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

JoelMyersScrotalSack wrote:Well he didn't go with that lineup at all again until it was a blowout until the end of the 4th. He learned his lesson

Yeah, it's like telling your kid not to stick his finger into the electric pencil sharpener and the kid did it anyways.

Armani wrote:Lol, the response is hilarious.

People here are too mad to take a joke, I guess.

He was in a tough position... no one criticizes Kobe. He's like a God figure in LA. So he just implied it instead. 'Course he knows Kobe can't D off ball, or he wouldn't have changed the D strategy so that Kobe guards the ball handler instead.

Not sure this is an accurate statement really. It isn't that he can't guard off ball..... Bryant's problem is he likes to roam which generally means following the ball with your eyes and not your man.

He's had this issue because it was used by Jackson as a defensive philosophy. He use to do the same thing with Pippen and Jordan..... one would always be roaming trying to disturb passing lanes and such.....

That forms bad habits and Bryant has some of those...... doesn't mean those habits are unbreakable and the player physically can't guard off ball........ if you can't physically guard off ball you certainly can't guard on ball.

I used to do the same thing with Pippen and Jordan..... one would always be roaming trying to disturb passing lanes and such.....

Damn you coached the Bulls teams of the 90's. Props.

Doc Brown wrote:

I used to do the same thing with Pippen and Jordan..... one would always be roaming trying to disturb passing lanes and such.....

Damn you coached the Bulls teams of the 90's. Props.

lol ..... ya i noticed that and tried to fix it before one of you smart guys got hold of it lol.

MC wrote:

Doc Brown wrote:

I used to do the same thing with Pippen and Jordan..... one would always be roaming trying to disturb passing lanes and such.....

Damn you coached the Bulls teams of the 90's. Props.

lol ..... ya i noticed that and tried to fix it before one of you smart guys got hold of it lol.

Damn! PJ?!?!

For those who contacted me to ask what was that end of 1st quarter lineup for the Lakers? D'Antoni explains
What happened?

"[Bryant] usually plays the first quarter but he wanted a quick blow at the three-minute mark, so it kind of messed up our rotation a little bit," D'Antoni said. "Kobe is normally out there with those guys."

D'Antoni had Bryant guarding Milwaukee's Brandon Jennings. The effort it took to shut down the high-scoring point guard left Bryant a little winded.

"It's shocking that he had to come out. I don't know if he's done that many times," D'Antoni said. "As a matter of fact, he asked for it. There was a timeout and then he said, 'I'm fine.' I said, 'No let me give you a quick blow.'"

The Lakers coach noted that he likes to have either Dwight Howard or Bryant on the floor with the reserve unit.

Double edged sword here.

Glad to see MDA wasn't planning on having that unit out there, but it really shows our lack of depth if we can't sit Kobe/D12 for a few minutes.

Well I don't see why we can't have one of the big three in there at all times. Put Nash In for a couple minutes then.

^^^It would be nice if Pau could fill that void and Meeks was hitting his shots so that he and Pau could run some two man game.

Agreed. Hopefully when we trade Pau we bring in a guy that can handle some creating opportunities. We need something like that.

Well what a pleasant "surprise"....our guys start to actively look for our big dog down low and we start beating people that we're supposed to beat...more than that, we are routing them......when you don't need your guards carrying the offense as much, they should have enough on the other end to play good defense...who would have thought? Certainly not Jennings!

D'Antoni and the team decided that the season would reset and start with the Cleveland game, so its great being 2-0. But he real test is tomorrow. Will we go with this modified gameplan that proves to be a effective or are we going to resort back to bad habits and run run run.

I'm still not a fan of the high volume of 3s we're taking, but the good thing is that most of them are now coming from the ball going inside 1st.

Doc Brown wrote:

For those who contacted me to ask what was that end of 1st quarter lineup for the Lakers? D'Antoni explains
What happened?

"[Bryant] usually plays the first quarter but he wanted a quick blow at the three-minute mark, so it kind of messed up our rotation a little bit," D'Antoni said. "Kobe is normally out there with those guys."

D'Antoni had Bryant guarding Milwaukee's Brandon Jennings. The effort it took to shut down the high-scoring point guard left Bryant a little winded.

"It's shocking that he had to come out. I don't know if he's done that many times," D'Antoni said. "As a matter of fact, he asked for it. There was a timeout and then he said, 'I'm fine.' I said, 'No let me give you a quick blow.'"

The Lakers coach noted that he likes to have either Dwight Howard or Bryant on the floor with the reserve unit.

This was my concern; well, it was highly ambitious for Kobe to take on the responsibility to set an example for his teammates, to guard the opposing teams best perimeter players says a lot about Kobe. He loves challenges.

Nevertheless, this can't last the whole season. Even if we consider other factors that will give Kobe a reprieve such as Nash handling the ball & initiating the offense or Howard taking on more of the scoring load, it doesn't take away the fact that by the time the playoffs roll around even considering we make it, he's going to be completely burned out.

I love the idea of taking him out at the end of quarters; I don't like playing him those 12 minutes stretches. However, when you have a bench full of D-league players and don't incorporate a starter in that mix, you get the early lead the Lakers created with the starting unit vanishing at a very rapid rate.

You either do one of two things in the future. Leave Pau coming off the bench and hope he gives you some level of production or trade him for depth. That's it. Mitch needs to acquire a young perimeter defender to guard these 1/2's. Delonte would be nice at this point.

^We don't really have a choice. We need to win these games. We need to put everything on the table right now. If they burn themselves out, so be it. It's better to lose in the 2nd round again than to miss the playoffs.

revgen wrote:^We don't really have a choice. We need to win these games. We need to put everything on the table right now. If they burn themselves out, so be it. It's better to lose in the 2nd round again than to miss the playoffs.

I understand that thought process completely. I do think we have choices, though. Trade Pau. That would be my first choice if I were Mitch or Jim. If the goal is championships, what's the goal of missing the playoffs or being bounced out of the 2nd round? Is it giving ourselves (fans and team) the shot that least making the playoffs, so it gives us a chance at making a run to the Finals? Is it the possibility of seeing improvement with a team that had gone through adversity to get to playoffs, saw improvement, and gives us high hopes for next year? Additonally, the argument to be made when we try to re-sign Dwight? That we improved as the season went along, so come sign with us for the long-term and we'll have a better shot next year?

I mean, seriously, if we're all in to try to make the playoffs then the FO better be attempt to make some moves to improve this roster particurlarly the bench because as you and I both know, we are trying to win championships and this bench is atrocious even for D-league standards...

Doc Brown wrote:

For those who contacted me to ask what was that end of 1st quarter lineup for the Lakers? D'Antoni explains
What happened?

"[Bryant] usually plays the first quarter but he wanted a quick blow at the three-minute mark, so it kind of messed up our rotation a little bit," D'Antoni said. "Kobe is normally out there with those guys."

D'Antoni had Bryant guarding Milwaukee's Brandon Jennings. The effort it took to shut down the high-scoring point guard left Bryant a little winded.

"It's shocking that he had to come out. I don't know if he's done that many times," D'Antoni said. "As a matter of fact, he asked for it. There was a timeout and then he said, 'I'm fine.' I said, 'No let me give you a quick blow.'"

The Lakers coach noted that he likes to have either Dwight Howard or Bryant on the floor with the reserve unit.

Double edged sword here.

Glad to see MDA wasn't planning on having that unit out there, but it really shows our lack of depth if we can't sit Kobe/D12 for a few minutes.

I think this is where the FO counting on Ebanks backfired. When they put this team together they were hoping he would be a regular rotation player who can play a little bit of SG/SF/PF and the Big 4 would be able to alleviate his level of play. It hasnt

Some Meeks out there, maybe?

At least when Kobe was absurdly off in the first 3 quarters, I am sure Meeks would have relieved some minutes.

Outside of that, I don't think this loss was on him. The team's looking solid out there. They're just not better than LeBron James.

He put Pau out there with Dwight and co to finish the game. Wish he had Clark out there, he was the hotter hand

it's okay we're 2-1 anyway

no ****! **** that!
fire his ***!

It wasn't a bad effort by MDA. I just wish he had some defensive ideas to help slow down LeBron and Wade. Yes, I know the media says that they're unstoppable, but they're not. LBJ has a relatively small set of predictable moves, and his last make just required the right guy on him. Clark maybe for his length? And get Nash to pass over the first trap attempt to the open man near the rim!!

Outside of that, I'm surprised at how well MDA slowed down the game, which was our only chance to keep it close. There's hope for the team definitely.

I find it funny that MDA was (mostly) ridiculously blamed for every struggle and loss these past few weeks ... and when (imo) a decent part of the responsability can actually be put on him for this loss , there is no post about it ...

Miami was locking down Nash and the high PNR all game long and he really never adapted ( minus a couple of plays run for Kobe off screens late in the 4th)

D'Antoni? Haaatiid it! Phil Jackson please.

I don't understand the MD hate at all. First things first, Phil is not our coach and Phil will never again be our coach, get over it.

Believe it or not, D'antoni's system works, Kobe, Dwight, Metta, Nash, Jamison, Clark, Hill, Meeks, Morris & Duhon are all capable of playing to the best of their ability in this system, our offence is slowly but steadily getting to where we envisioned it at the start of the year. Even if you have your issues with it, compare it to the Hybrid Princeton crap Brown was running.

Our defence was shocking, but it is getting better, the last 3 games to me has been a totally different Lakers team defensively, theres communication, energy and hustle, people have a role now and know what they're doing, give props to D'antoni for that one.

Really the only difference between us an the Miami Heat tonight was execution. Having two seasons together over us was a key factor. Now that the players know what works and what doesn't, it can only go uphill from here.

The only issue I have is Pau Gasol.. I love the man and all that he has given to this franchise, but it's time to go. It's not up to D'antoni to bend over backwards to fit this system around you, everybody's had to give up some part of their game for this system. If we can get some solid wing defenders and 3 pt shooters in return for Pau, come playoffs time, I don't think theres much that can stop this team. We all just have to be patient and have a little faith, it's embarrassing reading some Laker fans comments sometimes, we have no dignity in losing.

John Gambadoro ‏@Gambo620
Alvin Gentry and the Suns have agreed to part ways
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Well MDA has his assistant for next year, if this is true.

Why would he be an assistant to an inferior coach?

Armani wrote:Why would he be an assistant to an inferior coach?

Ken Berger ‏@KBergCBS
With Alvin Gentry out, rival execs believe more than ever he will land on Mike D'Antoni's bench next season. If D'Antoni is still in LA ...
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Doc Brown wrote:

Armani wrote:Why would he be an assistant to an inferior coach?

Ken Berger ‏@KBergCBS
With Alvin Gentry out, rival execs believe more than ever he will land on Mike D'Antoni's bench next season. If D'Antoni is still in LA ...
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As soon as I read that he's out I thought that. And that's a good thing. Players love him and he knows the system. He's done a great job with it since MDA left phx. I think with a better staff and one extremely defensive minded guy, we'll do much better. Bickersaff and Jordan and complete opposites of what MDA wants. I see Person and Ham around for sure. Bring in Gentry and hopefully McMillan.

As for MDA, I'll give him this, he has definitely adjusted to run the offense through Dwight. Round of applause for that.