D'Antoni: Nash could possibly return this week

[dockingsched]

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter

No question that Nash looks better doing simple agility drills even than last week.

Mike Trudell @LakersReporter

Mike D'Antoni said it's "possible" that Steve Nash plays on the coming 4-game road trip.

D'Antoni thinks Nash is starting to allow himself more optimism about returning, but D'Antoni "wants it so bad", doesn't want to embellish. D'Antoni on where the offense is: "We're not even close. We haven't scratched the surface yet."

4 game road trip schedule:

tues @ CLE
thurs @ NY - tnt
fri @ WAS
sun @ PHI

[BEazy]

About damn time...

[SniperHawk10]

IF he does return on the trip, I want him to see action against the knicks.
I think it'll be on the second night of our back to back against the Wizards though. And that's IF he is returning during one of those 4 road games

[PandGneverfold]

I don't want to rush him back,we should be a able to get above .500 and tread a little water until he is fully healthy.

[Jajwanda]

Bring him back against the Wiz..

[Kilroy]

Put up or shut up and get out time for D'Antoni...

How does it feel to carry the hopes of the entire Lakers Nation along with Mike D'Antoni's career on a bum wheel, Steve?

[DEEP3CL]

Will believe it when I see it. LMAO at Mike.D, first he says we're close to being whatever it is we're suppose to be then when this talk about Steve pops up he says we haven't even scratched the surface. Which is it MD ?

[Soul Chef Fresh]

Well. I don't expect immediate change with Nash on the floor.

But I do expect Dwight's numbers to skyrocket. He was never the back-to-the-basket type of center to begin with.

[Slava]

Now I need to bok tickets for the Jan 8 game in Houston!

[ennui]

Well. I don't expect immediate change with Nash on the floor.

But I do expect Dwight's numbers to skyrocket. He was never the back-to-the-basket type of center to begin with.

Dwight is a back to basket center. This is one of the most common misconceptions about him, he just excels at the rollman to thextent that people are blinded by it.

[dockingsched]

dwight really isn't back to the basket center. when he posts up, he's more likely to face up and go around the usual slow center than he is trying to back his man down. watch him, he'll almost always try to go baseline on his man as his primary move.

[louizzle]

finally. I'm gonna try to not get my hopes up too high when Nash comes back, but he will help a lot of our problems offensively. Our biggest problem is defense though, and that's something that Nash can't fix.

[Mamba Venom]

OMG at Lakers-Texas GIF!!!

I hope that we get Nash and Gasol back together on Christmas and that Kobe and Dwight develop more chemistry during this time. The last thing we need to do is rush it.

[Dr Aki]

its time to see nash do his thing...

the one player that fundamentally changes the way the lakers play

[Lost Angel]

just posted this in another thread but worth mentioning here.

when the rest of the team sees how Nash sets up easy opportunities in transition and off of turnovers, they'll pick up the defensive slack. hopefully.


i want to see some pick n rolls with Howard.

[VTi]

with good offence comes awesome defence...

[AcecardZ]

At this point I'm quite flummoxed as to what exactly our problem is. How is it we played so well with Bickerstaff coaching and so poorly under Brown and Mike D? I'm not suggesting Bickerstaff is the solution to all of our problems but we were really playing a good brand of ball while he was coach. A night and day difference from what I'm seeing from our team now. They had more energy, the ball moved better, we got easy baskets and the guys looked like they were actually having fun. Since Mike D has taken control all of that has gone away.

I do think we'll be better offensively with Nash at the point and we'll absolutely be better if Pau's tendonitis improves but are those two things alone going to be enough to get us where we want to be? I'm beginning to have doubts at this point. There's still plenty of season left for us to get things together but we're three games under .500 already all while having one of the easiest schedules to start the season of any team in the league. Things could get ugly in a hurry if we don't start getting some W's.

With more losses will come more finger pointing and that's just not what this team needs right now. Especially if we hope to retain Dwight once the season is over.

Nowhere to go but up from here??? Let's hope so!

[Jajwanda]

Bickerstaff played at a moderate pace, not incredibly slow but a reasonable pace. The problem with this team is that they can't find a medium. One guy struggles in this system, while another guy is better in this one. My take is that you have to bring the minutes down, keep the offensive intensity up, and move Pau for suitable pieces that will play defense. Not great name players, but appropriate players that fit their roles.

An energy played at backup PG would also be a huge addition. As bad as the half court D has been, the turnovers from poor offense, absolutely kill the team. They gave up what 20 extra against OKC because of that? Get defensive players that can shoot the ball.

[Dr Aki]

with good offence comes awesome defence...

if nash halves our turnovers and we subsequently halve the number of transition points we give up, we'll be a 55+ win team

[Michael Lucky]

Would have been nice if the Lakers would have given a real time table instead of saying at least 1 more week after every week (even though we all knew that it takes the bone at least a month to heal up). It's quite frustrating. I'm guessing Nash will be back for the Christmas game. I just hope we're not in too big a hole until then.