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

SpencerHarrison wrote:

wcsoldier81 wrote:

khmrP wrote:difference between a great coach like Pop who can get the most even out of his 12th man vs. our coach who doesn't understand a group of 30+yr old guys can't handle heavy minutes on a b2b or nightly basis....

Spurs 12th man is way better than ours though ... because SAS is great at drafting

De Colo and Mills are better players than Dribble Morris and Ebanks ... whether they are coached by Pop or MDA

Everybody can keep marveling at Spurs depth ... they haven't won ish since 2007

LA Makes big moves to create championship teams. SA drafts and leans on their big 3 for stability. But as recent playoffs have shown, stability may bring a nice regular season win total, but no chip.

that's what I'm saying ... core and superstars players win titles , not depth ... Kobe and Shaq beat Blazers and Kings with incredible depth in 2000 and 2002

On the bright side, there won't be any back to backs in the playoffs this year (that really screwed us against okc last year).

wcsoldier81 wrote:

khmrP wrote:difference between a great coach like Pop who can get the most even out of his 12th man vs. our coach who doesn't understand a group of 30+yr old guys can't handle heavy minutes on a b2b or nightly basis....

Spurs 12th man is way better than ours though ... because SAS is great at drafting

De Colo and Mills are better players than Dribble Morris and Ebanks ... whether they are coached by Pop or MDA

Everybody can keep marveling at Spurs depth ... they haven't won ish since 2007

Mills wasn't drafted by them neither are players like Green, Diaw, etc. Majority of their bench weren't drafted by them. Yes they haven't won since 07 but thats shouldn't be a knock against them, they just faced off against better competition and had bad brakes like 2 years ago with Manu injury and last year they just couldn't hang with OKC anymore which was surprising considering the 2-0 start in that WCF. Them having a better 12th man is not bout being better at drafts, its bout a coach who can bring out the best in his players and giving them a chance to play but not just play but put them in situation to succeed. Green was throw away from Clev, Diaw was cast off from Cha and all indication he had fallen off badly yet SA turned those 2 into legit quality role player who do play their role to a T, unlike our fake shooter Meeks or wannabe speeder Morris compared to their version of Mills/Green.

Last night we were either gonna win with our best players or lose with them and we lost. Nothing Sacre, Duhon, Morris and Ebanks coulda done about it. 2nd straight visit to Phoenix where Nash has had a bad game SMH

How are you gonna develop your bench when you never play them? Antoni was running 8 man rotations when we were healthy. He's been doing that his whole career.

Remember how Hill hardly got PT?

Morris played. He sucked

Same with Duhon

Ebanks should be in the D-league

Sacre is too raw to make positive contributions

This is a non-discussion.

JoelMyersScrotalSack wrote:Morris played. He sucked

Same with Duhon

Ebanks should be in the D-league

Sacre is too raw to make positive contributions

This is a non-discussion.

I know they're not that good, but I don't see what choice we have considering the situation with the injuries. Our players are run down.

Would have really been nice if we went and signed Chris Anderson for the 50k or whatever Miami did when he was still available- I'll tellu that much

VladRadtheTURRIBLE wrote:Would have really been nice if we went and signed Chris Anderson for the 50k or whatever Miami did when he was still available- I'll tellu that much

He's too ugly with the freak ink to root for the guy even if he was a Laker. No one on the Lakers is permitted to have that much ink..... it's in their charter.

borri wrote:How are you gonna develop your bench when you never play them? Antoni was running 8 man rotations when we were healthy. He's been doing that his whole career.

Remember how Hill hardly got PT?

Ebanks and Morris had their opportunities ... they sucked

Hill had his opportunity ... his play proved he deserved a spot in the rotation ...

I'm not sure how several posters can pull the " develop/never play them" card with the Morris or Ebanks of this world ...

Morris and Ebanks don't belong in the NBA ... coached by MDA or Pop don't change this fact

Juronimo wrote:

JoelMyersScrotalSack wrote:Morris played. He sucked

Same with Duhon

Ebanks should be in the D-league

Sacre is too raw to make positive contributions

This is a non-discussion.

I know they're not that good, but I don't see what choice we have considering the situation with the injuries. Our players are run down.

We all know the typical reaction here would have been : " why Morris and Ebanks are on the floor while we are losing this game , they suck , MDA sucks "

Ebanks hasn't really gotten much of a shot but Morris had plenty of chances to work his way into the rotation. With Blake back & playing the best ball of his career there's no reason to even entertain playing Morris. If we want to rest guys on back to backs we need to blow teams out early so those scrubs can play without costing us the game.

I have never seen an impressive play by Ebanks. But when Earl Clark mentioned that Devin is his closest friend in the team, and they often practice together, I thought, maybe there's somethin to Ebanks. He is probably the only under-developed guy on their roster. But his early season play and the DUI seems to make him a no-go for Antoni...

ebanks is the only one who never cracked the roster this season, and that says alot about him as a player

he sucks. he's nowhere near NBA ready and belongs on the LA d-fenders instead of the lakers. duhon and morris both cracked the lineup but sucked. remember hill last season? he wasn't getting much time but when he finally did, he took advantage of it and proved what he can bring off the bench. sacre's the cheerleader but he hasn't been half bad when he's played

I can understand D'Antoni not playing Duhon, Morris & Ebanks. Even in a B2B situation; our lack of depth is a major problem. What I do have a problem with is the amount of 3's we take in a game.

I don't think Ebanks sucks. I think he's got some real potential. But the fact is, he hasn't put in the work to realize it and he's not going to make it with the attitude he has shown. It's no surprise that he didn't play the other night.

Morris I could have seen getting some play. He at least could have helped get out on the shooters. I also could have seen using Sacre. In the limited minutes he's gotten I've seen him do some good out there. Howard needed a breather - there's no question about that. D' Antoni should have given Sacre some burn. I don't see how anyone can say that wouldn't have been better than running Howard into the ground. They didn't even have Gortat out there for the Suns. Sacre would have been fine and given some relief minutes for Howard. Morris I think could have done something for us as well.

But I'm not going to belabor this. I think we were probably going to lose that game regardless. What's done is done. Move on. The thing I take away from it though is that D' Antoni still has a stubborn streak that sometimes defies the logic or common sense moves. That's something I have never trusted about that guy. Same kind of stubbornness may effect how we use or don't utilize our twin towers when Pau returns.

So coach 'Antoni is doing a lot of talking today according to tweets. Not sure how much of it is accurate, how much is quoted right and all that, but apparently he expects Kobe and Pau to play Friday, or they 'probably' will, and Dwight is officially 100%.

Dave McMenamin ‏@mcten 14m

Mike D'Antoni: "We're at the point now where I think with Dwight being 100 (percent)." It took 69 games, but Howard is back.

Dave McMenamin ‏@mcten 1h

D'Antoni says he "expects" both Kobe and Pau in the lineup Friday vs. Washington

Mike Trudell ‏@LakersReporter 2h

Mike D'Antoni: "Hopefully Kobe and Pau will play Friday." Gasol is playing 5 on 5 right now. Kobe didn't practice.

Mike Trudell ‏@LakersReporter 1h

Mild correction - it's 4 on 4 full court for Pau, not 5 on 5; major point is he's running up & down, testing the foot.

If he says it, I'm gonna take him at his word, so I guess Kobe and Pau are are 'expected' to play Friday, 'probably', and Dwight is officially 100% according to Dr. 'Antoni.

Mark Medina ‏@MarkG_Medina 40m
D'Antoni said Earl Clark will play more SF off the bench. Antawn Jamison will backup Pau at PF
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This I like.

Doc Brown wrote:

Mark Medina ‏@MarkG_Medina 40m
D'Antoni said Earl Clark will play more SF off the bench. Antawn Jamison will backup Pau at PF
Expand

This I like.

I like that idea. I do hope his minutes get reduced and he starts producing, again. At his peak, he can stretch the defense with this 3-point shot & play good enough defense against opposing SF's.

Doc Brown wrote:

Mark Medina ‏@MarkG_Medina 40m
D'Antoni said Earl Clark will play more SF off the bench. Antawn Jamison will backup Pau at PF
Expand

This I like.

...good idea. Clark can hit the perimeter shot better than World Peace and is not a bad defender. Jamison can space the floor if Gasol is manning the pivot.

Now is World Peace the backup 2? OK, just messin'...

Great idea. Some of us were suggesting this before; it's to see that MDA is reading the forum.

Clark at the 3 means less Metta...


I hope

Doc Brown wrote:

Mark Medina ‏@MarkG_Medina 40m
D'Antoni said Earl Clark will play more SF off the bench. Antawn Jamison will backup Pau at PF
Expand

This I like.

Hey he's figuring it out!

Nash (30)/Blake (18)
Bryant (35)/Meeks (13)
Artest (32)/Clark (16)
Gasol (22)/Jamison (26)
Howard (35)/ Gasol (13)

^Nash and Blake at the 1-2 has worked pretty well for us, I'd like to see MDA continue to run with that for stretches during the game.

While I prefer Clark at PF to SF, I think it's probably a good move considering his production drop off. I still would like to see Pau at some backup C though. Regardless, as I said in the Pau thread, this is all good news just having Gasol back in the mix. There are plenty of solid combinations available for the front line with him, D12, Clark and Jamison. MDA will have to do some mixing/matching and perhaps experiment but there's time before the playoffs begin. To MDA's credit he was able to put together good lineups and win games when Pau was out and when Dwight was out, so I think he should be able to find a groove with both of them. At least I hope so!

Having a full nine man rotation should be terrific for us in general. I think our bench looks pretty solid now if Clark can get rested up and healthy and assuming of course that Pau has no set backs.