Mike D’Antoni (photo ©matt hickey) has been appointed new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers finishing a weekend of fire from the typical Hollywood style that characterizes the events around the famous NBA team.
Last friday a news came that was rather traumatic as coach Mike Brown was fired. It’s true that the Los Angeles Lakers pre-season was bad with no wins and the start of the regular season was complex with a win in the first five games but there were many justifications.
Dwight Howard, the big star arrived this summer, was added slowly because he’re still recovering from back problems that had forced him to undergo surgery. Steve Nash, the other star just arrived to the Lakers, suffered an injury and is supposed to be back at the end of this month. Kobe Bryant has some physical problems too. In short, the slow start was widely expected and bad luck added further problems.
In fact, Mike Brown has never entirely convinced. He’s very prepared but Jerry Buss, the Lakers’ owner, wants to win and hasn’t forgotten the Showtime of the great Lakers of the ’80s, a style very different from Brown’s. Phil Jackson’s Lakers weren’t exactly a fastbeak team either but they won NBA titles so they were OK.
The second return of Phil Jackson was the first option for the Los Angeles Lakers’ management but it seems that “Coach Zen” demanded more than $10 million, the possibility to make decisions about personnel and even skip some away games. Even for the Lakers it was very unlikely to grant so much.
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Therefore Mike D’Antoni became the first option, very welcome by Steve Nash for their past with the Phoenix Suns but clearly by Kobe Bryant as well, considering that they worked together in the U.S.A. National Team and share a past in Italy. The contract is for four season.
Obviously, the Mike D’Antoni’s task won’t be easy. As New York Knicks head coach he understood what kind of pressure there is when you are coaching a team of that reputation in that kind of city and that experience, despite having ended badly, can be useful to him.
