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

dont think you get paid if you resign, do you?

Work out a buy out.

D.B. Cooper wrote:Work out a buy out.

if I were Antoni, I rather get fired shoot I want every single penny of that $12mill dollars

I like how Worthy and Rambis are basically ripping MDA and his "system" apart in the post game show without actually saying 'they need to get rid of MDA'

JGC wrote:

Lakerjones wrote:True, it's not my money. But I can't imagine this guy has job security if he keeps losing games and losing the team.

At some point you have to stop the bleeding. The thing this time around is it's actually Jerry having to admit that he made a mistake. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I don't think Jim is even that attached to D' Antoni. He got what he wanted and he's happy. He got to stab Phil in the back and get the last word on that. As long as there's no Phil he's satisfied.

I mean, if they want to continue with this fascinating type of basketball that's fine for them I guess. They already said that the fans' opinions don't matter.

All I know is that this is not the Jerry Buss I grew up with. Things changed. Recently.

The guy has job security until the moment comes when it is clear and undeniable, that the only problem preventing this team from being elite, is Mike D'Antoni. Now, I don't believe that to be the case, and I don't think the Lakers FO believe that to be the case either.

That isn't to say MDA doesn't play some role in this, but switching MDA to Jeff Van Gundy or whoever is available isn't going to make this team a contender.

People always seem to think it is one simple thing that will just change everything. They thought Nash's return would fix everything, they thought a coaching change would fix everything. When will people realize, that the main problem we have goes beyond coaching?

MB wasn't great, but the guy did win back to back 60 win seasons with LBJ and a bunch of scrubs. Same with Dantoni. Not ideal, but he's had 60 win seasons recently. Maybe neither of these guys can get us to 60 wins fine, but ANY coach SHOULD be able to get this team to 45 wins. The fact that two 60 win coaches can't get this team to play .500 ball should tell you it goes beyond JUST the coaching.

^^ Keep telling yourself that. Nonetheless I watched Bernie Bickerstaff coach these guys to .800 ball and they looked phenomenal. Maybe if the coaches you were talking about were guys like Jerry Sloan or Phil I'd have an easier time buying your argument that these guys can't win even with good coaches. You can't really argue that when the coaches in question are Mike Brown and Mike D' Antoni.

phoenixrisingla wrote:

JGC wrote:

Lakerjones wrote:True, it's not my money. But I can't imagine this guy has job security if he keeps losing games and losing the team.

At some point you have to stop the bleeding. The thing this time around is it's actually Jerry having to admit that he made a mistake. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I don't think Jim is even that attached to D' Antoni. He got what he wanted and he's happy. He got to stab Phil in the back and get the last word on that. As long as there's no Phil he's satisfied.

I mean, if they want to continue with this fascinating type of basketball that's fine for them I guess. They already said that the fans' opinions don't matter.

All I know is that this is not the Jerry Buss I grew up with. Things changed. Recently.

The guy has job security until the moment comes when it is clear and undeniable, that the only problem preventing this team from being elite, is Mike D'Antoni. Now, I don't believe that to be the case, and I don't think the Lakers FO believe that to be the case either.

That isn't to say MDA doesn't play some role in this, but switching MDA to Jeff Van Gundy or whoever is available isn't going to make this team a contender.

People always seem to think it is one simple thing that will just change everything. They thought Nash's return would fix everything, they thought a coaching change would fix everything. When will people realize, that the main problem we have goes beyond coaching?

MB wasn't great, but the guy did win back to back 60 win seasons with LBJ and a bunch of scrubs. Same with Dantoni. Not ideal, but he's had 60 win seasons recently. Maybe neither of these guys can get us to 60 wins fine, but ANY coach SHOULD be able to get this team to 45 wins. The fact that two 60 win coaches can't get this team to play .500 ball should tell you it goes beyond JUST the coaching.

Just to play devils advocate, a lot of times removing the coach does act as a catalyst for changing the culture and sometimes yields instant performance increase. It's happened many time through the history of the league and as recently and the NY Knicks last season staring... guess who?

^^ Exactly.

dwighthowardsdad wrote:I'm losing patience with MDA very quickly. He's just as lost as these players. There's no identity on either end of the court. Nobody knows what their doing. It's embarrassing. I don't think we end up with 25 wins this year...

That's what I'm seeing too. He's lost them. They don't buy into him or his system. Pretty much end of story. Unless there's some kind of miracle turn around in the next few games of course. You never know. But if they go 10 games under .500 he really should be out of here.

his system doesn't fit this team and the players know it but he still continues to try and fit a square into a circle hole. players don't believe in him bc he's too stupid and stubborn to even try to tweak his system and even try defense.

mike brown was a bad coach and his rotations were kind of each sometimes but his system would fit this team IMO bc I think on O he'd let them do what they do and focus on D. both are bad for this team though. Bring back Bernie!

Lakerjones wrote:

JGC wrote:

Lakerjones wrote:True, it's not my money. But I can't imagine this guy has job security if he keeps losing games and losing the team.

At some point you have to stop the bleeding. The thing this time around is it's actually Jerry having to admit that he made a mistake. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I don't think Jim is even that attached to D' Antoni. He got what he wanted and he's happy. He got to stab Phil in the back and get the last word on that. As long as there's no Phil he's satisfied.

I mean, if they want to continue with this fascinating type of basketball that's fine for them I guess. They already said that the fans' opinions don't matter.

All I know is that this is not the Jerry Buss I grew up with. Things changed. Recently.

The guy has job security until the moment comes when it is clear and undeniable, that the only problem preventing this team from being elite, is Mike D'Antoni. Now, I don't believe that to be the case, and I don't think the Lakers FO believe that to be the case either.

That isn't to say MDA doesn't play some role in this, but switching MDA to Jeff Van Gundy or whoever is available isn't going to make this team a contender.

People always seem to think it is one simple thing that will just change everything. They thought Nash's return would fix everything, they thought a coaching change would fix everything. When will people realize, that the main problem we have goes beyond coaching?

MB wasn't great, but the guy did win back to back 60 win seasons with LBJ and a bunch of scrubs. Same with Dantoni. Not ideal, but he's had 60 win seasons recently. Maybe neither of these guys can get us to 60 wins fine, but ANY coach SHOULD be able to get this team to 45 wins. The fact that two 60 win coaches can't get this team to play .500 ball should tell you it goes beyond JUST the coaching.

^^ Keep telling yourself that. Nonetheless I watched Bernie Bickerstaff coach these guys to .800 ball and they looked phenomenal. Maybe if the coaches you were talking about were guys like Jerry Sloan or Phil I'd have an easier time buying your argument that these guys can't win even with good coaches. You can't really argue that when the coaches in question are Mike Brown and Mike D' Antoni.

I watched Mike Dantoni coach this team to 1.000 ball over a 5 game span too. You've got to be kidding me with the Bernie thing. I knew this would happen.

Bernie had nothing to do with that. He didn't even want to be in the head coaching position. He said as much.

JGC wrote:

Lakerjones wrote:

JGC wrote:

Lakerjones wrote:True, it's not my money. But I can't imagine this guy has job security if he keeps losing games and losing the team.

At some point you have to stop the bleeding. The thing this time around is it's actually Jerry having to admit that he made a mistake. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

I don't think Jim is even that attached to D' Antoni. He got what he wanted and he's happy. He got to stab Phil in the back and get the last word on that. As long as there's no Phil he's satisfied.

I mean, if they want to continue with this fascinating type of basketball that's fine for them I guess. They already said that the fans' opinions don't matter.

All I know is that this is not the Jerry Buss I grew up with. Things changed. Recently.

The guy has job security until the moment comes when it is clear and undeniable, that the only problem preventing this team from being elite, is Mike D'Antoni. Now, I don't believe that to be the case, and I don't think the Lakers FO believe that to be the case either.

That isn't to say MDA doesn't play some role in this, but switching MDA to Jeff Van Gundy or whoever is available isn't going to make this team a contender.

People always seem to think it is one simple thing that will just change everything. They thought Nash's return would fix everything, they thought a coaching change would fix everything. When will people realize, that the main problem we have goes beyond coaching?

MB wasn't great, but the guy did win back to back 60 win seasons with LBJ and a bunch of scrubs. Same with Dantoni. Not ideal, but he's had 60 win seasons recently. Maybe neither of these guys can get us to 60 wins fine, but ANY coach SHOULD be able to get this team to 45 wins. The fact that two 60 win coaches can't get this team to play .500 ball should tell you it goes beyond JUST the coaching.

^^ Keep telling yourself that. Nonetheless I watched Bernie Bickerstaff coach these guys to .800 ball and they looked phenomenal. Maybe if the coaches you were talking about were guys like Jerry Sloan or Phil I'd have an easier time buying your argument that these guys can't win even with good coaches. You can't really argue that when the coaches in question are Mike Brown and Mike D' Antoni.

I watched Mike Dantoni coach this team to 1.000 ball over a 5 game span too. You've got to be kidding me with the Bernie thing. I knew this would happen.

Bernie had nothing to do with that. He didn't even want to be in the head coaching position. He said as much.

Someone actually please find me that quote that has been alluded to. I've looked for it but didn't find it. I'm not kidding at all. Bernie was a head coach for 14 years. It doesn't matter what he said. Mike D' Antoni wanted this job and he's failed miserably. Whether or not Bernie wanted to actually be put in that position or not isn't what matters. What is important is the guys actually played well under him.

One of the reasons I signed onto another year of Mike Brown, whose coaching I truly hated, was that Bernie was there. Bernie is at least a voice of reason and experience. I thought he would help keep Brown in line with his notoriously horrid rotations. Didn't happen. But when the job was thrust upon him Bernie did a good job, especially with those rotations. If you are doubting that I said this go to the What do we have to look forward to now thread where I referenced my post from the offseason after we got Dwight.

Mike Brown was a lousy coach. I knew it was going to be a disaster when he got hired and I said so. Mike D' Antoni might be a better coach but he's done a worse job than Brown did in his first year. He doesn't even look like he's trying. You can't continue to allow your team to be a joke under this guy. How much leeway does he get. Should we sink to 13, 14 in the west?

There's no way in hell this team should stink this bad. There is no defense, and it looks like there's no offensive "system" either to speak of. It's just garbage out there and dispirited players. 4 Future HOF players and a rejuvenated Ron Artest shouldn't be at the bottom of the heap. It's unacceptable. And the coach has no answers whatsoever.

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/225760/DAntoni_Compares_Lakers_To_Bad_All_Star_Game

"We've got an All-Star team out there," D'Antoni said. "Have you ever watched an All-Star Game? It's God-awful because everybody gets the ball, they go 1-on-1 and then they play no defense. That's our team. That's us. We're an All-Star team and we haven't learned there's a pecking order. There's the one guy, the two guy, the three guy and the four guy. It might not be the same guy every night, but somebody has got to accept being the fourth guy. If you've been the first guy all your life, that's hard to accept. That's what happens in All-Star (Games) and that's what happened with us. Like I said, with today's meeting, hopefully we've overcome a little bit of that. I hope. We'll see."

Good analogy, the lakers need to start playing team ball and I think d'antoni's comment was slightly aimed towards Kobe in a pleading manner.

I still refuse to believe we'd have this bad of a record with Phil Jackson coaching us.

^^ D' Antoni has LOST the team. I don't know if he ever had them to begin with. But they aren't listening to him and they aren't buying what he's selling. Go down the line, Kobe doesn't buy it and said we need to look at the system as well as the players. I know that Dwight isn't buying it because he isn't being utilized enough on offense in his opinion. Pau sure as hell isn't buying it since he's never had a role in the system and now he's coming off the bench. Nash doesn't seem to be running it - I don't know what he's doing out there lately with all the turnovers. He doesn't look anything like himself. Clark might be into it but he seems confused on the offense like everyone else - he's just hustling and playing hard, which is great. Meeks isn't into it, he doesn't get any PT. Jamison got the same treatment before Hill went down. And D' Antoni had a thing against Hill for a while there, too.

A coach is supposed to win first and foremost. D' Antoni isn't doing that. In lieu of winning you would hope that your coach would at least instill a good camaraderie amongst the team, get them believing in themselves and keeping positive. D' Antoni isn't doing that either. There's no way around the fact that the guy is doing an awful job. You can blame the players but the fact is the coach isn't helping in anyway. He's making matters worse and that's bad for business.

^ He's actually doing a worse job than Mike Brown at this point ... which is remarkable.

I don't think he's a worse coach than Brown ... it's just that he's literally the worst possible fit as a coach considering the makeup of this roster.

BDG wrote:^ He's actually doing a worse job than Mike Brown at this point ... which is remarkable.

I don't think he's a worse coach than Brown ... it's just that he's literally the worst possible fit as a coach considering the makeup of this roster.

I have to agree.. atleast Brown made it into the PLAYOFFS....

BDG wrote:^ He's actually doing a worse job than Mike Brown at this point ... which is remarkable.

I don't think he's a worse coach than Brown ... it's just that he's literally the worst possible fit as a coach considering the makeup of this roster.

I completely agree and have said so myself in my diatribe. Not saying he's a worse coach, but he's done a worse job this season than Brown did last season. Much worse actually.

There's no justifying his percentages. He's 12-20. That's a glorious .375 winning percentage. He's 8 games under .500.

I understand that he has a new team, I understand that Nash was down, but the team keeps looking worse not better. That's not acceptable. Or at least it shouldn't be.

LOL they went from perhaps the worst coach this team has had ...

... and found a coach that is performing even worse.

When the best coach your team has had was available for the job.

How does that happen?

d'antoni was put in a bad position to begin with. when you dangle the greatest coach of all time in front of the players and fans then go out and hire someone who has for the most part been a running joke of a coach, its hard to be taken seriously. from day 1 hes been saying all the wrong things and it shows in how the team has played.

I don't expect D'Antoni to get canned because of the length of his contract ...

... but if Brown got fired for his performance 5 games into the season, then D'Antoni deserves to get fired if he doesn't magically turn things around.

Oh they'll use the whole "Well he didn't have training camp" excuse ... but is D'Antoni's system really that complicated for this team to be 12-20 under him?

On top of that, this team had a middle of the pack ranked defense before D'Antoni came aboard (if I'm right) ... how have they taken such a nosedive in that area with the same personnel? There's no system in place.

BDG wrote:LOL they went from perhaps the worst coach this team has had ...

... and found a coach that is performing even worse.

When the best coach your team has had was available for the job.

How does that happen?

It's awful. But clearly the feud between Jim and Phil was way too deep to bring him back in. Nonetheless, they had other choices. They just didn't choose to pursue them. They were never stuck with only D' Antoni or Phil. Of course they did interview that great local coach Mike Dunleavy. Really, that's who we interviewed after Phil.

BDG wrote:I don't expect D'Antoni to get canned because of the length of his contract ...

... but if Brown got fired for his performance 5 games into the season, then D'Antoni deserves to get fired if he doesn't magically turn things around.

Oh they'll use the whole "Well he didn't have training camp" excuse ... but is D'Antoni's system really that complicated for this team to be 12-20 under him?

On top of that, this team had a middle of the pack ranked defense before D'Antoni came aboard (if I'm right) ... how have they taken such a nosedive in that area with the same personnel? There's no system in place.

^^ That's it. There's no system there. There really is nothing to hang a hat on at all. D' Antoni needs to go. FO has plenty of money now with their 2-5 billion dollar TV deal. No excuse. They made the mistake, they should correct it. Will they? Who knows?

If they want to continue this downward spiral into oblivion, cool. Keep up the good work with D' Antoni at the helm. If they want to win again, they will need to address the fact that D' Antoni is a terrible fit with the personnel as you mentioned.

Lakerjones wrote:

BDG wrote:I don't expect D'Antoni to get canned because of the length of his contract ...

... but if Brown got fired for his performance 5 games into the season, then D'Antoni deserves to get fired if he doesn't magically turn things around.

Oh they'll use the whole "Well he didn't have training camp" excuse ... but is D'Antoni's system really that complicated for this team to be 12-20 under him?

On top of that, this team had a middle of the pack ranked defense before D'Antoni came aboard (if I'm right) ... how have they taken such a nosedive in that area with the same personnel? There's no system in place.

^^ That's it. There's no system there. There really is nothing to hang a hat on at all. D' Antoni needs to go. FO has plenty of money now with their 2-5 billion dollar TV deal. No excuse. They made the mistake, they should correct it. Will they? Who knows?

If they want to continue this downward spiral into oblivion, cool. Keep up the good work with D' Antoni at the helm. If they want to win again, they will need to address the fact that D' Antoni is a terrible fit with the personnel as you mentioned.

As much as it seems logical the Lakers will give O'Antoni the rest of this season at least, Jimmy Buss will have no pressure but bow down to the dismay of the Lakers' fanbase. Time Warner execs must be pissed too, considering the deal they agreed to and to see the Lakers crashing and burning this year.

I give Antoni 10 more games before he gets canned. If the Lakers aren't at least 5-5 in that stretch, he's gone and Jim Buss will have no choice but admit defeat and that he sucks.

why are people suggesting that MDA is a better coach than Brown?......

That is hog wash, he's every much as bad as Brown if not worse because at least Brown was flexible enough to introduce a new offensive philosophy and bring guys in to teach it....... MDAs stubborn/inflexible with horrid rotations......... I don't see anything that suggests this guy is any better than Brown, as a matter of fact the evidence the last couple years in Phoenix and post Suns days points towards just the opposite IMO.

Just goes to show the Buss family is nothing more than a bunch of shoot from the hip kind of guys that have been fortunate............. they don't have a clue about the game of basketball itself and that really has shown since they've decided to use more executive power within the FO and basketball operations......... I feel bad for Mitch.

still can't believe Jim Buss didn't hire Phil. He put his own personal problems ahead of the team's success. Sure the triangle would be tough for this team to learn considering how the Princeton went. but that was Mike Brown teaching it and now it's Dantoni teaching his system to a bunch of old guys. If anyone could get this team to play together and as a real unified team it would be Phil triangle or not. at this point it isn't but the guys playing together and believing they can win.

Dantoni better do something quick he keeps canceling practice which I don't understand. it's like him and his brother are just riding this season to the bank and don't care anymore. Mike Browns offense catered to Bynum and would have to Dwight too. it was slower and sometimes boring but they played defense better than they had in years. Dantoni's system caters to fast young payers and shooters. none of which we have outside of Meeks IMO. Phil would have been perfect and it's unreal Jim didn't hire him.

Also, looking back...that CP3 thing really did put us back

MC wrote:why are people suggesting that MDA is a better coach than Brown?......

That is hog wash, he's every much as bad as Brown if not worse because at least Brown was flexible enough to introduce a new offensive philosophy and bring guys in to teach it....... MDAs stubborn/inflexible with horrid rotations......... I don't see anything that suggests this guy is any better than Brown, as a matter of fact the evidence the last couple years in Phoenix and post Suns days points towards just the opposite IMO.

Just goes to show the Buss family is nothing more than a bunch of shoot from the hip kind of guys that have been fortunate............. they don't have a clue about the game of basketball itself and that really has shown since they've decided to use more executive power within the FO and basketball operations......... I feel bad for Mitch.

Very sad, that the disaster O'Antoni has been actually makes me want Mike Brown back. Although Mike was clueless offensively, at least he was intelligent enough to try something called flexibility. I respect his willingness to seek a structured offensive system because he was aware of his weaknesses and wanted to try something different. At least he was a good enough cheerleader to at least motivate guys to play at times. I haven't seen anything humble about Antoni other than believing his shoot/brick/get lucky and win when hot is the best way to win.

And before people go pointing at the preseason, that season doesn't matter. A 1-5 sample size also isn't much either. Antoni is about to lose a few more games for us over the coarse of the next week.

Edit: oh yeah, don't overanalyze my pro Mike Brown comments. I don't want him either. I want PHIL