Monday, November 12, 2012

So much for the Zen Master,Mike D'antoni Hired as new Lakers Head Coach



The "Weekend With Bernie" era is officially over! Well not really, Interim Head Coach Bernie Bickerstaff is still scheduled to coach a few more games as New Head Coach Mike D'antoni recovers from knee replacement surgery. The deal is reportedly worth 4 years with $12 Million guaranteed. The Lakers surprised everyone(even me) by hiring D'antoni over Phil Jackson. D'antoni was the architect of the "7 seconds or less" Phoenix Suns offense which was one of the greatest offenses of all time.
   The general consensus of opinions on the D'antoni hire were mostly negative and surprised. Many felt that when you have the opportunity to bring one of the greatest coaches of all time on your team you do it. It was especially surprising considering Magic Johnson's "win no matter how much it costs" attitude. Maybe the Buss family felt that Phil Jackson's travel and front office decision demands were too much, maybe it was money related(Phil was asking for around $10-15 million per year) or maybe Jim Buss just plain doesn't like Phil.For some reason the Lakers felt that D'antoni's Pick & Roll based offense was better suited for this team rather than the Triangle which is very similar to the Princeton.
     Many people are under the assumption that D'antoni is an awful defensive coach. While he certainly isn't a elite defensive coach I think most people get lost in the traditional Points Allowed per game stat.For example in 2006-07 the Phoenix Suns were in the bottom 10 in terms of points allowed per game(102.9) but their Defensive Efficiency was only 89.4 which was good for 16th in the league. All I'm trying to say is that points per game & points allowed per game are very decieving when talking about a team that had as many posessions as the D'antoni Suns(3rd in Pace).What people also forget to mention is during his Phoenix days the anchor of his defense was Amare Stoudemire and now he has the greatest defensive player of his generation(Dwight Howard) under his command.
     Now lets get to how D'antoni fits with the Lakers. At first glance you see the potential for a deadly offense led by an even deadlier Nash-Howard P&R combination. But the elite offensive Phoenix teams had deadly 3pt  shooters something that this Lakers team doesn't. Guys like Boris Diaw,Raja Bell and Shawn Marion all commanded respect from the 3pt line. D'antoni will have to find a way to find a rotation that spreads the floor while also putting out he best lineup on the floor. Guys like Jodie Meeks and Antawn Jamison will play even bigger roles now than they did under Mike Brown. Now the success of this offense depends on a 38 year old who right now has a semi fracture in his leg.That's pretty dicey if you ask me.For the time being Chris duhon will be running the offense(Pretty funny right?).Even though there are plenty of questions surrounding this team it also has an enormous ceiling.Hopefully(for Laker fans) D'antoni can prove that he's better for the job then the "Zen Master".

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