Back To The Future?

After a handful of games into the new season, and hoping to keep a star player from leaving, the Lakers decided it was time for a coaching change.  The ownership had a coach in mind, but after that choice balked, they settled on a run and gun coach who hadn't won anything in the NBA.

The year wasn't 2012, but 1981.  The Lakers had had enough of Paul Westhead, and six games into the season, fired him to appease Magic Johnson.  They attempted to bring in Jerry West as coach, but after he refused, hired Pat Riley, who took the team to 4 titles in 7 years.

Sounds familiar, right?

It remains to be seen if the newly hired Mike D'Antoni can recreate the magic that Riley brought to L.A.  But that is what the Buss family is hoping for after negotiations with Phil Jackson broke down over the weekend.

Information continues to trickle out as to what exactly happened over these crazy 3 days, and I'm sure we will never know the whole story.  Here's what we do know:  After 5 games, the Mike Brown experiment was a neon sign of failure.  The Lakers, realizing they needed to change, fired Brown early Friday and immediately began discussions with Phil Jackson to come back (again!) as head coach.  From literally every news source it wasn't an "if" but "when" Jackson would return to the sidelines.  That was until late Sunday, when after winning their third game of the season, the Lakers announced they had hired D'Antoni.

Will this hire usher in "Showtime 2.0"?

So what went wrong?

From what we're hearing Jackson's demands were more than the Lakers were willing to stomach.  He wanted his previous salary (10-15 million a year), say so in personnel decisions, the opportunity to groom his successor (paying forward the triangle offense), travel restrictions for his ailing body, and an ownership stake in the team.  Just looking at this on its face these demands seem beyond outrageous, until you realize IT'S PHIL JACKSON!!!  He is the greatest coach of all time, and last I checked, the Lakers haven't sniffed the finals without him since they magically made the finals in 1991.  Sure he was asking for a lot, but with 11 titles, 5 of those coming in L.A. over the last 12 years, he sure had leverage.  TWICE the Lakers have not only kicked him hard to the curb, but tried to erase all existence of him within the organization.  So who can blame him for wanting some job security, and security after his coaching days are over?  The Lakers willingly gave Magic Johnson a piece of the team after bringing 5 titles to Los Angeles, why not provide that to Phil after his 5 titles?

Personally, I believe the bigger problem is Jackson's relationship with the Buss family (excluding his girlfriend Jeanie, of course).  There is clearly no trust there, and why would Jackson go back to a situation that has ended horribly twice before without having security?  The Buss', not wanting to completely capitulate to Jackson, turned away and immediately hired D'Antoni, which came as a shock to everyone, including Jackson.  This isn't the way you conduct negotiations with a party you truly respect.

The other issue, and one that Los Angeles, and Lakers fans as a whole need to come to terms with, is that this is Jimmy Buss' team now.  I believe that Jerry Buss isn't doing well healthwise, and that is the reason we haven't heard from him in years.  Hearing Jerry sound off on his teams situation, gambling at Hollywood Park or Commerce Casino, or parading around town with his army of 20 year olds has become commonplace around L.A.  But that has been missing lately.  The last I heard anything relating to Jerry Buss he was experience blood clots in his legs.  And that was about 3 years ago.  It seems to me complete control has already been given to Jimmy, and the organization isn't saying anything regarding Jerry purely for public relations purposes.  The name Jerry Buss carries a lot of weight in the city, and if a decision is seen as having his blessing it usually isn't second guessed.  This allows Jimmy to ease into the ownership roll permanently without the foreseeable blowback from the public.  Jimmy doesn't get along with Phil, and the noticeable absence of Jeanie around the team speaks volumes to this.  It's a new ear in Lakerland.  It's time we accept it.

The new boss.  It remains to be seen if he'll be more Jerry Buss than Jerry Jones

But what does all of this mean for the Lakers moving forward?

Of course the main goal is to win, and win now.  But above that their main objective this season is to resign Dwight Howard.  Howard has had well documented feuds with coaches in the past, and like most players in his generation, seems entitled and wants to win right away no matter what.  He publicly endorsed bringing in Jackson, and it remains to be seen how D'Antoni and his philosophy will mesh with Howard's strengths.  D'Antoni will have to alter his run and gun style, as the Lakers don't have young legs or any semblance of a bench to achieve his "7 seconds or less" offense.  He's also not a defensive coach at all, but maybe bringing in Nate McMillan will help with that.  The wild card in this is Steve Nash.  He has a history with D'Antoni, and he will clearly be initiating the offense now that the Princeton offense has mercifully been put to bed.  Will he be able to get everyone the ball, and keep egos happy and in check?  Can he stay healthy once he returns from a broken leg?  Will D'Antoni be able to limit his minutes so he's fresh for the playoffs?

I feel that the D'Antoni decision was a knee jerk hire after walking away from the Jackson negotiations.  The Lakers wanted to appease the fans and contain blowback from failing to hire the one coach that made sense and everyone wanted.  They will try to sell the D'Antoni hire as "Showtime 2.0", waxing nostalgic of the glory days of the 80's.  And maybe they're right.  Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise.  Maybe D'Antoni will break through and have the success Pat Riley did 30 years ago.  But for a franchise starving for a title, things better turn around quick or else Jimmy Buss will be completely exposed.

Jimmy fooled us once with his Mike Brown hire.  But if bypassing the greatest coach in NBA history for another gut hire does not work out, Lakers fans will be much less forgiving.

About Time The Lakers Hit The Panic Button

After winning 1 game in almost 6 months, the Lakers (finally!) fired Mike Brown this morning.  After an 0-8 preseason, a 1-4 start to the regular season, and a mountain of criticism from fans and media alike, the Lakers felt that something needed to change. The backlash from this decision has already begun, with many questioning why the Lakers would hit the "panic" button only 5 games into the season.  With so many new players and a new system, why didn't they give Brown a chance to direct the team and allow them to mesh?  The answer is clear to anyone who has followed this team since the Brown hire.

Let me start by saying that Mike Brown should have never been hired in the first place.  His only previous head coaching stint was with Cleveland, where he became the only person who could actually stop LeBron James.  The amount of minutes he played James was a joke, and it was no wonder that after burning out James on the way to the 2007 finals, they were swept by the more experienced, and better coached, Spurs team.  He was eventually fired by Cleveland in an attempt to appease and keep James in a Cavs uniform (which we all know how that turned out).  Why would the Lakers, the greatest organization in NBA history, take a flyer on such an unimpressive, remedial coach?  We can thank Jimmy Buss for that, as Brown was hand selected by him after his interview supposedly blew Buss away.  He also never consulted the face of the franchise, Kobe Bryant.

This is a sight Lakers fans should have never been exposed to

While not exactly happy, especially with the wealth of coaching talent available, Lakers fans gave him the benefit of the doubt, and waited to see how the season would progress.  It proceeded to go right down the shitter.  The Lakers underachieved all year, failing to come together as a unit, and clearly had no respect for Brown.  Brown seemed content to run the offense and would never make adjustments at any point in a game.  They had no consistent defensive scheme, despite his reputation as a defensive coach.  This became crystal clear after Denver came back to force a game 7 in the opening round of last years playoffs after a REAL coach (George Karl) adjusted to what the Lakers where (or weren't) doing after game 4.  After barely surviving, the Lakers were embarrassed by the Thunder and sent home for the summer.

So why fire him now and not at the end of last season?

The simple reason is money.  The Lakers signed Brown to a 4 year, 18 million dollar deal.  That's a lot of dough.  And with a hall of fame starting lineup coming in with the additions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, the organization wanted to see what he could do with this group.  He was essentially given a stay, but was on a short leash.  And how did Brown respond?  By instituting the Princeton offense (because why would you want one of the greatest PG ever to actually run your offense?), failing to come up with a viable rotation during the preseason, and burying guys like Chris Duhon and Jody Meeks on the bench for no apparent reason.  This would be fine if they were winning, but they weren't.  The Lakers not only have lost 4 of 5, but their offense is atrocious, with guys standing around, no movement, and not running a play until 8 seconds left in the shot clock.  The poor shooting leads to break outs the other way and easy hoops, with absolutely no adjustments.  And the disrespect the players showed Brown was beyond evident.  He had completely lost this team.

But the way they've been playing so far this year is just an extension of how they finished last year; lost.  Lost on offense and defense.  Lost in who is supposed to do what.  Lost in a constantly changing rotation that added no stability to the team.  The Lakers were hoping for something different.  They got more of the same.  And since this was Brown's offense, it put even more of the blame on his shoulders.  Something clearly needed to be done.

This brings me back to the hitting the "panic" button issue.  Like I stated earlier, the Lakers are the greatest organization in NBA history.  Their goal year after year is winning.  The Lakers do not hang banners for winning their division or conference, only championships go to the rafters.  It's this commitment to excellence that has allowed them to reload for generations.  And fans have come to expect nothing less.  If a season ends without a title, that season was failure.  This is that standard the team has set, and this is the standard that us fans hold them to.

The goal each and every year.  Anything less is failure

So when the Lakers are underachieving, have clearly quit on their coach and no progress has been made at all in over a year, are they supposed to cross their fingers and hope for something to magically change?  When the head coach actually says that it'll take until the beginning of the calendar year to "get it together", are Lakers fans supposed to remain patient and content?  You can blame injuries, or new teammates, or a new system, but the same problems that plagued the team last year are still visible this year.  To salvage the season and keep the team together mentally and emotionally, a change had to be made.

Yes, the Lakers hit the "panic" button.  But in doing so they also hit the "reset" button.  And they should be applauded accordingly.