Mike Bresnahan: Lakers hire Mike D'Antoni

[picc]

Elaborate. Ive seen the Suns come up with great shots end of game over the years, so surely he has some credibility in this? Whereas a knock on Phil J. In laker forums has been we've always been a bumbling mess at the end of games, only bailed out by kobe's shotmaking ability. I can clearly remember marveling at the suns play calling, at least in comparison with our own.

Long as your here, tell us about your experience with him and what to expect.

[Bandwagon1]

Press conference today?

[HoopsIsLife]

Also, there's nothing Amare can do that Dwight can't do better. If NYK would include a shooter or two in the trade, then maybe.

Well, come on, Howard may be better overall, but let's get real.

Stoudemire is an excellent "pick & pop" shooter who is very effective at about 15-18 feet. He does this FAR better than Howard. He's also an excellent free throw shooter so, unlike Howard, fouling him and sending him to the line does not tend to work out as a strategy.

I'd also rate Stoudemire as one of the best assisted finishers in the game over the last 10 years or so.

[GAME TIME]

Press conference today?

Mike D'Antoni will be introduced as head coach of the Lakers in a press conference following Thursday's practice at approximately 2 PT.

[Kalidogg24]

Right Click and open picture in a new tab to get full image.

[minifang]

http://www.nba.com/lakers/live

live stream right now. sorry if already posted.

[Danny Darko]

http://www.nba.com/lakers/live

live stream of presser

[Gek]

It is also on NBA TV.

[ennui]

not working for me

[minifang]

It just ended not too long ago. That's why.

[GAME TIME]

He said, that he thinks Steve Blake is perfect for the system, he's been wanting him for 10 years

[GAME TIME]

poster from lg recap

*Says Pau Gasol will see some time at Center.

*Already told Jodie Meeks to stop trying to drive and just shoot.

*Says there is no reason why we shouldn't average 110-115 PPG.

*Says no reason why we shouldn't be a good defensive team, admitted that the personnel to be successful at defense in Phoenix just wasn't there.

*When Phoenix got Steve Nash, he learned the offense in literally an hour and a half. Doesn't expect a long transition for the team.

*No set plays we be called.

*Interesting theory about possessions. Says if your team is more talented than the other team, you benefit from having more possessions because chance, random variation, and bad calls will have a lesser impact on the game relatively speaking.

*Dwight's touches and ability to get to the rim should increase. When 100% healthy, expects Dwight to be "unstoppable".

*D'Antoni thinks Steve Blake (!!!!!!!???????) is perfect for the system and said that he's wanted Blake on his teams for the past 10 years.

*Dismisses the "small ball can't win in the playoffs" notion. Said that San Antonio beat the Suns in the playoffs using small ball and that it's not like the Suns owned the Spurs in the regular season and then suddenly failed in the playoffs. The Suns sucked against the Spurs in the regular season too so it was just a bad matchup.

*Says that great players make great coaches. Coaches can only screw things up (Mike Brown anyone?).

*He wants to give players a leash and let them gain a sense of comfort. Doesn't want to over-coach (Mike Brown anyone?).

[Jajwanda]

So basically they want to try to move Blake, MWP, and Duhon...

[LateRoundFlyer]

So basically they want to try to move Blake, MWP, and Duhon...

\

Confirmed.

poster from lg recap

*Says Pau Gasol will see some time at Center.

*Already told Jodie Meeks to stop trying to drive and just shoot.

*Says there is no reason why we shouldn't average 110-115 PPG.

*Says no reason why we shouldn't be a good defensive team, admitted that the personnel to be successful at defense in Phoenix just wasn't there.

*When Phoenix got Steve Nash, he learned the offense in literally an hour and a half. Doesn't expect a long transition for the team.

*No set plays we be called.

*Interesting theory about possessions. Says if your team is more talented than the other team, you benefit from having more possessions because chance, random variation, and bad calls will have a lesser impact on the game relatively speaking.

*Dwight's touches and ability to get to the rim should increase. When 100% healthy, expects Dwight to be "unstoppable".

*D'Antoni thinks Steve Blake (!!!!!!!???????) is perfect for the system and said that he's wanted Blake on his teams for the past 10 years.

*Dismisses the "small ball can't win in the playoffs" notion. Said that San Antonio beat the Suns in the playoffs using small ball and that it's not like the Suns owned the Spurs in the regular season and then suddenly failed in the playoffs. The Suns sucked against the Spurs in the regular season too so it was just a bad matchup.

*Says that great players make great coaches. Coaches can only screw things up (Mike Brown anyone?).

*He wants to give players a leash and let them gain a sense of comfort. Doesn't want to over-coach (Mike Brown anyone?).

The part I bolded makes a lot of sense on paper. It's basically the law of large numbers, or as it is more commonly known, the law of averages: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_large_numbers

This was something I couldn't understand about Mike Brown, and Kenny even pointed out a week before he got fired. Yes, Brown's grind-it-out defensive schemes may have kept us in games, but one can just as easily say that they prevented us from blowing opponents out by 15-20 points.

[minifang]

Yeah, it's really smart reasoning. As a big numbers guy, the theory is sound but I don't know if that tempo is suitable for our teams age.

[LateRoundFlyer]

Now that I think out about it, wouldn't it be weird if the coach we have now is, in reality, more of an actual stats guy than the one we had before? Think about it for a second. How many times did you hear D'Antoni stress the importance of high-percentage plays? I wasn't even fully watching and four or five moments jump out at me, so it will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments he makes in-game.

It also makes perfect sense from the standpoint of Jim Buss trying to bring in a more quantitative approach to player analysis, though I still believe the hire was Jerry's idea.

[GAME TIME]

I just hope Dan Tony doesn't read off stats of each player after every game like brown did, dam, that was so annoying

[GAME TIME]

Yes Dan Tony stated like if you aren't a talented team, then you would want to keep the possessions as minimum as possible, because you have a better chance of winning or be in the game, with a foul here and there, the more talented team could lose.

If you have a talented team, then you would want to get a maximum of possession, because the combo of offense and defense, you should win the battles.

Something like that

[Slava]

I just hope Dan Tony doesn't read off stats of each player after every game like brown did, dam, that was so annoying

D'Antoni was a pro basketball player that played at a high level. He atleast will make more educated statements than "Where were you at in May" Brown.

[Kilroy]