Late Sunday night, early Monday morning the Lakers made a surprising move announcing that they would hire Mike D’Antoni as their new head coaching signing him to a three-year, $12 million dollar deal.
The surprising aspect of this was it seemed as though Phil Jackson was pretty much a lock to take over after Mike Brown was fired late last week.
In fact it sounds as though no offer was even made to Jackson…
“Saturday morning, [Lakers executive] Jim Buss called to ask if he could come and visit. I didn’t solicit or ask for the opportunity but I welcomed both him and [team executive] Mitch Kupchak into my home to discuss the possibility of my return to the Lakers as head coach,” Jackson said.
“We talked for over an hour and a half. No contractual terms were discussed and we concluded with a handshake and an understanding that I would have until Monday [today] to come back to them with my decision. I did convey to them that I did have the confidence that I could do the job. I was awakened at midnight Sunday by a phone call from Mitch Kupchak. He told me that the Lakers had signed Mike D’Antoni to a three-year agreement and that they felt he was the best coach for the team. The decision is of course theirs to make. I am gratified by the groundswell of support from the Laker fans who encouraged my return and it is the principal reason why I considered the possibility.”
Early reports indicated that Jackson had pretty big demands including part ownership in the team, front office power and the ability to miss several games during various road trips.
Jackson’s agent however denies these allegations…
“No discussion of those ideas being contractual terms or demands was ever made,” Musburger said. “They had a full discussion of the club, the roster, the schedule, assistants, etc. But to allow someone either on their side or on D’Antoni’s side to make these allegations — unsubstantiated and incorrect — and incorrectly maligning Phil is so objectionable to us that the process would have concluded this way.”
The big question though now that D’Antoni is in place is what does this do for the Lakers going forward? Was it the right move or should they have spurned for the Zen Master?
Quite frankly it seems like the Lakers may of made a mistake.
D’Antoni is known for his fast paced offense something that could come into question with Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash in the twilight of their careers. Not to mention one of the biggest problems this season and last was the Lakers seemingly lagging on defense.
The finally there’s the question of what happens in the playoffs?
Even with the slow start and firing of Brown I don’t think there was any doubt that the Lakers wouldn’t make the playoffs. However D’Antoni has really had zero success in the postseason even with talent at his disposal.
h/t: LA Times
