OFFICIAL: Lakers Hire Mike D'Antoni

[The_Ripper]

Lakers spokesman John Black confirmed on Sunday night that the team has signed Mike D'Antoni to a multi-year contract.

The team is expected to have a press conference to announce the deal most likely on Tuesday or Wednesday of the coming week.

According to Black, Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, executive vice president Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak were unanimous that D'Antoni was the best coach for the team at this time.

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash both expressed support for the idea of playing for D'Antoni, who was Nash's coach in Phoenix when the point guard won consecutive MVP awards in 2005 and 2006.

[Citizen-Y]

And down goes to the defense.

[Black Male]

Eh

[PLANT]

This is a good move by LA.  Having Mike D will help out the offense big time which is what they need.  The players they have are all defensive minded enough (minus nash) to get the job done on D. 

[M Dogg™]

The personal the Lakers have is very heavy on defense. You have Dwight Howard and Ron Artest who were defensive players of the year and Kobe Bryant who has great defense and Paul Gasol is good enough. I am not sold on this hire though. I thought they should bring back Phil, but it looks like he was asking for some control over personal and Jim Buss was said to be against that. I have a feeling that once Jerry Buss dies, Jim will fire most the Laker's front office and go on an ego trip that would make Jerry Jones and Al Davis jealous.

[Bch]

Prob with the lakers is they are old, banged up, and won't survive the season with that flimsy ass frail bench. Artest is good on D when he can put some muscle on you, but anyone who's watched lebron torch artest knows he moves side to side like dick bavetta. Players way past their glory day, aren't going to cut it.. They need to upgrade that bench asap, maybe trade former clipper steve blake for jamal crawford LOL

[Remedy360]

Obviously PJ woulda been ideal given his history, but I think D'antoni is going to be great for the offense, especially with Nash. Overall, it would be best for him to "coach" minimally and just let that loaded roster do their thing.

[Hack Wilson - real]

this is a GREAT hire for Laker haters come playoff time



with that said they are gonna win a lot of games in the regular season with his style of coaching

[Hack Wilson - real]

And down goes to the defense.

[LooN3y]

retarded move, and has jim buss's handprints all over it.


publicly humiliating phil revealing details of the negotiations and saying he "wanted too much" seems like a scapegoat excuse to me.

mike's defense is horrible, i dont care if the personnel is good enough, and this man has never won.

this basically makes pau expendable, hes basically gone. if it works mayb but in antoni's system there cant be 2 bigs.

which is ridiculous, since phil worked 2 big men in bynum and gasol efficiently.

this guy has never won, let alone gone to the finals. i dont have the highest confidence on his adjustments in crunch times during the playoffs.

this guy couldnt control the knicks, and this guy is already getting cooked before his first game.


cant wait for the firing of antoni in backstage lakers. browns firing is the next episode.


dont get me wrong, its an upgrade, but how the fuck are you going to turn down the best coach of all time? a proven and tested to work choice.

lol at basically hiring after just one telephone call. it has jim buss written all over it. im pretty damn sure phil just has absolute no respect for him just like most in that organization.

[Chamillitary Click]

PJ wanted too much. I don't mind this move. I still guarantee Western Conference Finals, unless they run into the Thunder before that.

Not a bad move at all.

[Black Excellence]

this is a GREAT hire for Laker haters come playoff time



with that said they are gonna win a lot of games in the regular season with his style of coaching

word i'm lookin' to it.

[Sccit]

everyone in LA wanted Phil...it's obviously something personal between Phil and Jim. They just dont like each other, and it shows by the way this all went down. When it comes down to it, Phil Jackson was the muthafucka for the job. Passin up on Phil is as dumb as it gets. THAT SAID, Mike D'Antoni will have this offense lookin potent as fuck. and for those who don't know and keep insisting that Mike D'Antoni is gunna fuck us on defense, Lakers are looking to bring in NATE MCMILLAN as an assistant coach, and he would be the defensive specialist ala Tom Thibodeou back in Boston. Team USA coaching staff on the Lakeshow. it aint as bad as it may have initially seemed...well, it is, because losing the chance to get Phil back is quite depressing. But we may very will still have some exciting days ahead of us in LA.

[Russell Bell]

yeah, i mean i can see the justification of d'antoni being hired, but if i owned the team i'd be hiring phil.

d'antonis not a bad coach by a long shot and the lakers have the personnel to make it to the finals regardless.

[Hack Wilson - real]

why the fuck is Pau trying to shoot a game winning 3?  LMAO