I took this article straight out if NBA Updates. Credit to him he nailed the problem right on the money with the Lakers. This our problem & hope everyone sees what I see also. Heres his article. When the Lakers hired Mike D’Antoni, they envisioned a reunion between him and Steve Nash with belief that Nash would more effectively run the offense since he played for D’Antoni before. What the Lakers ignored was the fact that Nash was 38-years old, and D’Antoni did not fit the personnel of the team. In addition, over the course of a season and a half, Nash has only played 54 games since the hiring of D’Antoni. Moreover, the Lakers recently inked Kobe Bryant to a two-year, $48.5 million contract extension. Basically, the Lakers will keep building around Kobe for the next two years, but they still have D’Antoni signed on for one more year plus a team option for another. The Lakers plan to bring D’Antoni back for next season. They expect him to coach “Kobe’s team” for at least one more year. First, they made a huge mistake by hiring him to satisfy their aging point guard, who was injured during the time D’Antoni was hired, and disregarded the other superstars on the team. Now, they want him to coach Kobe and whoever else joins the team through free agency and the draft, which will be another enormous mistake. If the Lakers want Kobe in L.A., they cannot have D’Antoni. If they haven’t noticed yet, I will let them know. Mike D’Antoni and Kobe Bryant do not mix. They are like oil and water. Mike D’Antoni wants the team to run. Kobe prefers a slower halfcourt game because that’s where he shines most. It’s simple. Mike D’Antoni’s offensive system is point guard oriented, and Kobe is not a point guard. He’s a scorer. He likes to isolate or play inside-out with a big man. He’s not going to waste his energy circling around the court to find three-point shooters or push the ball up the court to find early offense. Kobe has made a career with fade away jumpers and finds his teammates when he sees a double team or by drawing defenders to him on the attack. Hes also not going to accept a different role by playing off the ball so a point guard can set him up. After Kobe returned from his Achilles injury, I noticed that he was trying hard to run D’Antoni’s offense, especially since he was the only healthy guard on the roster. It was disastrous. The offense looked very sloppy and unorganized. Kobe averaged over six turnovers a game in a span of six games. He looked uncomfortable and out of place. The only reason why the Lakers succeeded the last two months of last season was because Kobe was frustrated with the losing and took matters into his own hands. He started to play outside of D’Antoni’s offense, and it generated wins. It’s evident that Kobe is unlikely to succeed under D’Antoni. I saw it happen with the Knicks when they traded for Carmelo Anthony and had him playing for D’Antoni. Anthony, whose style of play closely resembles to Kobe’s, also struggled to play for D’Antoni, and the Knicks ended up firing him. On the contrary, it’s obvious that only pure point guards benefit from Mike D’Antoni’s offense. That’s why Nash played so well for D’Antoni in his prime. Same reason why Raymond Felton had his best year playing for D’Antoni in New York. Then Linsanity happened. Blake and Farmar were also thriving when they were healthy early this season. Now, Kendall Marshall is playing phenomenal under D’Antoni. Chris Paul is a superstar who would easily flourish playing for D’Antoni, not Kobe. All Mike D’Antoni’s offense needs is an all-star or superstar caliber point guard to run it to be most effective. However, Kobe being the superstar of the Lakers is a shooting guard. How the Lakers expect things to work with Mike D’Antoni and Kobe Bryant on the team together is beyond me. Steve Nash is already too old and injury prone, so he is not even close to being a superstar. Therefore, hiring Mike D’Antoni proves to be meaningless for the Lakers. And if the Lakers think that D’Antoni can coach a team built around Kobe, then they must be blind. Kobe is not going to put up another two seasons running Mike D’Antoni’s offense. Mike D’Antoni will never change his system, and Kobe will never change his style of play. Why would he? He’s won five championship rings being the player he has been his entire career. So if the Lakers are going to keep D’Antoni, then they could expect a possible team conflict in the very near future. It’s just not going to work. -BleedPurple&Gold-
Posted on: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 02:49:45 +0000
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