New Pringles Flavor- LA Laker edition

p0nder

Starter
D'antoni is not a good playoff coach. He's not a good coach really at all. He'd be better off in a position of consultant or assistant coach then head coach.

His strategy and "system" of ball are fine. it's actually a pretty good way to play the game and he's got the talent in LA to run it effectively. The problem is his ability to manage the game. He doesn't have good clock management skills. His ability to draw up an inbounds play is awful, his management of team persona's and personalities is deplorable. All the things that Phil was, Mike is not.

I expect with Nash running the offense and kobe benefiting and dwight/MWP there to make defensive stops at the other end we'll see the lakers play some pretty good games and post some impressive numbers. but when it comes down to the playoffs it will get dicey with 2 minutes left in the game down by 6 in Memphis or something. Mike just doesn't have the right play calling in those tight game situations. We saw it time and time again. Poor subbing and play calling, which leads to bad possessions, which lead to an ugly shot or turnover too early in the clock, which leads to a loss.

The Knicks are constructed right now to beat the Heat or Lakers so I love any pf those match ups. Bringing in D'antoni made the lakers a very beatable team for the knicks. I'm still sticking with my pre-season prediction. Knicks in 7 over the Lakers for the Chip!

I can't wait for christmas!! I'm like a guy...waiting for... christmas..... :D
 

elcol

Rotation player
Triangle offense it the most overrated offense of all time, and it would never be what it is without having two top 5 players in Kobe and Shaq.

Imagine if Isiah Thomas implemented a triangle offense with Crawford and Curry back in 2005. How far would that go?

07-09 Lakers averaged as a team a Offense Rating of 112.9 (Offense produced per 100 possessions

D'Antoni's teams averaged 114.

Both were very good offenses but D'Antoni was elite at getting maximal production out of lesser players.

Raja Bell averaged 15 points one season, never got close to that without D'Antoni.

Barbosa
Diaw
Even freaking Tim Thomas.

Shawn Marion would of been a 14-15 ppg scorer on most teams in the NBA, in Phoenix his quick bounce ability and skill around the rim was utilized to it's full potential. It was great to watch a guy play his game.

Joe Johnson got so many open looks his last season in Phoenix, he shot a career best .478 percent from the 3pt line.

Remember Jim Jackson? NBA vet? Career .360 3pt shooter? Dude shot .459 at Phoenix. The amount of open looks players got in Phoenix was off the chain.

Lakers offense solely depended on Shaq and Kobe's ability to dominate, Shaq's ability to draw double teams. It was more of the players than the system.

D'Antoni's system got Nash two MVP's, made the Knicks give Amar'e all that money for him when he was never worth that value, made Marion an elite SF on both ends of the floor, saved Raja Bell's career. Gave Boris Diaw a chance when the Hawks gave up on him. Turned late first round pick Barbosa into a quality role player.


These were D'Antoni's reserves back in 05-06.

10 Leandro Barbosa
12 Andre Barrett
15 Josh Davis
23 Sharrod Ford
55 Brian Grant
50 Eddie House
21 Jim Jackson
22 James Jones
40 Kurt Thomas
2 Tim Thomas
1 Dijon Thompson
15 Nikoloz Tskitishvili

He turned that into a very productive bench.

It's just simply on offense, the Championship Lakers teams had superior defense. We were talking about offense...made no sense to bring up a championship when it requires an entire balance of O and D to win that.

For example, the 01-02 Lakers had a defense rating of 105.8, 7th in the NBA at the time.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAL/2002.html

Stats dont lie.

Yeah but PJax got his team to score without giving up SO MUCH defense.
 

clumsy

Rotation player
lol i don't know how D'Antoni is gonna work in LA. He loves his team jacking 3's. Does he have any spot up shooters other than Nash who is hurt, and Artest who isn't that good at it?

Lakers are gonna have a lot of Seven Seconds and Kobe now.
 

Sage

Rotation player
It helps that he's got Howard, Kobe and Metta. He really wouldn't have to 'coach' much defense.

It's the short rotation that's gonna kill them.
 

smokes

Huge Member
^ Yeah indeed and everyone on the Lakers are probably going to be very unselfish other than Kobe.

I really wonder how good a player D12 is gonna be from now on, you can see when he jumps that his leaping ability has been severely impacted by the surgery. Considering a lot of his game came from that athleticism I wonder how much it's going to drop off.
 

metrocard

Legend
Crazy⑧s;253260 said:
Overrated? Tex Winter's brainchild offence was worked to perfection with the likes of Luc Longley. You don't need 2 top 5 players to run it at all. Though when 2 were, SHAQ and Kobe, it ripped the league to smithereens. It was designed, as far as I recall, to defeat the likes of Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson back in the day with its versatile and cognitive approach, and it worked. It's what got him (Winter) in to the NBA Hall of Fame. It took Ron Artest months to come near to using it effectively - Jordan, basketball's living legend, struggled with it, as well.

The best part of the triangle is its versatility, and its reactionary success to defences. It has variations for the intensity of any defence, and forces weaknesses in what appears to be an impenetrable, tight pressured D.

It also adds more versatility for an inside~outside game than D'Antoni's offence. It's a better offence in the sense of versatility by far. D'Antoni's O makes the game that of a wing player, Winter's offence picks team's weaknesses apart offensively, and bolsters any players talents regardless of how limited they are. It can maintain a focal at each position. D'Antoni's is set to serve and favour a prototypical player. The triangle brought out the best in O'Neal, and also provided a nich? for any roleplaying no-name along the way, Longley being the perfect example.

D'Antoni's O is top notch, but the triangle surpasses it in its timelessness and its effectiveness regardless of who's implementing it. D'Antoni's small-ball suits teams with Amar'e Stoudemire at the 5, and that can be countered far easier than the multi-faceted .

You can throw around stats all you want, but when you talk about the lopsided inputs of O&D with D'Antoni, you'd get lost in the disparities. The triangle forced cohesion and understanding, D'Antoni would just run defences ragged at the cost of his own defence.

△ > 'Antoni.

Triangle is a mastermind offense, but that started up in 1940, had it's great success. But let's look into modern terms.
If the Triangle was an edge at winning titles, everyone would be running it.
It comes down to personnel.
You're totally wrong about the triangle being timeless. It's actually outdated.
The NBA today with the zones and the ability to double team players is not effective anymore. It takes athletic talent to win in the NBA today, both on offense and defense. This is a point guard's league now.

Brought the best out of Shaq? Shaq averaged 29 points per game under Brian Hill. Shaq is Shaq. The Triangle didn't make Shaq, Shaq was the most physically dominating specimen in NBA history and his career success is 95% on him, not the system.

If you want to look at a player who lived off a system, look at Leandro Barbosa. Won 6th man of the year under D'Antoni.

Longley was one of the worst centers of time. His production was inefficient.

Efforts to establish the triple-post offense beyond Jackson's teams have been few and unsuccessful. Cleamons tried it in Dallas in 1996-97 and was fired after a 28-70 record in one-plus seasons. Tim Floyd ran it in Chicago after Jackson's departure and left three-plus years later with a 49-190 mark. And this summer brought a close to Rambis' experiment in Minnesota.

PJ was the only coach to really succeed with the triangle and he had the luxury of running that offense under the greatest duos in NBA history, Jordan/Pippen and Bryant/O'Neil. So once again, it's all about personnel.

D'Antoni's system would work best for LA.
Mobile and the best athletic big man in Dwight Howard.
Best pick and roll PG and shooter in Nash.
ATG Scorer in Kobe.
Pick and Roll passing big man in Gasol
Corner specialist in Artest.
I like the move for LA.
They're set up well, Jamison, Meeks, and Morris will increase production.

Defensively, I don't know. That's Mike's problem, defense. Always been, always will be.

Howard/Artest are A level defenders, so well see how much they can hold up.
 

smokes

Huge Member
Mm.. I think the way the Lakers roster is built they will have great success in this offense. They have pretty much a perfect MDA roster with players who are equal or better than when D'Antoni had great success.

Nash = Nash
Kobe >>>>>>>>>> Johnson
World Peace < Marion
Gasol > Amare
D12 > Everyone

With Dwight down low it's ridiculously easy to play inside out. All their players can run the floor.

They also have enough defensive talent in the team to be set, MDA does not appear to be very adept at establishing a defensive culture, but these guys are veterans and known great defensive players (Dwight, Kobe, World Peace) so I don't think it will be a big issue.

You have to have that balance which the Knicks never had, when your defense is so weak the offense falls apart sometimes, and you miss out on those easy buckets sparked by good defense.

It's all going to come down to the Lakers bench. Can Morris/Duhon/Jamison/Hill come through? Jordan Hill is a big question-mark on this team knowing his history with MDA.
 

knicksin60

Starter
You have to feel bad for D'antoni. The Lakers nearly lost to the Nets the other day and then got blown out by a horrible Sacramento Kings team.
 

VeryGundy

Benchwarmer
You have to feel bad for D'antoni. The Lakers nearly lost to the Nets the other day and then got blown out by a horrible Sacramento Kings team.

Lakers don't have a PG which is the key to MDA's offense. Once Nash comes back, I think we will see a very different team.
 
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