Those of you thinking that Mike D’Antoni is the real problem with the Lakers and they should consider a second coaching change this season, you are not going to like this.
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak says Mike D’Antoni is not the problem, that the coach is willing to and has modified his system to fit the personnel on the roster.
Speaking with ESPNLA.com’s Dave McMenamim, Kupchak threw the blame for the Lakers spiral back at the players — and it seems pretty clearly he was talking about Dwight Howard.
“Without a doubt, we have utmost confidence in Mike (D’Antoni) as a coach,” Kupchak told ESPNLosAngeles.com in a phone interview Tuesday from Memphis. “I think if you spoke to him, his vision on Day 1 was dramatically different than it is today. It’s the coach’s job to adjust and to make changes. Sometimes a player is just not going to fit. Sometimes a coach has to make changes and compromise in the way he’s done things and I think that’s what Mike is going through right now is just the process….
“I’m a little bit concerned about our effort,” Kupchak said. “I’d like to see better effort on the court. When the ball is not bouncing your way, when shots aren’t going in, you just can’t seem to get a break, the one thing you can control on the court is your effort and loose balls and running the floor, defending, offensive rebounding. I think back to the Miami game and I have that vision of LeBron (James) diving on that ball at midcourt. That’s effort.”
What else can Kupchak say — he can’t come out publicly and throw his coach under the bus. Or, Buss as the case may be. Kupchak goes on to say there isn’t a magic bullet trade that fixes the Lakers, and he’s right.
As I said yesterday, the Lakers dismal season is a soup of problems that is now coming to a boil. Mike D’Antoni and his system is one of them, but I lay that at the feet of Kupchak and the Buss family ownership — they knew D’Antoni coaches his system (to the point of benching Pau Gasol for Earl Clark) and they knew the roster was not a good fit for that system.
Yet they hired D’Antoni.
And now there are signs that Dwight Howard doesn’t like the system and how it uses him. Kupchak is right that Howard’s up-and-down effort and demanding the ball in the post (when he is a good pick-and-roll big playing with Steve Nash) is petty and small. Howard seems disinterested and disengaged and that is on him.
But he also can be a free agent again next year. While you can talk Howard trade rumors if you want, but if the Lakers really were forced to choose between Howard and D’Antoni… the star player always wins those battles.
But for now, Kupchak has D’Antoni’s back.
