Mike D'Antoni is the wrong choice for the Lakers

by Ryan Henry

As, Jerry Buss gets ready to unveil his new toy, I have some bad news for him.

Mike D’Antoni is a terrible fit for the LA Lakers.

Everybody was so ready for the Lakers to, yet again, announce Phil Jackson as the coach of this year’s new super team that nobody thought about any other options. Apparently the Lakers forgot to do that as well.

For the uninitiated, D’Antoni made his name with the 2004-2005 Phoenix Suns. Having just acquired Steve Nash (now of the LA Lakers), D’Antoni in his first full year installed the “Seven seconds or less” offense. Nash directed the Suns to the top offense, an MVP trophy and D’Antoni to a NBA Coach of the Year award. He won 50 or more games in four consecutive seasons before leaving for the New York Knicks. He promptly experienced the first two losing seasons
of his career. It was only when the Knicks acquired Carmelo Anthony and former Sun Amare Stoudemire that D’Antoni was able turn it around and get the Knicks into the playoffs.

Granted, the 2008-2009 Knicks roster was terrible. It featured such standouts as Jamal Crawford and Quentin Richardson. This year’s Lakers are not those Knicks.

But neither are they the Suns.

In 2005, when the Suns led the league is basically every offensive category, D’Antoni had Nash, Stoudemire, Shawn Marion and Borris Diaw leading the high octane offense. Their big men? Almost non-existent. Up and down that roster, D’Antoni had dynamic, mobile power forwards and centers that looked more like small forwards.

The Lakers don’t.

The Lakers have two of the best pick and roll players in the game in Nash and Dwight Howard, the declining skills of Kobe Bryant and the oft-misused Pau Gasol. Mike Brown was brought in to manage the personalities of the Lakers, while the Jerry Buss was banking on Kobe’s talent to bring home a championship on his own.

This year, the Br. Buss took the Miami Heat approach of building a Western Conference super team  The problem? The free agent moves didn't address the biggest deficit of last year’s Lakers: their inability to guard fast point guards. Or really any point guards for that matter.

D’Antoni won’t help this. His offense doesn't work with the personnel that he has available, and he doesn't bring a defensive mindset. When those Suns were best in the league in every offensive category, they were also either worst or second worst in every defensive category.

Even their second choice, Phil Jackson, would have been a bad choice. While Kobe and Gasol have proven that they can run the triangle together, Howard would have had a miserable time of it.

Instead Dr. Buss should have looked to one of the other names that was being thrown around: Jerry Sloan.

He is one of the all-time winning-est coaches in NBA history (he currently sits at number 3); he had to manage big personalities in Karl Malone and John Stockton and, most importantly, his offense revolves around the pick and roll. Nash and Howard would have thrived in a Jerry Sloan schemed offense. Bother were already regarded as two of the best pick and roll players going into the season, which is why it was so confusing to see Mike Brown try to run the Princeton offense. Kobe would have scored more at a higher shooting percentage as the pressure that Howard and Nash would be putting on the defense would give him open jumpers instead of contested fadeaways. Even Gasol would have been happy that his weak side would finally be put to use. Nash would have been a distributor, a role that he has excelled in the past. He would have just passed to Kobe, Howard and Gasol, while playing passing lanes on defense. He wouldn’t have to play on the ball defense, since he has his big men to back them up and once they force a turnover he gets to run the fast break.

Mike D’Antoni is a terrible fit for these Lakers. If you are a Laker fan, first, I’m sorry. Second, you had better hope that he doesn't try to force the “Seven second or less” offense down Kobe’s throat. If he does, the Lakers are no better than any other middling Western Conference team, not the powerhouse that Dr. Buss imagined when he spent $50 million in the off-season.