So they have gone from a coach like Brown who was a beast defensive coach and a terrible offensive coach to D'Antoni who is a terrible defensive coach, but a master offensive coach.

D'Antoni always struck me as a very good coach and you only have to look at what he did at PHX to appreciate his success (went 62-20 one season, then 61-21 another year)

But, I always thought his style was such that he just didnt have what he takes to win a title. Finals are all about defense, something which he doesn't preach a lot about.

Scary to think what this team is capable of offensively though.
Very similar to the Phoenix team of 04-05
Nash, Marion and Amare all ran the court exceptionally well.
Now, Nash, Kobe and Dwight can do the same.

I can't wait to see the Lakers play on ESPN though, Wow.

Phil would have been my pick though.
He wanted $10-15m..Surely thats peanuts for Buss.

Kupchak has done all the hard yards getting Dwight and Nash.
Buss will be LA's most hated man if this doesn't work out

He also wanted ownership, so yeah that's more than peanuts lol

He also wanted part ownership, so yeah that's more than peanuts lol

The guy is a bloody legend.

Buss just didn't want to relinquish his decision-making power to the Zen master.

He should have just swallowed his pride and taken a back seat to the best coach ever.

Buss and Phil have never gotten on, that is no secret.

It's weird that under Brown, the Lakers offense was quite good, but the defense was shit. The Princeton was going to work well for them, because it put guys in good positions to do what they do, but just would have taken more time to get right.

The triangle would have been pretty good, but D'Antoni‘s offense will be fun to watch and that's really all I care about.

Defensively, the Lakers will sort it out eventually.

Optimistic about this, as much as Phil would've been amazing.

D'Antoni will get the best out of the Nash-Dwight/Pau combos which is the main thing.

Defence is a slight worry but tbh I've always thought it was the talent that made Phoenix suck on D, rather than the system. The Knicks were ok defensively thanks to Tyson Chandler. Lakers will be even better with Kobe, Metta and Dwight.

Let's hope he has something different than run'n'gun.

It may have worked for Phx back in the day but Nash was 30 back then and his running mate wasn't nearly 40 either, nor a slow 7 footer (Pau). It should work well for Artest though.

It didn't really suit NY either.

The other problem is that LAL doesn't have a good enough bench.

I do like the pick'n'roll though.

As for defense, any team that has the leagues best defender will do OK.

It's not so much run and gun, but quick initiation and attack of offense and taking early shots. They'll be fine.

D'Antoni is a very good coach. I think one of the elements that really gets overlooked is his relationships with the Laker players who are likely the three biggest cogs in D'Antoni's scheme. Nash and D'Antoni worked together in Phoenix. Kobe's days with D'Antoni go back to when the two were in Italy. Howard worked with D'Antoni at the Olympics this year.

I believe that there were a lot of discrepancies regarding the negotiations between Phil and the Lakers. Regardless of what happened, the reaction from Jackson's agent was highly unprofessional. I think there is a lot more to this story regarding the negotiations than what was released.

D'Antoni's offense imo is really going to help this team. It fits the team really well from a pick and roll perspective, and I expect it to help the bench. Jodie Meeks is a good shooter, Antawn Jamison is a proven scorer. Jordan Hill is a very mobile big man. Even Darius Morris appears to be a better fit in this scheme than the Princeton.

On ESPN there was a video with some personnel guy who had worked for D'Antoni and said the coach was conceptual regarding the defensive side of the ball, and that high IQ guys would find it easier to get a grasp of the rolls on that side of the ball as they aren't practiced much. All signs imo suggest that the lack of practice regarding D will be fine, given the high IQ guys the Lakers have.

Trade Gasol for Stoudemire!!

That would rock........