Mike D’Antoni has resigned his position as the Los Angeles Lakers Head Coach. He had one year remaining on his contract and even asked the Lakers to pick up the team option for the 2015-16 season. When the Lakers decided against it, D’Antoni stepped down as the fourth head coach of the franchise in the last three years rather than be in a lame-duck situation .
D’Antoni took over when the Lakers fired Mike Brown after 71 games at the helm of the purple and gold and, in less than two years on the job, resigned. D’Antoni coached the Lakers for 154 games posting a record of 67-87 with a playoff appearance. The Lakers injury-riddled 27-55 campaign, their worst in more than 50 years, unfortunately happened on D’Antoni’s watch. Los Angeles missed the playoffs for only the third time in 38 years.
Both Brown and D’Antoni had the unenviable task of following a legend, 11-time NBA championship head coach Phil Jackson.
The most envious position would be the guy after that guy. This statement my shock some, but contrary to popular belief, Mike D’Antoni is a good coach. He is the son of a legendary high school basketball coach in West Virginia and Ohio. He gets to leave on his terms.
NBA Coach of the Year after the 2004-05 season, D’Antoni was the man credited with re-invigorating fast break basketball in a league gone stale. He is the same guy who had a book written about his signature up-tempo system that just did not work in Los Angeles.
The problem is that the Lakers and D’Antoni were an odd fit to begin with.You can argue that D’Antoni had a roster devoid of talent and that several key players he had inherited were injured and past their prime.
The argument has valid concerns. However, in 12 years and 881 games as a NBA head coach for the Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, New York Knicks and Lakers, D’Antoni has a record of 455-426 with a .516 –winning percentage. In 59 playoff games, he coached teams that went 26-33 with a .441 winning percentage. D’Antoni has also coached a team that has won less than 45 games eight times.
D’Antoni will play the role of fall guy for the Los Angeles Lakers,yes. But one also has to consider that every Mike D’Antoni coached team has the unique distinction of not playing good defense.
In a league of 30 teams, the Lakers ranked 29th defensively in 2013-2014. They allowed on average 109.2 points per game, but exceeded that amount on 39 occasions; allowing 120 points 10 times, 130 points three times and 140 points three times. D’Antoni runs a system that is not conducive for big men and he is stubbornly reluctant to make defense a priority. These two things alone would be reasons enough for a jettison.
The head coach was not the Lakers biggest problem however… he was far from it. The team has allowed two of the best basketball minds — Jerry West (Hall of Fame player, coach and General Manager) and Phil Jackson (one of the ten greatest NBA coaches of all time) — walk out of their building. Jim Buss (Lakers’ part-owner and Executive V.P. of Basketball Operations) has dropped the ball now on two head coaches. In fairness, if David Stern (former commissioner of the NBA), influenced by the small market NBA owners, did not validate Donald Sterling with the Chris Paul trade, we might view Buss in a whole different light.
After the Lakers’ John Black (Vice President of Public Relations) confirmed D’Antoni’s exit, the team released the following statement from Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak:
“Given the circumstances, I don’t know that anybody could have done a better job the Mike did the past two seasons. On behalf of the Lakers, we thank Mike for the work ethic, professionalism and positive attitude that he brought to the team every day. We wish him the best of luck.”