Has Mike Dantoni Lost this Group?

[itsmrhappy]

Like many of you, I am frustrated with the losing.

Foolish me - I approached this season reassuring myself that -

* Dantoni got a full training camp with a squad of his type of players
* Kurt Rambis was there - Defense would have a greater emphasis than last season
* Pau & Nash would be healthy - And together, they would run the P&R to perfection
* Kaman while not my dream player is serviceable, able to score consistently and dang near averaged a double double last season.
* Nick Young could hold the fort until Kobe returned. He avereaged 17 a couple years ago. In Dantoni's system maybe he could return to form.

I could go on...

My belief was that at a minimum, we had the talent to be at .500 until Kobe returned. Nash of course is injured, but the tandem of Farmar and Blake should be enough to sub for a 40 year old gimpy point guard.

So, I ask - Has Dantoni simply lost this team? From the posture that I see when I watch games, he doesnt inspire his team to hustle for him. Furthermore, when I read about coaches from other teams, Iits not uncommon to hear talk about believing in Thibs... or how guys want to play hard for Doc, etc. But I have never once (Except Kaman early on) say anything positive about Dantoni this season.

Today we are 4/6. The next 10 games will be brutal. If we go 3/7 - do you see Dantoni being replaced?

Personally I do not. #1 - He gets every excuse with Nash being hurt and Kobe being out and #2 at this stage of the game, who do you replace him with and #3 The Lakers will still owe him 8 million.

Are we stuck?

[semi-sentient]

Like many of you, I am frustrated with the losing.

Foolish me - I approached this season reassuring myself that -

* Dantoni got a full training camp with a squad of his type of players
* Kurt Rambis was there - Defense would have a greater emphasis than last season
* Pau & Nash would be healthy - And together, they would run the P&R to perfection
* Kaman while not my dream player is serviceable, able to score consistently and dang near averaged a double double last season.
* Nick Young could hold the fort until Kobe returned. He avereaged 17 a couple years ago. In Dantoni's system maybe he could return to form.

Most of what you mentioned has little to do with D'Antoni. He can't control the aging process which has led to the steep decline of Nash and Gasol, nor can he control our injury situation.

Losing is frustrating for all of us, but we've had the toughest schedule of any team in the league and are sitting at 4-6 without our best player. All things considered, that's not too shabby.

My belief was that at a minimum, we had the talent to be at .500 until Kobe returned. Nash of course is injured, but the tandem of Farmar and Blake should be enough to sub for a 40 year old gimpy point guard.

We may still be at .500 when Kobe returns. We have a lot of new players that are still learning to play together, so we're fortunate to even be at 4-6 at this stage.

So, I ask - Has Dantoni simply lost this team?

No.

From the posture that I see when I watch games, he doesnt inspire his team to hustle for him.

The hustle is just fine, at least from our youthful players.

The one guy that's not hustling is Gasol and it's because he's been mentally checked out for years.

Today we are 4/6. The next 10 games will be brutal. If we go 3/7 - do you see Dantoni being replaced?

How are the next 10 games brutal??? We play 6 lottery teams, and only 2 teams that currently have winning records. Brooklyn and Memphis are great on paper but struggling mightily so those are winnable games, and overall we play 6 of 10 at home. We only have 1 back-to-back as well. You couldn't ask for a better 10 game stretch with Kobe out.

To answer your question, no, he won't be replaced. We're still paying Mike Brown and if we fire D'Antoni we'll still have to pay him as well as his replacement. It's not happening.

He gets every excuse with Nash being hurt and Kobe being out and #2 at this stage of the game, who do you replace him with and #3 The Lakers will still owe him 8 million.

Why shouldn't he be afforded those excuses? Kobe is still, by far, the best player on the Lakers and without him we should expect to struggle -- particularly on the offensive end.

[tugs]

just read the title tbh and my answer is no. for someone who has been tinkering with the line up trying to find the perfect mix, I wouldn't call that as "losing the group".

[crazyeights]

It appears what may have been lost was your ability to prognosticate the start that this team would have.

IMO, I like what I've seen from this team. Gasol and Nash aside, I think that we've seen Blake, Farmar, Hill, Henry, Johnson, Meeks, Kaman play surprisingly well in most cases. I see the pieces of a team that could be very effective if we found the right top 3 players.

For me, Gasol showed a few signs of life last night, plus with his defensive rebounding numbers, along with Hill's emergence, I believe that we may see the Pau we saw in March and April last year around the All Star Break.

It's about getting Kobe back, letting the team settle in and then the real season begins. We're losing these games because at the end we have no closer, no guy who is going to take over a game. That's what you need to win in the NBA. That's why the team with the best player usually wins in the finals.

(Side note: and maybe for me anyway, but a coach is part of a team.

I find it hard to believe that this team has so much chemistry, and they all hate MDA. You don't have chemistry when a team tones out their leader. You have to give MDA credit for creating the atmosphere where these guys build that chemistry, he said it himself, around training camp that he loves going to work with this group of guys...MDA's an overly honest guy, he never said that last year. Why? Because there was bad chemistry.)

[SlimShady83]

Yikes you talk about being at .500 until Kobe returns ... Dude we are only 1 game under from being .500 and it's only 10 games into the season - and 2 of those games we should have won.

Be patient - just another fan who doesn't have much of it unfortunately, not many Laker fans do.

Come back and write this when it's half way through the season not 10 games in.

[dockingsched]

anyone frustrated by the current record simply isn't paying attention. toughest schedule in the league including 3 schedule losses (b2b on the road), no kobe and basically no nash...4-6 record is awesome.

[DEEP3CL]

anyone frustrated by the current record simply isn't paying attention. toughest schedule in the league including 3 schedule losses (b2b on the road), no kobe and basically no nash...4-6 record is awesome.

I gotta agree, record could easily be the opposite though. But considering the circumstances yeah it's all good, no reason to be frustrated.

[Danny Darko]

actually i think the players sort of like md and he makes some guys waaaaay better than they would be elsewhere. do i want him long term- no. Did he lose the team?- pfffft no. I am still thinking our best thing is to give him the entire year. Then we get Phil's entire body platelet replacement therapy and hire Phil Phrankenstein to lead the bron, melo, kobe, kaman, johnson, farmar, x, and whoevs show next year. (in my dreams)

[KB24TBOTB]

I read the title and laughed. What did you expect this teams record to be? They have won some games that they shouldn't have won. I see almost every guy playing hard every minute exception being that old mofo PAU. So to answer your question, no, he hasn't lost the team

[Edrees]

As bad of a job he did last year, he's doing well this year. I think other than Pau he's getting the most out of the players. Not his fault nash is 300 years old.

[jorge]

I think you put the wrong question. It's not if he lost the team but if he found it yet? He's changing the rotation in nearly every game as he does with the starting line up. Several players played different positions.
And I think that's ok even if it looks lost.
We have so many new players that a training camp is not enough to get everything set. We have a team full of players ready to show their talent or to prove, that they belong into this league. So I think we have a highly motivated team with a much better chemistry and we will get better and better during the season if they can stay healthy.

[ArC_man]

4-6 is just 1 game away from 5-5. I think we're off to a great start tbh.

Pau can't get any worse and I honestly think we're a better team with Nash out long term because Blake plays his natural position (so we don't get killed as hard at the 2) and Meeks/Farmar get more playing time.

[madmaxmedia]

* Pau & Nash would be healthy - And together, they would run the P&R to perfection

They would have, in 2008.

* Kaman while not my dream player is serviceable, able to score consistently and dang near averaged a double double last season.
* Nick Young could hold the fort until Kobe returned. He avereaged 17 a couple years ago. In Dantoni's system maybe he could return to form.

How many wins are those 2 players worth to an NBA team? They're both serviceable players that could perhaps be good backup players on a playoff team. Nick Young isn't holding Kobe's anything, no chance. Although I agree that he could be productive this season.

Nash of course is injured, but the tandem of Farmar and Blake should be enough to sub for a 40 year old gimpy point guard.

If a gimpy 40-year old point guard is your benchmark, then yes a tandem of Farmar and Blake should be enough to ably replace him. But that's not saying much.

I think given the current roster, the Lakers' record is pretty much what anyone would have expected, perhaps even better considering the strength of schedule so far.

[Dr Aki]

offense is fine...ish

defense on the other hand... just a giant train wreck

[semi-sentient]

Actually, it's the other way around. We're one of the worst offensive teams in the league.

- 26th in FG%
- 28th in FT%
- 19th in eFG%
- 24th in ORB%
- 17th in PPG (despite being #3 in pace)

We're pretty good at shooting the long ball (7th) and slightly above average in terms of TOV%, but we suck everywhere else.

Defensively we're actually middle of the pack which is where we were at last season (and rated higher than the Rockets -- lol).

- 15th in FG% (slightly below average)
- 17th in 3P% (slightly below average)
- 13th in eFG% (slightly above average)
- 3rd in DRB%

The one area where we really struggle defensively is forcing turnovers (28th).

[leeprettyp]

I think you put the wrong question. It's not if he lost the team but if he found it yet? He's changing the rotation in nearly every game as he does with the starting line up. Several players played different positions.
And I think that's ok even if it looks lost.
We have so many new players that a training camp is not enough to get everything set. We have a team full of players ready to show their talent or to prove, that they belong into this league. So I think we have a highly motivated team with a much better chemistry and we will get better and better during the season if they can stay healthy.

CANT TAKE MY EYES OFF YOUR PIC LOL!!!

[Tee212]

ill bump this thread every time we win one

[twix2500]

Like many of you, I am frustrated with the losing.

Foolish me - I approached this season reassuring myself that -

* Dantoni got a full training camp with a squad of his type of players
* Kurt Rambis was there - Defense would have a greater emphasis than last season
* Pau & Nash would be healthy - And together, they would run the P&R to perfection
* Kaman while not my dream player is serviceable, able to score consistently and dang near averaged a double double last season.
* Nick Young could hold the fort until Kobe returned. He avereaged 17 a couple years ago. In Dantoni's system maybe he could return to form.

I could go on...

My belief was that at a minimum, we had the talent to be at .500 until Kobe returned. Nash of course is injured, but the tandem of Farmar and Blake should be enough to sub for a 40 year old gimpy point guard.

So, I ask - Has Dantoni simply lost this team? From the posture that I see when I watch games, he doesnt inspire his team to hustle for him. Furthermore, when I read about coaches from other teams, Iits not uncommon to hear talk about believing in Thibs... or how guys want to play hard for Doc, etc. But I have never once (Except Kaman early on) say anything positive about Dantoni this season.

Today we are 4/6. The next 10 games will be brutal. If we go 3/7 - do you see Dantoni being replaced?

Personally I do not. #1 - He gets every excuse with Nash being hurt and Kobe being out and #2 at this stage of the game, who do you replace him with and #3 The Lakers will still owe him 8 million.

Are we stuck?

LOL you were just overly optimistic. I'm baffled that you thought this roster had talent let alone DAntoni type of players. This is a lottory quality roster even with Kobe. If some how the Lakers make the playoffs, the credit would actually have to be give to DAntoni. He hasnt lost the team, they just are not that good. Winning games will be a challenge.

[ctorres]

I think it's completely the opposite. 5-7 isn't a bad start considering how weak the roster is without Kobe or a healthy Nash.

D'Antoni is getting the most out of outcasts like Jodie Meeks, Nick Young, Jordan Hill, Xavier Henry, and Wesley Johnson. He's given them plenty of minutes, allowing them to put up good numbers, keeping their NBA careers alive. As long as D'Antoni continues to do that for him, the players will play hard for him.

This team is not supposed to be as good as they've been. If Kobe manages to come back and the rest of the team keeps up their productivity, they have a shot at making the playoffs.

[Tee212]

bump..dantoni just took this group to a win tonight