WOJ: Only D'Antoni Would Make Dwight Leave LA

[LakerLegend]

Buss passed on the Lakers' glorious championship legacy to attach his franchise to the desert mirage of D'Antoni and Nash, a reunion tour born of a one-dimensional, gimmick offense and a point guard pushing 39 years old.

"The way this turns out," one league source connected to the hiring process said, "you've chosen not only Steve Nash over [Pau] Gasol, but maybe over Gasol and Dwight [Howard]."

The Lakers will have him examined on Thursday in Los Angeles, but one source insisted that it didn't appear to be a significant injury.

This has rapidly turned into a lost season for Howard, but it would be foolish to declare his Lakers career a lost cause. For those who've called the Lakers on Howard's availability – the Dallas Mavericks and the Atlanta Hawks – the message has been unmistakable: Howard isn't available, nor will that change before the February deadline.

Bryant won't chase Howard out of here, but multiple sources tell Yahoo! Sports that the only issue that would give Howard pause on re-signing with the Lakers would be D'Antoni. In the end, D'Antoni is a coach who fundamentally doesn't believe in post play, who sees franchise centers as intrusive cloggers of the lane.

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--forge ... 36411.html

Get rid of this fool.........before we're DOOMED

[dockingsched]

woj is a great reporter, always has the 1st scoop, but man does he let his agenda pieces get a life of their own.

a reunion tour born of a one-dimensional, gimmick offense

he had one of the greatest offensive teams in history in phoenix and there isn't a team in the league that doesn't run a significant amount of pnr.

n the end, D'Antoni is a coach who fundamentally doesn't believe in post play, who sees franchise centers as intrusive cloggers of the lane.

howard gets the ball plenty in the post and he doesn't do anything with it. watching every game, i've seen d'antoni adjust his offense dramatically to try to get the ball to howard in the post, but as JVG said, guy just can't do anything with it. he doesn't have any post moves, he's too small to shoot over 7 footers. his entire offensive arsenal is dependent on using his speed and athleticism to get around his man. with his still recovering back and lakers lack of personnel to adequately give him the space he needs to use his speed, its not d'antoni's fault that d12 is an offensive failure.

[leeprettyp]

woj is a great reporter, always has the 1st scoop, but man does he let his agenda pieces get a life of their own.

a reunion tour born of a one-dimensional, gimmick offense

he had one of the greatest offensive teams in history in phoenix and there isn't a team in the league that doesn't run a significant amount of pnr.

n the end, D'Antoni is a coach who fundamentally doesn't believe in post play, who sees franchise centers as intrusive cloggers of the lane.

howard gets the ball plenty in the post and he doesn't do anything with it. watching every game, i've seen d'antoni adjust his offense dramatically to try to get the ball to howard in the post, but as JVG said, guy just can't do anything with it. he doesn't have any post moves, he's too small to shoot over 7 footers. his entire offensive arsenal is dependent on using his speed and athleticism to get around his man. with his still recovering back and lakers lack of personnel to adequately give him the space he needs to use his speed, its not d'antoni's fault that d12 is an offensive failure.

Doc your 10000% right on the DH12 assessment. But lets all be honest here the Mike D. hire was a HORRIBLE one. Lets get this clown out of here. Dwight isnt healthy and if he and his camp (I believe WOJO) are saying Mike D. would be the only reason he leaves then I believe its a NO BRAINER. Get Dantoni out of here

[LakerLegend]

It's not just about that. It's about getting guys into the right spots, and having some structure in the offense. Not putting Pau at the 3 point line. Giving our shooters like Meeks and Jamison a chance to spread the floor. Playing some defense.

Not emphasizing we need to run and gun with a team that has vets like Nash, Kobe, Pau, Jamison slated to play key roles. Not saying "we need to go small" when our biggest strength is having two of the most dominant paint players in the L.

His entire philosophical approach is baloney.

[leeprettyp]

I agree, and the worst part about it is how people dont realize why our defense is slow and effortless it seems. Its a reason Dantoni coach teams suck on the defensive end. To run this offense takes ALOT of energy. Pick n rolls 95% of the time and chuck quick 3's. Then the guy only has a 8 man rotation while playing Kobe 40mpg in his 17th season what a joke. This system doesnt FIT this roster

[dockingsched]

his teams didn't suck on defense. the suns were completely and utterly avg, closer to the above avg side of things than below.


and how doesn't he give meeks/jamison a chance to spread the floor? isn't that all they do

and "going small" is a direct example of how he's tried to adjust his offense for howard and also for the defense. he wants to get quicker out there on the defensive end and he wants to spread the floor for howard so he has more room to operate.

with that in mind i don't agree with the criticisms of his going small comment. its obvious that the defense is slow, specially with gasol/d12 out there. it was like that with bynum/pau too, but now with an older/hurt pau and a recovering d12, its more glaring. its also obvious that d12 needs space to operate and that putting pau at the 3pt line sucked, so again, going small is the only alternative.

im fine with criticisms of mike d, but criticisms coming from d12's POV, miss me with that! mike d has done everything possible to make things easier for him.

[Minge]

It's not just about that. It's about getting guys into the right spots and having some structure in the offense. Not having Pau at the 3 point arc. Giving our shooters like Meeks and Jamison a chance to spread the floor. Playing some defense. Not emphasizing our need to run and gun with a team that have vets like Nash, Kobe, Pau, Jamison slated to play key roles. Not saying our need to "go small" when our biggest strength is having two of the most dominant paint players in the L.

His entire philosophical approach is baloney.

And people wonder why the defense sucks. (Darrell Arthur, 22nd season high against the Lakers.)

[leeprettyp]

You know Dwight not gonna own up to sucking this season on the court Doc. This is who he is as not just a player but as a person. He wants to make up this "touches" issue. When anybody with eyes will realize were giving the guy the ball PLENTY in the game he just isnt doing anything with it or turns the ball over almost half of the time. Dwight touches cannot be equated by shot attempts and I've been telling people this ALL SEASON LONG. Dwight slowly but surely is treating us like he did management and teammates in Orlando.... Making everybody bend over for him and his wishes regardless if its for the benefit of the team

[Michael Lucky]

not much of a worry then since as soon as the season is over, D"Antoni will be let go. Unless management it out of their minds.

[Sedale Threatt]

Regardless of the validity, the mere fact that this stuff is even being written in the first place underscores what an epic disaster this season has been. The most disappointing team in NBA history, bar none.

[Hotshot Hower]

You know Dwight not gonna own up to sucking this season on the court Doc. This is who he is as not just a player but as a person. He wants to make up this "touches" issue. When anybody with eyes will realize were giving the guy the ball PLENTY in the game he just isnt doing anything with it or turns the ball over almost half of the time. Dwight touches cannot be equated by shot attempts and I've been telling people this ALL SEASON LONG. Dwight slowly but surely is treating us like he did management and teammates in Orlando.... Making everybody bend over for him and his wishes regardless if its for the benefit of the team

You hit the nail on the head. As a long-time Magic fan it's our fault we spoiled him, worshipped the ground he walked on. He came into the league humble, ready to learn, and was very hungry to "be the best". As time progressed so did his ego. Instead, he held our city, team, and even fans hostage because of his egotistic-selfish self. I apologize we created a monster, prima donna that is. So glad to be done with him and last year's fiasco.

In all seriousness, he plays the "victim" too much and 9/10 points the finger and when the results aren't positive (winning) it's either he's not "getting enough touches", "wants an upgrade in personnel", and/or the coach's scheme.

I understand you gave up a lot and Kupchak doesn't want to look like a fool and at the same time the Buss family's pride doesn't help but $.75 on the dollar is acceptable (at this point) and would be ideal for both parties to part ways. I'm not a troll, but saw it coming when we fell short to you guys in 09' and he's ONLY going to get worse. Again, i'm not a troll but an observer of him, his downward spiral as a player, yet more importantly character.

Note: I didn't even take his injury into consideration. He's reached his "peak", similar to the McGrady situation when he left Orlando to Houston for "greener pastures" yet wasn't as much as a cancer, but injuries eventually took away his athleticism and we all know the after math of that so I see the Dwight situation being even worse eventually if he were to stay with D'Antoni (or whomever). Cut your losses, get as much as you can out of it, and with Miami and OKC in the fold let's be honest, your window is just about closed with Kobe, Nash, and Gasol's age and a "lost season".

[Cashin out]

Dwight went from averaging 22ppg with Mike Brown in the princeton offense, now is at 17ppg with Dantoni no post up offense. Dwight is not the problem it is Dantoni, everybody can blame Dwight and say he doesn't have a post game but the dude is still putting up 17/12 while playing at only 70%. I hear people keep talking about Bynum but he has not played a single game this season.

At least Dwight is playing, heck he wasn't supposed to be back till January anyway. Instead of bashing him you need to bash Mike Dantoni he is the main problem. Dude has Dwight on the perimeter setting screens, and Pau Gasol chucking 3's.

[CraZyPraiZ]

You know Dwight not gonna own up to sucking this season on the court Doc. This is who he is as not just a player but as a person. He wants to make up this "touches" issue. When anybody with eyes will realize were giving the guy the ball PLENTY in the game he just isnt doing anything with it or turns the ball over almost half of the time. Dwight touches cannot be equated by shot attempts and I've been telling people this ALL SEASON LONG. Dwight slowly but surely is treating us like he did management and teammates in Orlando.... Making everybody bend over for him and his wishes regardless if its for the benefit of the team

You hit the nail on the head. As a long-time Magic fan it's our fault we spoiled him, worshipped the ground he walked on. He came into the league humble, ready to learn, and was very hungry to "be the best". As time progressed so did his ego. Instead, he held our city, team, and even fans hostage because of his egotistic-selfish self. I apologize we created a monster, prima donna that is. So glad to be done with him and last year's fiasco.

In all seriousness, he plays the "victim" too much and 9/10 points the finger and when the results aren't positive (winning) it's either he's not "getting enough touches", "wants an upgrade in personnel", and/or the coach's scheme.

I understand you gave up a lot and Kupchak doesn't want to look like a fool and at the same time the Buss family's pride doesn't help but $.75 on the dollar is acceptable (at this point) and would be ideal for both parties to part ways. I'm not a troll, but saw it coming when we fell short to you guys in 09' and he's ONLY going to get worse. Again, i'm not a troll but an observer of him, his downward spiral as a player, yet more importantly character.

Note: I didn't even take his injury into consideration. He's reached his "peak", similar to the McGrady situation when he left Orlando to Houston for "greener pastures" yet wasn't as much as a cancer, but injuries eventually took away his athleticism and we all know the after math of that so I see the Dwight situation being even worse eventually if he were to stay with D'Antoni (or whomever). Cut your losses, get as much as you can out of it, and with Miami and OKC in the fold let's be honest, your window is just about closed with Kobe, Nash, and Gasol's age and a "lost season".

I hate to say it but here we go again. I wish Dwight would grow up. I wonder how many times this scenario is going to play out before he gets it. He's about to get another coach fired. What a cancer he is turning out to be.

[Hotshot Hower]

You know Dwight not gonna own up to sucking this season on the court Doc. This is who he is as not just a player but as a person. He wants to make up this "touches" issue. When anybody with eyes will realize were giving the guy the ball PLENTY in the game he just isnt doing anything with it or turns the ball over almost half of the time. Dwight touches cannot be equated by shot attempts and I've been telling people this ALL SEASON LONG. Dwight slowly but surely is treating us like he did management and teammates in Orlando.... Making everybody bend over for him and his wishes regardless if its for the benefit of the team

You hit the nail on the head. As a long-time Magic fan it's our fault we spoiled him, worshipped the ground he walked on. He came into the league humble, ready to learn, and was very hungry to "be the best". As time progressed so did his ego. Instead, he held our city, team, and even fans hostage because of his egotistic-selfish self. I apologize we created a monster, prima donna that is. So glad to be done with him and last year's fiasco.

In all seriousness, he plays the "victim" too much and 9/10 points the finger and when the results aren't positive (winning) it's either he's not "getting enough touches", "wants an upgrade in personnel", and/or the coach's scheme.

I understand you gave up a lot and Kupchak doesn't want to look like a fool and at the same time the Buss family's pride doesn't help but $.75 on the dollar is acceptable (at this point) and would be ideal for both parties to part ways. I'm not a troll, but saw it coming when we fell short to you guys in 09' and he's ONLY going to get worse. Again, i'm not a troll but an observer of him, his downward spiral as a player, yet more importantly character.

Note: I didn't even take his injury into consideration. He's reached his "peak", similar to the McGrady situation when he left Orlando to Houston for "greener pastures" yet wasn't as much as a cancer, but injuries eventually took away his athleticism and we all know the after math of that so I see the Dwight situation being even worse eventually if he were to stay with D'Antoni (or whomever). Cut your losses, get as much as you can out of it, and with Miami and OKC in the fold let's be honest, your window is just about closed with Kobe, Nash, and Gasol's age and a "lost season".

I hate to say it but here we go again. I wish Dwight would grow up. I wonder how many times this scenario is going to play out before he gets it. He's about to get another coach fired. What a cancer he is turning out to be.

Thing is, he is grown up. He's been in the league for 8+ years. "You can't teach an old dog new tricks". This is who he is and he can say all the right words and sometimes it shows, but when s*** hits the fans he's back to square one and fans (along with the press) have a circus with it. There's just no substance, no consistency to anything he says. I know it's season one for you guys (w/ Dwight), but we're not even to the halfway point and there's already this much scrutiny/criticism. Red flags, red flags! Like I said before, cut your losses (now) because teams like Brooklyn/Atlanta are really the ONLY realistic buyers in which you can get decent compensation even when they know how much of a PR nightmare he's been the last two years and to even now.

[Cashin out]

You know Dwight not gonna own up to sucking this season on the court Doc. This is who he is as not just a player but as a person. He wants to make up this "touches" issue. When anybody with eyes will realize were giving the guy the ball PLENTY in the game he just isnt doing anything with it or turns the ball over almost half of the time. Dwight touches cannot be equated by shot attempts and I've been telling people this ALL SEASON LONG. Dwight slowly but surely is treating us like he did management and teammates in Orlando.... Making everybody bend over for him and his wishes regardless if its for the benefit of the team

You hit the nail on the head. As a long-time Magic fan it's our fault we spoiled him, worshipped the ground he walked on. He came into the league humble, ready to learn, and was very hungry to "be the best". As time progressed so did his ego. Instead, he held our city, team, and even fans hostage because of his egotistic-selfish self. I apologize we created a monster, prima donna that is. So glad to be done with him and last year's fiasco.

In all seriousness, he plays the "victim" too much and 9/10 points the finger and when the results aren't positive (winning) it's either he's not "getting enough touches", "wants an upgrade in personnel", and/or the coach's scheme.

I understand you gave up a lot and Kupchak doesn't want to look like a fool and at the same time the Buss family's pride doesn't help but $.75 on the dollar is acceptable (at this point) and would be ideal for both parties to part ways. I'm not a troll, but saw it coming when we fell short to you guys in 09' and he's ONLY going to get worse. Again, i'm not a troll but an observer of him, his downward spiral as a player, yet more importantly character.

Note: I didn't even take his injury into consideration. He's reached his "peak", similar to the McGrady situation when he left Orlando to Houston for "greener pastures" yet wasn't as much as a cancer, but injuries eventually took away his athleticism and we all know the after math of that so I see the Dwight situation being even worse eventually if he were to stay with D'Antoni (or whomever). Cut your losses, get as much as you can out of it, and with Miami and OKC in the fold let's be honest, your window is just about closed with Kobe, Nash, and Gasol's age and a "lost season".

I hate to say it but here we go again. I wish Dwight would grow up. I wonder how many times this scenario is going to play out before he gets it. He's about to get another coach fired. What a cancer he is turning out to be.

lol Dwight has not said anything publicly bad about Dantoni in the media, Kobe has questioned Dantoni system publicly through the media. Only negative thing Dwight said about Dantoni was he only had 6 shot attempts which was more of a shot to Kobe.

How is this Dwight fault if Dantoni gets fired?

All i'm saying is Kobe has been the one going to the media trashing this team publicly, when does Kobe start to receive some blame? Everybody blames Dwight/Gasol but nobody is man enough to call out Kobe.

[Minge]

Comment removed.

[CraZyPraiZ]

You hit the nail on the head. As a long-time Magic fan it's our fault we spoiled him, worshipped the ground he walked on. He came into the league humble, ready to learn, and was very hungry to "be the best". As time progressed so did his ego. Instead, he held our city, team, and even fans hostage because of his egotistic-selfish self. I apologize we created a monster, prima donna that is. So glad to be done with him and last year's fiasco.

In all seriousness, he plays the "victim" too much and 9/10 points the finger and when the results aren't positive (winning) it's either he's not "getting enough touches", "wants an upgrade in personnel", and/or the coach's scheme.

I understand you gave up a lot and Kupchak doesn't want to look like a fool and at the same time the Buss family's pride doesn't help but $.75 on the dollar is acceptable (at this point) and would be ideal for both parties to part ways. I'm not a troll, but saw it coming when we fell short to you guys in 09' and he's ONLY going to get worse. Again, i'm not a troll but an observer of him, his downward spiral as a player, yet more importantly character.

Note: I didn't even take his injury into consideration. He's reached his "peak", similar to the McGrady situation when he left Orlando to Houston for "greener pastures" yet wasn't as much as a cancer, but injuries eventually took away his athleticism and we all know the after math of that so I see the Dwight situation being even worse eventually if he were to stay with D'Antoni (or whomever). Cut your losses, get as much as you can out of it, and with Miami and OKC in the fold let's be honest, your window is just about closed with Kobe, Nash, and Gasol's age and a "lost season".[/quote]

I hate to say it but here we go again. I wish Dwight would grow up. I wonder how many times this scenario is going to play out before he gets it. He's about to get another coach fired. What a cancer he is turning out to be.[/quote]
lol Dwight has not said anything publicly bad about Dantoni in the media, Kobe has questioned Dantoni system publicly through the media. Only negative thing Dwight said about Dantoni was he only had 6 shot attempts which was more of a shot to Kobe.

How is this Dwight fault if Dantoni gets fired?

All i'm saying is Kobe has been the one going to the media trashing this team publicly, when does Kobe start to receive some blame? Everybody blames Dwight/Gasol but nobody is man enough to call out Kobe.[/quote]

You might want to ask Stan Van Gundy the same question.

[dockingsched]

Dwight went from averaging 22ppg with Mike Brown in the princeton offense, now is at 17ppg with Dantoni no post up offense. Dwight is not the problem it is Dantoni, everybody can blame Dwight and say he doesn't have a post game but the dude is still putting up 17/12 while playing at only 70%. I hear people keep talking about Bynum but he has not played a single game this season.

At least Dwight is playing, heck he wasn't supposed to be back till January anyway. Instead of bashing him you need to bash Mike Dantoni he is the main problem. Dude has Dwight on the perimeter setting screens, and Pau Gasol chucking 3's.

im not sure how anyone can watch these games and claim its a no post up offense. hell, i think howard gets TOO many post up opportunities. he's at his best, and the numbers bear it out, when he's playing pick n roll, or what u criticize as "setting screens". d12 should be getting his points off pick n rolls or offensive rebs.

[sutrick]

If only we knew the real reason behind Dwight not being close to what he once was, then we would understand. I assume Dwight is still recovering but his lack of energy on the defensive end could also be a silent protest to the offense. We all know that Dwight is not a dedicated, serious athlete by both his actions and the lack of growth in his game over the last 4 years. He needs to know he is wanted and he needs a coach that he can respect. Mike doesn't have either quality. Mike also appears excessively stubborn. He left Phx because Kerr wanted him to focus more effort on defense. He goes to NY instead of Chicago because Chicago doesn't kiss his butt even though his system would have been perfect in Chicago and didn't make a lot of sense in NY. I'm not sure what he thought of the LA team before he signed but it was apparent to everybody that this Lakers team was too old and especially too old to totally adopt the D'Antoni offense. Even now it doesn't look like Mike is amenable to adjusting his style to more closely fit his team.

[Run-MKE 311]

First off, I think WOJ knocked it out of the park with this article. Agreed with some here that he may have his own agendas, but that was a very articulate beatdown of this whole disaster.

Clearly there is a connection between Howard staying and D'Antoni being here. The player almost always wins in these situations, but it will be a HARD pill for the Buss family to swallow when they have two pay out 20+ million dollars to two fired coaches.

Very curious to see how this all takes shape over the next number of weeks, what a train wreck.