the team and re-build. Unfortunately, the Lakers dedication to Kobe Bryant winning a 6th ring took precedence over better decisions for the franchise. I think the sooner they start on tearing apart this team...the better it will be and the sooner the Lakers will get back being legitimately competitive for a championship. The franchise needs to decide what to do with Kobe in his final years...they need to decide on if Dwight really is the worth the hassle and investment...they need to get their salary and draft situation back in order...and they need a coach that qualified and capable of coaching the Los Angeles Lakers. Voila!

Mostly brilliant.

I don't think continuing to invest in Kobe (in terms of the roster around him) was necessarily wrong. I do believe that they have mixed a couple of different strategies to the detriment of the franchise. If they are going to push behind Kobe till the last breath, then investing in a "future franchise player" prematurely - and one who is not totally committed to the organization - may not have been the best choice. Rather, it may have been a better idea to trade Bynum for the best package possible of young talent to support the core of veterans that Bryant trusts. Similar to San Antonio. It is possible that the next franchise player may have emerged organically over these last couple of years as those vets faded, rather than acquiring an established star and awarding an undue amount of team influence to someone who, again, is not totally committed. As it is, there appears to be more than one agenda on the team, as there appears to be more than one agenda at several levels throughout the organization.

In the end, the fateful difference between Dr Jerry tapping Jim to succeed him vs promoting from within and letting Jeanie assume the role she had been working all her adult life for, is probably the difference between the various owners splintering (within and without the Buss family) and selling off their interest in the team within a few years of Jerry passing on, or a popular and likable face of the franchise maintaining stability for years to come. No biggie. It's only the single worst business decision of Jerry Buss' career.

[D Blue987]

Ya its time to blow this team up. Axe D Antoni please and bite the bullet on his bull **** contract. How Jim Buss even hired him after the terrors of Mike Brown is beyond me. The front office looks sooo stupid to pull off all these amazing trades only to hire two opposite extreme coaches that no nothing of either style of play offense or defense. D Antoni is showing himself to be a worse coach that Mike Brown. No hiring Phil Jackson was a very very stupid move. It ruined everything literally. This style offense is only suitable for a young run N gun team not a bunch of old vets. We are too old. Its time to blow this thing up and just accept being the laughing stock of the league for this year.