The Lakers started the season 1-4. In order to fix this, Jerry Buss fired head coach Mike Brown. It was sad, but we all saw it coming. Brown’s coaching never quite fit the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA was buzzing about who would coach Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Naturally, everyone assumed the “Zen Master” Phil Jackson would make his return to Los Angeles. It only made sense, he has a great relationship with Kobe and had a new big man to work with, Dwight Howard. There were so many rumors that it was Jackson’s job for the taking. It seemed like we were going to see a reunion, but the Lakers shocked everyone. They instead hired former New York Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni. D’Antoni was recovering from knee surgery that he had in the offseason allowing assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff to coach a few games in the interim. This is how the Lakers have done under each coach:
Brown- 1-4
Bickerstaff- 4-1
D’Antoni- 3-4
It doesn’t sound like the Lakers are responding too week to D’Antoni’s coaching. To be fair, Dwight Howard has come under fire recently for missing countless free throw attempts. One bright spot of the season thus far has been Kobe Bryant being the youngest player to reach 30,000 points. However, no one will ever forget that Mike D’Antoni was chosen over Phil Jackson for a head coaching position.
