D'Antoni Out as Lakers Coach?

[Johnnyblazzed]

I'm not saying D'antoni's a good coach. But he was set up for failure the moment he took the deal to coach the Lakers. Some coaches can work it out to get through an injury or two, but I doubt any team was hit as hard with injuries as bad as the Lakers were the last 2 years, he never had a chance.

I don't know about being set up for failure. Those injuries came after he signed on. Again, looking at his resume sans Phoenix.... not impressive. I have no idea what the Lakers saw in that guy.

I don't mean literally he was set up. But you could've put Phil, Popovic, Riley, Red, whoever, there isn't a coach in NBA history that could have found any success with the makeshift group of tomato cans (sorry VCSGrizz) he had to work with going into last year's postseason, or this year's entire season.

They backdoored into last season's playoffs, and closed the year out very nice playing better than 90% (recordwise) of the league over their final 25 games. This year, D'antoni never stood a chance, making it unfair to his resume having a blanket record with insurmountable circumstances stapled to it.

I'm with you now. I'm still lost though as to what the organization saw in D'Antoni to begin with. I don't believe he's a terrible coach, however at the time, the Lakers were fully expecting to contend for the championship. I didn't have faith he could get a healthy Lakers team to winning it all, and Kobe appears to think the same.

[lettherebehouse]

I don't know about being set up for failure. Those injuries came after he signed on. Again, looking at his resume sans Phoenix.... not impressive. I have no idea what the Lakers saw in that guy.

I don't mean literally he was set up. But you could've put Phil, Popovic, Riley, Red, whoever, there isn't a coach in NBA history that could have found any success with the makeshift group of tomato cans (sorry VCSGrizz) he had to work with going into last year's postseason, or this year's entire season.

They backdoored into last season's playoffs, and closed the year out very nice playing better than 90% (recordwise) of the league over their final 25 games. This year, D'antoni never stood a chance, making it unfair to his resume having a blanket record with insurmountable circumstances stapled to it.

I'm with you now. I'm still lost though as to what the organization saw in D'Antoni to begin with. I don't believe he's a terrible coach, however at the time, the Lakers were fully expecting to contend for the championship. I didn't have faith he could get a healthy Lakers team to winning it all, and Kobe appears to think the same.

On the record: Dr. Jerry Buss wanted to entertain the Los Angeles fanbase with an uptempo style of basketball before passing away that would've been reminiscent of 80s Showtime Lakers run and gun.

Off the record: Drugs are bad

[Johnnyblazzed]

I don't mean literally he was set up. But you could've put Phil, Popovic, Riley, Red, whoever, there isn't a coach in NBA history that could have found any success with the makeshift group of tomato cans (sorry VCSGrizz) he had to work with going into last year's postseason, or this year's entire season.

They backdoored into last season's playoffs, and closed the year out very nice playing better than 90% (recordwise) of the league over their final 25 games. This year, D'antoni never stood a chance, making it unfair to his resume having a blanket record with insurmountable circumstances stapled to it.

I'm with you now. I'm still lost though as to what the organization saw in D'Antoni to begin with. I don't believe he's a terrible coach, however at the time, the Lakers were fully expecting to contend for the championship. I didn't have faith he could get a healthy Lakers team to winning it all, and Kobe appears to think the same.

On the record: Dr. Jerry Buss wanted to entertain the Los Angeles fanbase with an uptempo style of basketball before passing away that would've been reminiscent of 80s Showtime Lakers run and gun.

Off the record: Drugs are bad

I get Buss wanted the Suns D'Antoni - he ended up with the Nuggets/Knicks D'Antoni. D'Antoni's uptempo style is best suited to youth and athleticism. With all of the miles Kobe has on him, I don't see him being as efficient at his age in an uptempo system versus a half court system. Same goes for Nash and Gasol.