Lakers Hire Mike D'Antoni over Phil Jackson

"Reunited and it Feels So Good"

Shocking news came early this morning when it was announced that former Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks head coach Mike D'Antoni and the Los Angeles Lakers agreed to a three year $12 million coaching contract. The club has an option for a fourth year, and the long term deal for D'Antoni comes as a surprise considering the team fired their previous head coach Mike Brown after just five games this season.

However, the most surprising aspect of this move by LA, is that they chose D'Antoni over arguably the greatest coach of all time Phil Jackson. Jackson coached the Lakers from 1999-2004, and then again from 2005-2011. During his time with the team he won five championships and reached the Finals seven times total with the team. Overall, Jackson has won 11 championships in his 20 years of coaching, and has also made the playoffs every single year that he has coached.

Many can argue that Jackson inherited some of the best teams to ever play the game like the '90's Bulls led by Jordan and Pippen and the '99-'02 Lakers led by Kobe and Shaq. Whatever anyone says, the numbers still do not lie, and a major factor behind Jackson's success is the "triangle offense" that he has his teams run. The system creates even spacing throughout the floor, and sets up a guard, wing and post player on one side, and a two man game on the other. 

Under Jackson, this system has obviously had a bunch of success, but members throughout the Laker organization agreed that the triangle offense would not work with the team's current personnel. Mike D'Antoni on the other hand, implements a high speed, run and gun, pick-and-roll offense, that pushes the ball up the court and results in many shots taken early in the shot clock. Laker point guard Steve Nash flourished in this system in Phoenix, and many believe that this system is tailor-made for the bunch in LA.

Personally, I think that Phil Jackson was the guy for the job. I am not a big D'Antoni fan, as I watched my beloved Knicks implode with him at the helm. Also, I just don't see the fit that everyone else does here. Sure Nash was successful in this type of system, but he was also surrounded by a bunch of shooters and a young, athletic big man in Amar'e Stoudemire, who attacked the rim with force or could "pick and pop" for an elbow jump shot. 

Kobe is a jump shooter, but he is more successful in his mid-range game and I don't believe anyone wants to see him and Ron Artest chuck up a combined 20 three pointers each game game. Dwight is athletic for a big man, but he has his most success with his back to the rim on the block, or on put backs. Finally, Gasol can be your pick and pop guy, but no one is going to respect his ability to drive. He is a finesse big man who kills you with open baseline and wing jumpers, not a guy who will dunk on you if you're in his way. 

One Last Thing: In 2004, when the Lakers and Jackson first split for a season, Jackson demanded his salary be doubled, or else he would leave and he did. The replacement head coach then was a guy by the name of Rudy Tomjanovich, and after he had health problems and Kobe was unhappy, the Lakers did whatever they could to get Jackson back. Ultimately, the Lakers front office has always wanted complete control over Jackson when he was their coach and this time, Jackson simply had too many demands. His older age and health concerns had led to rumors that he would choose which games he would and wouldn't attend. The Lakers rightfully felt that if they were going to pay him to be their coach, he had to come in and be fully invested, not on his own terms. That's why D'Antoni has a job and Jackson is "stunned."

P.S. Don't think that Kobe had nothing to do with this after his clear frustration with Brown (VIDEO BELOW). He knows he doesn't have too many years left, and he desperately wants to at least tie Jordan in rings.