Trade Pau - or fire MDA instead?

[vmor]

Between trading Pau and firing MDA I am quickly leaning toward firing MDA. I know, a 3rd coach in 1 season... but with him Lakers are not reaching even the conference finals anyway.He was the wrong choice for the personnel in the first place, but much worse - now MDA insists on proving his system despite of its poor fit:

Simmers on MDA at LAT: "D'Antoni has spent his NBA career as a head coach trying to prove his system works. ... But he has been a failure in proving it a championship success. And when he arrived here the most casual basketball fan understood it was not a good fit. ... But if D'Antoni is as good as so many have said as a coach, shouldn't he find a way to move the Xs and O's around to accommodate the talent here?"

Kobe on Pau at LAT:"The ball should be in Steve's hands and should be in Pau's hands," Bryant said. "[Nash] is an incredible facilitator. So is Pau. So we have the two best passers at their respective positions and they need to be the guys that have the ball the majority of the time. Myself and Dwight, we're finishers. I think that's how it should operate."
"I won two championships with [Gasol]. We won two championships playing through him, really. I know what he's capable of doing."

I can imagine how frustrated Pau must be, having his great talents wasted while being asked to become something he's not - by a coach without a clue.

[dockingsched]

i'm not sure if people are just choosing to ignore this, but since pau came back from injury, he put up 5 assists, then 6, then 6, then 5, then 5, and finally 4. he only had 2 last game against LAC.

point is the system is putting pau in a great position to create for others. the issue has been that pau has lost all ability to create for himself. people like to say that the system is putting him too far from the basket, but they fail to recognize that he's been miserable from inside too.

last yr he shot 63% on "inside" shots per 82games.com, this yr he's down to 53%.

last yr from 3-9 ft he shot 46%, this yr he's at a laughable 25%. from 10-15 ft he shot 43% last yr, this yr he's down to 22 freaking %.

so while some who don't analyze the game will simply say he shouldn't be shooting 3's, they aren't paying attention to the fact that pau has been completely terrible from inside too.

[KB24TBOTB]

I like MDA. He's way better the Brown, who never even juggled the line ups. At least Mike is trying to see what works and what doesn't. He also realizes the problems that this team has and is trying to fix them unlike Brown

[TyCobb]

Gasol doesn't have much trade value this year, give me a coach with real authority.

[KB24TBOTB]

i'm not sure if people are just choosing to ignore this, but since pau came back from injury, he put up 5 assists, then 6, then 6, then 5, then 5, and finally 4. he only had 2 last game against LAC.

point is the system is putting pau in a great position to create for others. the issue has been that pau has lost all ability to create for himself. people like to say that the system is putting him too far from the basket, but they fail to recognize that he's been miserable from inside too.

last yr he shot 63% on "inside" shots per 82games.com, this yr he's down to 53%.

last yr from 3-9 ft he shot 46%, this yr he's at a laughable 25%. from 10-15 ft he shot 43% last yr, this yr he's down to 22 freaking %.

so while some who don't analyze the game will simply say he shouldn't be shooting 3's, they aren't paying attention to the fact that pau has been completely terrible from inside too.

His confidence is shot Doc. Only thing that will save Pau now, is a trade

[KB24TBOTB]

Gasol doesn't have much trade value this year, give me a coach with real authority.

Lets be really, Mike is not getting fired. The management would get destroyed if they went out and fired Mike now

[BEazy]

Trade Pau. Gasol had his chances in the post and really sucked big big big time. He can't even back down anybody anymore.

[TyCobb]

Gasol doesn't have much trade value this year, give me a coach with real authority.

Lets be really, Mike is not getting fired. The management would get destroyed if they went out and fired Mike now

Unless it was for Phil Jackson.

[Jajwanda]

This is silly.The team is losing about 8-10 points per game based on lack of transition D and P and R defense problems caused by slow rotations. If that problem were fixed this team would win games and would beat their best competition.

Gasol cannot play at the 4 for L.A. unless defensive changes are made, specifically Howard-Gasol must switch on defense, it's that simple.

[LA_Sports]

It is just too late in the season to fire a head coach and expect to win. The Lakers have a couple options...
1) Trade Pau for something else and hope it works.
2) Change coaches that will really confuse and hurt the team.
3) Wait out the season and keep both to see what happens. Then revaluate both of their position with the team in the offseason.

I think the two most viable and realistic options are 1 or 3.

[kobeaki]

Fire the coach. That would be quickest , best more encompassing move. Getting rid of pau with his value low at this point would be worse.

[kobeaki]

Also trading pau, Dwight is probably gone after the season , and now we have no bigs left.

[ennui]

I've said this upon the hiring of MDA, either he or Pau will go, and my money was/is on Pau. Frankly, I welcome that.

I've heard Pau's offensive numbers in/near the paint reiterated numerous instances, as if that exculpates MDA's utility of him. How can you disregard years of evidence, with a much larger sample size, as an adequate reason to put him on the three point line? If we play him, we put him in the post or at the elbow - there is no other option. Again, I would rather he was, a) traded or, b) benched. To point at his pitiful percentages as to why he belongs on the three point line is not solving anything and is just towing the company line. Are people more confident in him finding a rhythm at the three point line than in the paint? If so, where is the evidence for that assertion?

It's akin to saying that Kwame Brown is awful around the paint, so that means that there is nothing wrong with putting him on the three point line. At least we can justifiably blame Gasol when he is playing poorly in the elbow/low post, situated on the 3 point line, the media/players will keep claiming he isn't to blame.

[JustAwesome]

Glad someone else sees that, too. Just because Gasol is struggling inside, it doesn't mean that the team should keep him from going back in there. Those that watched his entire career know that he prefers being inside as opposed to being on the three point line.

[rand0m]

Fire the coach. That would be quickest , best more encompassing move. Getting rid of pau with his value low at this point would be worse.

Who would they replace dantoni with? And would there be any change with a new coach this late anyway?

As for pau's value, won't it just continue to dip at this rate? At this point he is starting to contribute to losses for a variety of reasons.

[Westbreezy]

As much as I want to see DAntoni getting fired for Phil Jackson, the better option would be to trade Pau.

I dont know if you guys are watching the same games as me, but Pau really cant even do anything in the post even against guards. His injuries + lack of confidence are really destroying his ability to do anything but pass the ball. Thats his only positive ability right now.

Im sure if we rested him for a solid month, he would come back as a new player. Problem is we dont have too much time between a month from now and the trade deadline

[dockingsched]

I've said this upon the hiring of MDA, either he or Pau will go, and my money was/is on Pau. Frankly, I welcome that.

I've heard Pau's offensive numbers in/near the paint reiterated numerous instances, as if that exculpates MDA's utility of him. How can you disregard years of evidence, with a much larger sample size, as an adequate reason to put him on the three point line? If we play him, we put him in the post or at the elbow - there is no other option. Again, I would rather he was, a) traded or, b) benched. To point at his pitiful percentages as to why he belongs on the three point line is not solving anything and is just towing the company line. Are people more confident in him finding a rhythm at the three point line than in the paint? If so, where is the evidence for that assertion?

It's akin to saying that Kwame Brown is awful around the paint, so that means that there is nothing wrong with putting him on the three point line. At least we can justifiably blame Gasol when he is playing poorly in the elbow/low post, situated on the 3 point line, the media/players will keep claiming he isn't to blame.

describing pau's current role as "standing at the 3pt line" isn't accurate at all. that type of simplistic blanket view of his current role is pretty alarming. he HAS gotten his post/elbow opportunities, quite a few actually. check out those assist numbers i posted, u don't get those by standing at the 3 pt line. you get those cause the system is putting u in a spot to create for others. only big man getting more assists than pau this season is joakim noah. since nash has come back, pau at the elbow creating for others has been a thing of beauty.

so really what it kinda comes down to is pau basically proving he needs more scoring opportunities for himself. he's gotten them, and he's done nothing with them. im not gonna pretend that all he does is stand at the 3 pt line when i see him game in and game out get post up opportunities and not do anything with em. not sure if its his feet, knees or what, but he has no lift, no quick moves, no nothing.

right now the lakers have the 6th best offense in the NBA, so something is working and working well. hard to argue that MDA should stop what he's doing when the offense is one of the best in the NBA.

[Slava]

I think I was arguing with Doormatt in the Knicks game thread about which team is more dependent on 3 point shooting and I said we were as inclined to lose as the Knicks were if our insane shooting at that time was to cool off and certainly it did.

We're digging 18 point deficits and having less ball movement and more turnovers in the post because of the ineptitude of our shooters to keep their defenders honest. Not just Mike's but any offense is predicated on valuable floor spacing. This is why it very important that Metta, Meeks and to some extent Kobe keep making a good clip of their 3s.

No one will double off Kobe but Meeks and Metta really need to stay consistent and not have 2-11 nights again.

[tugs]

Yes he's nor beinh utilized well on offense, yes he may be averaging 5+ assists per game. but that doesn't change the fact that he is giving up more points, rebounds, and putting his teammates in bad positions defensively everytime he gets beat by his man.

you can't teach effort to Pau. it's on him.

[ennui]

describing pau's current role as "standing at the 3pt line" isn't accurate at all. that type of simplistic blanket view of his current role is pretty alarming. he HAS gotten his post/elbow opportunities, quite a few actually.

The point is, he should never be there. He should never be shooting threes. Also, I don't think I ever said he is always on the 3 point line and that is all he is doing. If I did, my mistake, but I did not mean that.

check out those assist numbers i posted, u don't get those by standing at the 3 pt line. you get those cause the system is putting u in a spot to create for others. only big man getting more assists than pau this season is joakim noah. since nash has come back, pau at the elbow creating for others has been a thing of beauty.

Pau getting assists has less to do with where he is and more with making decisions off a double or outlet from a PnR. Normally when the defense is scrambling. I've seen him assist from the three point area multiple times and his proficiency at it is less him creating, even at the elbow although it is magnified there due to some fear of scoring. At the three point area, he is reduced to a simple ball mover without even a semblance of offensive threat. So, if his passing from the elbow is a "thing of beauty", why not keep him there?

so really what it kinda comes down to is pau basically proving he needs more scoring opportunities for himself. he's gotten them, and he's done nothing with them. im not gonna pretend that all he does is stand at the 3 pt line when i see him game in and game out get post up opportunities and not do anything with em. not sure if its his feet, knees or what, but he has no lift, no quick moves, no nothing.

Again, the point is he should never be on the 3 point line, not that he isn't always on the 3 point line. It seriously diminishes our spacing, as he is less of a threat from there. At least people will guard him on the post/elbow. He's been trash near the basket, not excusing that, but his passing from the 3 point line has more to do with other people creating and Pau making the right decisions rather than him creating opportunities, which is his only offensive boon right now. Why? Because he is a non-threat from there.

Furthermore, opposing PF's can further disregard his offense from the outside since he cannot create with the dribble.

right now the lakers have the 6th best offense in the NBA, so something is working and working well. hard to argue that MDA should stop what he's doing when the offense is one of the best in the NBA.

So something is working as evidenced by that stat and that, apparently, it's attributable to MDA, not the talent. Yet the talent is blamed for the shortcomings on the court, too. Hmmm. The Mike Brown/Bickerstaff sample sizes are too small and too early into this experiment to accurately judge our offense. So, you really have nothing to compare this 6th ranked offense to. I would understand if we had at least a third of a season with a different coach who led this team to perform worse offensively, but since that is not the case, that stat means nothing in this context.