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[s dubl]

Sloan>Pringles if there's no Phil

was super excited to hear Sloans name before Brown was even fired... when I first heard the news Brown was fired I was almost sure thats what was going to happen.

 

[00david00]

Looking at Mike D'Antoni as a new era Pat Riley. It's a far-fetched reach to compare the 2 but that's how I like to think of it in general terms.

I think D'Antoni has the personality to survive the Lakers job, something Brown didn't. He's a super nice guy but still commands respect and can be hard-nosed enough.

Other than the fact that Phil Jackson is a legend and would've been a great story, I'm disappointed in 2 things: 1.) No Pippen as an assistant and 2.) Dwight wanted Phil. Neither are big deals.

number 2 might be a big deal by the end of the year

 

[ValarMorghulis]

I think the roster/bench needs to be addressed ASAP

 

[essential1]

I think the roster/bench needs to be addressed ASAP

If only Ramon was around

Someone trade Jamison for Sessions

MJ would do it for a UNC grad

 

[senorroboto2k5]

number 2 might be a big deal by the end of the year

Definitely but I think D'Antoni will do a good enough job that coaching won't be a factor in his decision

 

[CHAOSE57]

The difference between Mike Brown and Mike D'Antoni hiring? Kobe kept his mouth shut when Brown got hired unlike the latter.

"I love him," Kobe Bryant simply said about Mike D'Antoni via e-mail to Y! Sports early Monday morning.

That says a lot.

If he actually get Nate McMillan to join his staff

#teamMoveForward

 

[ValarMorghulis]

gotta go get knock down shooters...

i.e. korver, novak, frye


but logically i think trading Pau for Josh Smith is now the right basketball move

 

[ValarMorghulis]

would ANYONE take Ron Ron?

 

[Truth]

Y'all some spoiled *** Laker fans

I think D'Antoni is a good fit

 

[essential1]

gotta go get knock down shooters...

i.e. korver, novak, frye


but logically i think trading Pau for Josh Smith is now the right basketball move

I'm not sold on the move for Josh Smith... But I don't think Hawks will do it anyways. Also it'd be the right decision this year. But next year and beyond it will be Carlos Boozer esque when we pay a 5 year max contract for Josh Smith... And I was a huge advocate for that trade last year, and before we got Nash.

And it's not going to happen. I know that but hindsight if D'Antoni was coach from Day 1 of the season, keeping Sessions as the backup would have been the right choice.

Fantasy Basketball Analysis on Sessions

"Where he excels is operating pick-and-rolls, especially going to his right. While his instincts are more as a scorer, he consistently finds the open man -- he was 19th in pure point rating -- and draws tons of fouls while doing so, ranking third at his position in free throw rate. He's also a very good rebounder for his size, ranking 10th at his position and partially offsetting his otherwise lacking defense.

All told, his combination of skills makes him a much better fit as a starter on a bad team, or perhaps running the second unit of a good one. Charlotte is going to be awful, but fantasy leaguers should jump on Sessions."

Exactly where he'd fit in... D'Antoni's offense

 

[SORIANOTRON]

Phil didnt wanna travel to road games. How can u have a coach that only wants to coach half the games and be successful?
Yall are ridiculous and always find something to complain abbout.
We have the best pick n roll players. And now we have the best pick n roll coach.
Excited to see dantoni coach

+1

I wanted Phil just as bad as the next man, but I agree we gonna need a coach at the helm ALL season.

D'Antoni finna cook with this squad

Mike welcome to the fraternity...its a purp x gold thing now....

be the natural leader you were born to be, and lead these men into NBA history

LETS GET IT. NO MORE DISTRACTIONS, WE LOCKED IN, WE ALL IN.

 

[essential1]

would ANYONE take Ron Ron?

No. And it'd be a bad idea to trade Metta.. You lose so much defense for a guy who needs some defensive minded players on the floor..

Metta isn't going to get traded unless someone is dumb enough to unload a great deal to LA..

 

[stay strong]

Well ....... Lakers will make the playoffs

 

[alcstarheel]

We picked the guy that quit on his team last year. What's going to happen here if bad things start happening again? Just read the articles from last season about his resignation..the stories about his running Amaré's legs into the ground..about the team not buying into the system. Sure we have more head-strong players than that Knicks team but it still gives me pause. Especially when you consider Phil was ready to step into that throne.

 

[flyerthandelta]

I dont mind to trade Pau Gasol for Josh Smith still gotta get a PG that can play def for the likes of the West... CP,Russ Parker Nash still is going to have problems guarding these guys either way

 

[CP1708]

Now Im really sad we let Glock go.

Get him back asap.

 

[Kimchi Papi]

Latest rumor is D'Antoni wants Nate McMillan on his staff as a defensive coach...Not that any of his teams were known for team defense...

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports....i-wants-nate-mcmillan-as-defensive-assistant/

 

[alexander2182]

I think D'Antoni is a good fit

Are you sure? Cuz now ppl just bringing up trades just becuase we got a new coach. I just think Mike would have worked better for the team than D'Antoni and the team we have now can compete.

 

[teamlakers909]

How great does that potential trade for KevMartin and Scola (for Gasol) sound now.

 

[essential1]

How great does that potential trade for KevMartin and Scola (for Gasol) sound now. :\

Still sounds terrible

 

[pmatic]

Nash-D'Antoni reunion won't be Showtime, but it'll be fascinating

It wasn't too long ago that Mike D'Antoni looked, in his own words, "like a West Virginia bootlegger."

"Well, hell," said his brother Danny, a West Virginia native like Mike. "It's in your lineage."

Today? He looks like a million bucks. Four million of them actually, the annual salary he'll get for coaching the Lakers.

It's not the $6 million he got to coach the Knicks, but, on the other hand, Jim Dolan and the craziness of Madison Square Garden will be 3,000 miles away.

D'Antoni is still on crutches after a knee replacement but feeling much better than he did last week when he was limping around, unshaven and slurping Jell-O, at an old folks' home in Westchester, N.Y. His wife, Laurel, had found him a room there when a power outage had killed his access to the outside world.

"It was pretty much a low point," D'Antoni said on Friday, the last time he had been in full communiqué mode.

Reached at his home on Monday morning, D'Antoni would not provide details of his plans with the Lakers, who finalized a deal with their new head coach at 3 a.m. ET that morning. "They asked me not to talk, so I'm not going to," said D'Antoni.

But a few other details were pieced together from other sources and casual conversations I've had with D'Antoni in the months since he abruptly resigned from the New York Knicks in March.

• He will fly to L.A. on Wednesday morning but will take at least a few days to acclimate himself. He is still on crutches but, then, in a metaphorical sense, so are the Lakers, who are 3-4.

• Steve Nash is supposed to return from a small fracture in his left fibula early next week. An educated guess would put D'Antoni in charge by that date.
I've asked D'Antoni in recent months if he thought that Nash, at 38, could still play a high-octane offense. "Steve can still do anything," responded D'Antoni, who is -- and this is beyond obvious -- said to be thrilled to be rejoining the quarterback he helped turn into a two-time MVP in Phoenix.

The best guess, though, is that this will not be a seven-second offense. Nash at 38 is not Nash at 30. The underrated aspect of D'Antoni's up-tempo offense, however, is its half-court proficiency. It wasn't all long passes and easy transition baskets. It was based on quick decisions made on pick-and-rolls, dribble-ats, handoffs and lobs performed in the half court.

When it didn't work it was because of clock-killing isolations, the specialty of Carmelo Anthony, which is why New York was an awful fit for D'Antoni's schemes. Anthony never adjusted to D'Antoni, and D'Antoni never adjusted to Anthony.

• D'Antoni has a solid relationship with Kobe Bryant. Their shared past in Italy is well known -- Bryant at first wore No. 8 in homage to D'Antoni, a star in Italy during Kobe's boyhood -- but the relationship went through a testy period years ago. D'Antoni's Suns had a particularly antagonistic 2006 first-round playoff series with Bryant's Lakers, and Kobe was in the middle of most of it, especially battles both physical and verbal with Suns guard Raja Bell.

But Bryant and D'Antoni have spent a lot of time talking during their Team USA stints together. They were particularly friendly last summer during the London Olympics. (I witnessed their exchanges.) They still share stories about Italy and talk to each other in Italian from time to time. And D'Antoni's respect for Bryant as a player has never wavered. "Kobe's a ***** to guard," D'Antoni would say time and time again. That is his highest compliment.

The new coach's biggest challenge just might be incorporating Bryant's post-ups into a D'Antoni offense. But Kobe isn't Carmelo. He plays the whole game. Getting out and running, and depending on a healthy Nash to figure out when Bryant's isolations are called for, will be crucial to D'Antoni's success in L.A.

• Another challenge will be getting a wing man involved when a track meet is called for. Shawn Marion's speed was a key element to the success in Phoenix, and neither Pau Gasol nor Metta World Peace is Marion. But in my conversations with D'Antoni, he has always spoken highly of Gasol, whose intelligence he respects and who he believes can be a runner, not just a back-to-the-basket player.

• D'Antoni knows Lakers assistants Bernie Bickerstaff and Eddie Jordan and respects both of them. He will depend on their input during the transition, and the only coaching change that is solidified so far is that brother Dan will be joining him in L.A. His other predictable hire would be Phil Weber, who, like Danny, was on his staff with the Suns and Knicks. But Weber's status is still up in the air.

• Finally, the presence of Dwight Howard should help D'Antoni. No matter how much he insists that his teams have never been as bad defensively as critics have claimed, he is an offensive-oriented coach. That is his priority at practice and during games. Having a shot-blocker like Howard to clean up mistakes is something he never had in Phoenix. Tyson Chandler gave him some of that element in New York, but Chandler is not quite Howard.

"The best time they ever had out in L.A. was Showtime," said someone close to D'Antoni, "and I think Mike can bring some of that back."

No, it won't be Showtime. But it won't be Slowtime either. It will be fascinating to see if D'Antoni and his two offensive stars, Bryant and Nash, can figure out a winning compromise.

Link

 

[armorrig]

All I'm hoping is for D'Antoni to lead the Lakers to the right path. The team really needs to be on board with their coach.

I wonder if they asked for some of the players input (kobe, dwight, nash) before making the ultimate decision.

 

[JCMojica24]

If we can get Nate as an assistant that will be great! Still have faith in this team. That pick and roll with Nash and Dwight is going to be KILLER. Kobe will still get his as well.

 

[essential1]

Same problems that plagued Brown, would have plagued Phil, and will plague D'Antoni

I think Meeks will start to shuffle out of his funk with D'Antoni than any of the other coaches.. And no way D'Antoni plays Ebanks over Meeks.. So you have that... Jodie Meeks sightings will be more prevalent. Also this is the offense Meeks wants to and needs to play in

I'd be willing to lose Jamison for either 1. A Pick & Roll backup PG 2. A hustle backup SF. Who is decent offensively, and makes his money due to athletics and defense.

Everyone else on the roster other than Steve Blake. I'm fine with... Trading Pau seems like such a bad idea when you realize 1. Josh Smith would be a waste as a max player, and we'd have 5 years of it. 2. The add-ons we want make the deal impossible, and therefore not promising to LA. 3. Ferry is trying to build around Smith & Horford again

 

[pyboy28]

All I'm hoping is for D'Antoni to lead the Lakers to the right path. The team really needs to be on board with their coach.
I wonder if they asked for some of the players input (kobe, dwight, nash) before making the ultimate decision.

well if they did ask for players input we all know where kobe n dwight stood which was PRO PHIL...dunno bout NASH though