Mitch: Problem is the players' effort, not coach

[Slava]

Pretty sure Di Caprio wouldn't mind shelling a grand more for his playoff seats. Do it Mitch!

[Jetset]

also, i'd like to add i don't like dwight coming in here and thinking he can dictate stuff like it's orlando. just on that notion alone i'm glad we didn't sign phil.

[dockingsched]

certain reporters i don't give one ounce of credibility too, peter vescey is one, and sam smith is another.

[Kilroy]

I don't believe this one either.

[kblo247]

It's nt bs that Jerry has not ever liked Phil or his brand of basketball. It rustles his jimmies Phil's way is more successful

[leeprettyp]

Kevin Ding is ripping one into Dwight Howard in this column.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/howard-408753-lakers-team.html

Both Bryant and Steve Nash have tried without success to sell Howard on just going hard – letting his limitations reveal themselves instead of conceding in advance. And the coach? Whereas Jackson has the stature and confidence to call out any player at any time, D'Antoni has been unwilling to criticize Howard – painfully aware that when D'Antoni tried to make Carmelo Anthony modify his attitude in New York last year, the Knicks swiftly chose the player over the coach. (As did the Orlando Magic, with Howard over Stan Van Gundy.)

[Roll Tide 09]

Howard needs to quit his complaining! He got what he wanted now either help get a ring or SHUT UP!!!!!

[minifang]

**** just got real.

[Kilroy]

The more I think about it the more I think Dwight's just using the situation as a diversion from the real issue, which is that post back injury Dwight just isn't the same as pre-back-injury Dwight...
And if that's the case I feel for the guy. He's probably pretty frustrated. If he's having nerve issues in his legs, maybe he's having them in his hands too, which could explain his troubles holding onto the ball.
But at some point, you have to admit it, adjust and move on. Because if he is limited physically, he's still pretty damned good... He might just need to add some other wrinkles to his game.
Maybe that's what Ding is saying, I don't know... But whatever the case, there's no time to dwell on it.

[DEEP3CL]

It was kinda obvious, Dwight knew that Phil has always tailored winning around having bigs. They never wanted D'Antoni, only Nash probably supported the idea....the rest wanted Phil.

[minifang]

TBH I don't think Nash would have minded Phil one bit. Jerry just wanted showtime back and it backfired.

[ballaholick]

The more I think about it the more I think Dwight's just using the situation as a diversion from the real issue, which is that post back injury Dwight just isn't the same as pre-back-injury Dwight...
And if that's the case I feel for the guy. He's probably pretty frustrated. If he's having nerve issues in his legs, maybe he's having them in his hands too, which could explain his troubles holding onto the ball.
But at some point, you have to admit it, adjust and move on. Because if he is limited physically, he's still pretty damned good... He might just need to add some other wrinkles to his game.
Maybe that's what Ding is saying, I don't know... But whatever the case, there's no time to dwell on it.

Don't feel sorry for him at all, the guy goes after his teamates and shows them the score sheet to show how many shots he took, if he really was as injured he would just shut up and stop talking about offense, and the nerve thing is nothing because it doesnt affect ur arms when ur lower back is involved, ive had enough of this guy, i feel bad for the magic fans and now he is our problem.

[dockingsched]

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/stor ... ke-dantoni

The Los Angeles Lakers already have fired one head coach in this disappointing season, but general manager Mitch Kupchak isn't placing all the blame for the team's 17-24 start on the current one.

"Without a doubt, we have utmost confidence in Mike (D'Antoni) as a coach," Kupchak told ESPNLosAngeles.com in a phone interview Tuesday. "I think if you spoke to him, his vision on Day 1 was dramatically different than it is today. It's the coach's job to adjust and to make changes. Sometimes a player is just not going to fit. Sometimes a coach has to make changes and compromise in the way he's done things and I think that's what Mike is going through right now is just the process."...

"It's not like he started a week or two ago trying to figure this thing out," Kupchak said. "He's been searching for combinations now for probably six-to-eight weeks. Understandably, I think the longer the season goes the more is at stake and the bigger hole you dig, the more dramatic your adjustments or your take on coaching has to become. I think that's what he's doing. He's grabbing every rabbit out of the hat trying to look for something that works."

Kupchak singled out the Lakers' effort, or lack thereof, as the most frustrating part to see.

"I'm a little bit concerned about our effort," Kupchak said. "I'd like to see better effort on the court. When the ball is not bouncing your way, when shots aren't going in, you just can't seem to get a break, the one thing you can control on the court is your effort and loose balls and running the floor, defending, offensive rebounding. I think back to the Miami game and I have that vision of LeBron (James) diving on that ball at midcourt. That's effort. It's natural when things get tough to hesitate and be unsure, lose confidence. That's one thing that we can't let happen. We have to maintain our confidence and our effort more than anything has to be at an all-time to get through this period."

more to read in the link.

[TyCobb]

[Draper]

Welp guess they don't want to be THAT team that fires two head coaches in a season.

[minifang]

Always take what management says with a grain of salt. They said they had utmost confidence in Mike Brown before he was fired. This could possibly a smokescreen (or not).

[LawlStudent]

I don't understand. You can't treat those two things as necessarily not inextricably linked. The effort of the players can easily be a byproduct of the effect of the coaching staff on the player.

[Kilroy]

If Dwight is trying to put pressure on the FO, this is absolutely the right tack to take...
But I don't believe for a minute that he, Jim and Jerry, haven't at least talked about removing D'Antoni.

In fact this convinces me even more that a Mike D'Antoni resignation is even more probable.

[moonpie]

Mitch getting his his potions and spells ready, ready to wave that magic wand. Trust.

[JustAwesome]

Effort is definitely one of the problems. The record shows it. Luckily, effort can be fixed if the players are willing to do that. It's easier to fix that than it is to pay a third NBA head coach salary.