"Decisions on the court last yr based on pleasing Howard"

[Kalidogg24]

From my viewpoint, Kobe played his ass off to get us into the playoffs.

Agreed.
Kobe played his ass off and never took any breaks as usual. Anyone who thinks Dwight's amazing second half of last season overtakes what Kobe did the Entire season (injuries and all) had too many whacks to the head as a child. For some reason the game that sticks out to me the most while discussing this is the 47 Kobe dropped at the Rose Garden.

As I could remember we were neck to neck with Utah for the last playoff seed and we just dropped a couple chippies to Washington and Philly at home. The Mamba went the entire game and went on vintage mode and literally willed our squad to victory.

Once again Dwights and amazing defensive talent and any team is lucky to have him.
But let's not beat around the bush and act like hes completely dominant all around like a Shaq, Kareem or Hakeem.
He has yet to prove he can win a game offensively. Defense is another story.

[Kilroy]

Pau also went on a tear and played with a chip on his shoulder for the first time in a long time.
And everyone was going out of their way to get Dwight the ball.

[chefy]

Then it's official...MDA sucks.

[Kilroy]

I'm no fan of Mike D'Antoni, but I do think he deserves some credit for his flexibility last season, especially down the stretch... He seemed to be legitimately trying to to win games by trying different combinations, etc...

After years of Phil and his rock steady and often times frustrating routine, it was refreshing.

I think there were a lot of guys defending MDA last season and placing the blame on the players for their collectively poor performance... I think the same can be said for the mediocre success we had.

But there isn't a better coaching option out there right now, so I'd like to see what he can do with this squad with a complete camp and lower expectations.

[Slava]

I guess Dwight putting up 20+ pts 15+ rebounds a game after the allstar break had nothing to do with us going on a run and making the playoffs, it was all Kobes doing smh

Never happened.

[dAdo dA dEvil]

... Kobe willed us to the playoffs last year ... period ...

[Edrees]

Don't we make decisions on the court to please kobe despite it not always being the best team choice? I mean, this is nothing new for the Lakers. Howard is a cancer but I don't see why this is a big deal like it's a surprise. Teams go through this with players a lot.

[stunnar0b]

Only reason why he would be considered a cancer was because he wasn't completely invested in the future of the franchise and for good reason but to say that he's garbage or you won't be ably to win with him is ridiculous.

[Kalidogg24]

But there isn't a better coaching option out there right now, so I'd like to see what he can do with this squad with a complete camp and lower expectations.

( Sorry in advance for my once every blue moon MDA rant)

George Karl , Lionel Hollins, and Byron Scott.

Coaches who don't give a damn if a player wants to stay in the game.When they feel its time for them to rest whether losing or winning, they will bench them. Three coaches with solid defensive philosophies.
Coaches that wouldn't expierment with the lineups 100 times during a game. Coaches who would never play Antawn Jamison at center. LoL!

[semi-sentient]

I guess Dwight putting up 20+ pts 15+ rebounds a game after the allstar break had nothing to do with us going on a run and making the playoffs, it was all Kobes doing smh

Never happened.

Yeah, he averaged 18.4 pts and 13.6 reb. Those numbers aren't bad, of course, but they're definitely lower than what was suggested. He was actually less efficient scoring (.571) than Kobe (.579) post All-Star break, so there's also that. The main reason that Howard's numbers went up in the 2nd half of the season was because he played more minutes, not because he kicked it into another gear or anything like that. PER 36 he was fairly consistent throughout the season.

His defense was definitely a lot better though, and that's one of the big reasons for our 2nd half success. Throughout the 1st half he was pretty lethargic out there most nights.

[Kilroy]

But there isn't a better coaching option out there right now, so I'd like to see what he can do with this squad with a complete camp and lower expectations.

( Sorry in advance for my once every blue moon MDA rant)

George Karl , Lionel Hollins, and Byron Scott.

Coaches who don't give a damn if a player wants to stay in the game.When they feel its time for them to rest whether losing or winning, they will bench them. Three coaches with solid defensive philosophies.
Coaches that wouldn't expierment with the lineups 100 times during a game. Coaches who would never play Antawn Jamison at center. LoL!

George Karl - Offensively not as good as MDA, essentially the same scheme... Defensively, better, but not significantly so... He's great at getting high energy out of middle tier players and getting them to play as a team. When he was his most successful, so was MDA... As far as actual adjustments and coaching smarts, I think I'd give it to MDA.

Lionel Hollins? Really, you'd call him better than MDA? Not being sarcastic here, I just haven't seen anything from Lionel Hollins that would indicate he'd be an improvement over MDA, especially since he's never had to deal with a player like Kobe...

Byron Scott - I like Byron Scott... I still remember his rookie season... That said, he's done nothing as a coach to qualify as a superior replacement to MDA at this point. I might give him a shot just for nostalgia reasons, but not with the expectation that he'd be significantly better than MDA.

[dockingsched]

kobe said no one was taking him out of those games, not even phil. phil said that kobe wasn't going to let anyone take him out of those games. sorry, but any claim that karl/scott/hollins were going to sit kobe just is baseless.

and jamison played center cause pau/howard/hill were often injured, several games all of them missed games so there isn't any way around it.

[miggs]

man, kobe's a boss

[Kalidogg24]

As for Karl i'll admit offensively, not that much of a difference from Dantoni.
He likes to run an uptempo offense.I like that he looks to establish the post more often.
You'll hardly see small ball lineups with Karl. Defensively it's a huge upgrade IMO. You would never see Antawn Jamison or Earl Clark guarding Brook Lopez under Karl's lineups.

Lionel Hollins may not be proved under the bright lights and with a superstar like Kobe. But one thing I like about his system is that its really disciplined. Defensively he's always been proven. The Grizzlies have always been a tough , gritty , blue collar team for the past 5 years. Definitely a no nonsense type of leader.

As for Byron , this is gonna sound weird but I feel he's still an up and coming coach. Solid philosophies on both ends. Never juggles the lineup too much. An solid on the defensive side.

I could post out our opinions nonstop but at the end of the day Mitch has been clear that MDA will definitely be here for the 2014 season. So with that I too am curious to see what MDA will do with a full training camp and so on. It's just a shame that our expectations have been lowered because the coach didnt do a good job the season before.

[Kalidogg24]

kobe said no one was taking him out of those games, not even phil. phil said that kobe wasn't going to let anyone take him out of those games. sorry, but any claim that karl/scott/hollins were going to sit kobe just is baseless.

and jamison played center cause pau/howard/hill were often injured, several games all of them missed games so there isn't any way around it.

Kobe did say nobody was gonna take him out of the game not even Phil. But since we're gonna reopen that door you know damn well Doc that Phil would of still taken Kobe out of the game no doubt! LoL! Hell even Byron wouldn't play around with that. It's a Coach's decision over the player especially with minutes. An if that gets compromised something is seriously wrong IMO. That would never happen with Popovich and Duncan for example.

I don't want to make this too much of a woulda, coulda , shoulda debate. It is what it is as for the current state for our ball club. I hope Dantoni proves me wrong this upcoming season with a secured set roster , training camp , and most importantly full cooperation from his stars and front office on his philosophies.

[TruSkool]

I knew dwight was a problem all along last year. This year should be a better and more focused year especially from the big 3

[crazyeights]

kobe said no one was taking him out of those games, not even phil. phil said that kobe wasn't going to let anyone take him out of those games. sorry, but any claim that karl/scott/hollins were going to sit kobe just is baseless.

and jamison played center cause pau/howard/hill were often injured, several games all of them missed games so there isn't any way around it.

Kobe did say nobody was gonna take him out of the game not even Phil. But since we're gonna reopen that door you know damn well Doc that Phil would of still taken Kobe out of the game no doubt! LoL! Hell even Byron wouldn't play around with that. It's a Coach's decision over the player especially with minutes. An if that gets compromised something is seriously wrong IMO. That would never happen with Popovich and Duncan for example.

I don't want to make this too much of a woulda, coulda , shoulda debate. It is what it is as for the current state for our ball club. I hope Dantoni proves me wrong this upcoming season with a secured set roster , training camp , and most importantly full cooperation from his stars and front office on his philosophies.

Says more about Duncan and Kobe than MDA.

[DEEP3CL]

Not surprised by this...hell we saw it firsthand most games. How do you explain us losing about 5-8 games due to the fact MDA left Coward in only to clank freethrows when we knew damn well he shoulda has his ass on the bench.

[NYKat]

Knick fan here, I just wanted to see how many of you are buying this bullsh*t Dantoni is selling. This is a lie. Dantoni is clueless as how to work with post players. It has nothing to do with pleasing Dwight. I distinctly remember when reporters asked Dantoni why he bunched Pau in the fourth quarter of games, him saying "I'm trying to win games".

...and even if this was true, what good is a coach, who makes decisions based on pleasing players as opposed to winning?

We watched this loser for 4 years in NY make excuse after excuse and unfortunately Dwight wasn't the real problem, it was the utter fail of a coaching hire your front office made that led to the problems you face now. Everything changes if they choose the right coach.

[TyCobb]

I am pretty confident that D'Antoni is on the same leash that Mike Brown was on heading into the start of last season.