Mike D'Antoni Discussion: post in 7 seconds or less

There are still several things that worry me about the way he coaches, but we'll see how he does. :)

He's never coached a group of players like the ones we have.

dj vitus wrote:We all wanted more pick and rolls and for Nash to handle the ball more. Isn't that what we got?

Hopefully he limits Kobe, Pau, and Metta to no more than 34 mins a game. Please don't overplay our starters like what Brown did. Now let's let this guy have a chance (especially after Nash gets back) before we throw him under the bus already.

+1

we all wanted the guys to just be able to play some basketball.. we get JUST the guy for that type of system and everyone is qqing like the world has come to an end.

id venture to say that mda's system will benefit the bench more than anyone else.. we have shooters and athletes on the bench, and if the bench is playing well, the starters can rest more..

so to sum it up, our team gets to play basketball, and our starters dont need to stay in as long.. THAT SOUNDS HORRIBLE! WE NEED PHIL!!!

KobeSystemtwofour wrote:

It's been a wild week to say the least.
I’m happy to have closure and can't wait to get to work with Coach D'Antoni.. spacing, ball movement. And despite the chatter, I believe we will be phenomenal defensively. I’m looking forward to getting started with him and his staff this week.
Mamba out

I like how he addressed the issue with MDA's defense as a coach, lets hope Kobe is right.

dj vitus wrote:What's interesting is that D'Antoni's Knicks were the 5th best defensive team in the league when they got Chandler. When Howard gets into better shape, we can hope to get close.

If we end up as the NBA's premier offensive juggernaut team, our defense only needs to rank around the middle or higher to have a good shot at the ring. Teams like Miami take pride in their defense, but if they can't guard us, that just may be our only hope.

I see where you are going, but its slightly misleading. With D'Antoni NY was 18-24...he stepped down and Woodson (the defensive assistant) became the coach. Changed the philosophy and they became 5th in the league.

I know that Dwight will make D'Antoni's team look good defensively. But you can't have one guy to depend on. You need to practice it...you need to have a philosophy and scheme behind it. It has to be an emphasis. ...not just Showtime.

Vasashi17 wrote:

dj vitus wrote:What's interesting is that D'Antoni's Knicks were the 5th best defensive team in the league when they got Chandler. When Howard gets into better shape, we can hope to get close.

If we end up as the NBA's premier offensive juggernaut team, our defense only needs to rank around the middle or higher to have a good shot at the ring. Teams like Miami take pride in their defense, but if they can't guard us, that just may be our only hope.

I see where you are going, but its slightly misleading. With D'Antoni NY was 18-24...he stepped down and Woodson (the defensive assistant) became the coach. Changed the philosophy and they became 5th in the league.

I know that Dwight will make D'Antoni's team look good defensively. But you can't have one guy to depend on. You need to practice it...you need to have a philosophy and scheme behind it. It has to be an emphasis. ...not just Showtime.

I think players like kobe, metta, and dwight know that defense will win them championships. There weren't players like that in pheonix. Thats what the lakers players have been preaching themselves on since mike brown left. And they've been BETTER on defense than when they had a "defensive minded coach". Dwight was just amazing last game, intimidating drivers, and blocking shots. kobe and metta had some nice perimeter steals as well. And dwight isn't even 100% yet. They'll be fine on D.

And people love to have selective memory. The last time phil was here, in that dallas series, that was arguably the worst defense i've ever seen the lakers play since maybe the mid 2000's. It was just HORRIBLE. I still get chills thinking about it. Three after three after three!!! Three balls rained on us like never before. I was so shocked to see such horrible defense from the zenmaster. And we didn't have the offense to keep up. So phil wasn't the greatest defensive coach either. What has me so excited about this team is if our offense can be nearly as good as the sun's was in nash's reigh, with the best defensive player in the nba rounding into form, then that'll be scary...

Vasashi17 wrote:

dj vitus wrote:What's interesting is that D'Antoni's Knicks were the 5th best defensive team in the league when they got Chandler. When Howard gets into better shape, we can hope to get close.

If we end up as the NBA's premier offensive juggernaut team, our defense only needs to rank around the middle or higher to have a good shot at the ring. Teams like Miami take pride in their defense, but if they can't guard us, that just may be our only hope.

I see where you are going, but its slightly misleading. With D'Antoni NY was 18-24...he stepped down and Woodson (the defensive assistant) became the coach. Changed the philosophy and they became 5th in the league.

I know that Dwight will make D'Antoni's team look good defensively. But you can't have one guy to depend on. You need to practice it...you need to have a philosophy and scheme behind it. It has to be an emphasis. ...not just Showtime.

The Knicks were near the top in defensive rating the entire year, but Mike Woodson was also the defensive coordinator the entire year.

Their defensive philosophy was stupid though. All they did was switch everything. I have no idea how they managed to be top 5 with such a stupid and lazy scheme.

^^^Smaller sample size too...with it being a locked out season.

We have a veteran team and you really can't keep them at practice for 5 hours a day...so practice some D and make it an emphasis, because its a long regular season and as we saw, this team has enough talent to play pick up ball out there and score in the 100s.

Get your offense ready for the playoffs and use the regular season to build a defensive identity. Cause what we've seen so far is just ridiculously bad defense...and this was under a supposed defensive coach.

I'm not as worried as some of you guys are... yes, Phil would have been nice. And I still have two concerns, Nash's health and MDA's in-game adjustments.

Defense is more about the players committing to their assignments than it is about Pringles creating some crazy scheme. As we all know Brown probably had every defensive package in the book, but if you don't do things to create team chemistry - none of those things matter.

But the bottom line is, I have confidence in a Nash-Kobe-D'Antoni brain trust. Oh and that Dwight guy... I heard he likes the pick and roll too

dj vitus wrote:We all wanted more pick and rolls and for Nash to handle the ball more. Isn't that what we got?

And more lobs to Howard.

thkthebest wrote:

Phil XI wrote:To answer the tread title posit: Amare created a 200 mil all-star career, Shaq avgd 18, and even Gortat avgd 15. I think the post will be just fine with Dwight at 24/12 ish, Pau at 17/10 ish.

Gortat didn't play for D'Antoni, and Shaq didn't average that under D'Antoni.

But there was one constant throughout all this...Nash.

Wow, baggery at its finest right there. Did I say D'Antoni? No, you did. Ssol philosophy by Gentry was employed as the primary offense.. And yes, Nash was a constant. You're welcome.

One thing I hope the D'Antoni offense could do is help our bench scoring.

Small ball lineup of

Blake/Duhon
Meeks
Jamison
Hill
(And any combination of Howard/Gasol/Kobe/Metta) with this lineup would work.

But if they push the ball, the bench can be more effective running and gunning rather than trying to run a half court set like the starters would,

purp n gold wrote:I'm not as worried as some of you guys are... yes, Phil would have been nice. And I still have two concerns, Nash's health and MDA's in-game adjustments.

Wait till the playoffs.

Phil XI wrote:

thkthebest wrote:

Phil XI wrote:To answer the tread title posit: Amare created a 200 mil all-star career, Shaq avgd 18, and even Gortat avgd 15. I think the post will be just fine with Dwight at 24/12 ish, Pau at 17/10 ish.

Gortat didn't play for D'Antoni, and Shaq didn't average that under D'Antoni.

But there was one constant throughout all this...Nash.

Wow, baggery at its finest right there. Did I say D'Antoni? No, you did. Ssol philosophy by Gentry was employed as the primary offense.. And yes, Nash was a constant. You're welcome.

Damn Phil is pissed, I guess I'd be too if I were ousted by D'Antoni.

Pau Gasol camping in the corner...

I know, right?

Since the other thread was closed...

KevinDing: Mike D'Antoni has firmed up plans to fly to LA tomorrow. His introductory news conference as Lakers coach will be Thursday afternoon.

So, he will coach on Friday then?

When is Nash coming back? He should be close to returning, right?

karacha wrote:So, he will coach on Friday then?

When is Nash coming back? He should be close to returning, right?

He wants to make it back for the Suns game...but as of Sunday, he hasn't done any basketball related activities other than stationary dribbling drills.

nash and d'antoni back for the suns game, sounds too good to be true. i say rest nash another week, don't need a lingering injury.

kobe can rack up assists for the next couple weeks, i'm fine with it

We need more shooters...send Earl Clark packing and sign Delonte or Pietrus

karacha wrote:So, he will coach on Friday then?

When is Nash coming back? He should be close to returning, right?

I heard he was at least another week away from returning, maybe longer.

Can we send Blake/Ebanks to Cleveland for a Trade Exception/Cash Considerations/2nd Round Draft Pick?

Then sign Pietrus.

Hill/Jamison/Pietrus/Meeks/Duhon

I'd live with that.

Yes, but wasn't this from last Friday? So, it's few more days to a week from today?

lakerfan2 wrote:Can we send Blake/Ebanks to Cleveland for a Trade Exception/Cash Considerations/2nd Round Draft Pick?

Then sign Pietrus.

Hill/Jamison/Pietrus/Meeks/Duhon

I'd live with that.

So to recap:

In: Pringles and Peaches.
Out: Bagel and fake-Trevor

I will support d'antoni and these lakers. But to say that they made the right decision, is blasphemous. You don't pass on the best coach of all time. But i'll try and move past it and support our new lakers. If magic and kareem can win with that showtime style against a tough gritty celtics team in the 80s, then I have faith that steve nash, kobe bryant, and dwight howard can do the same. It'll definitely be fun to watch.