http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8872264/lakers
Questo stralcio dell'articolo mi trova clamorosamente d'accordo.
Simmons: You left out "And someone who shouldn't be playing as much as Pau Gasol." There are two types of coaches …
1. A coach who looks at his players and says, "How can I put these guys in the best position for them to succeed?"
2. A coach who looks at his players and says, "How can I use these guys to make my system succeed?"
Now, think about the mind-set driving Coach No. 2: He's basically saying, I'm here only because of my system. I can't actually coach. If you give me the wrong players for my system, it doesn't matter — I will keep using the system anyway, because Plan B would be coming up with a more inventive way to coach these guys. And I can't do that. I'm not good enough. So if it's OK with you, I'd like to go down in flames with my system.
That's what D'Antoni did in New York (cut to Knicks fans nodding vigorously), that's what he's doing with the Lakers right now, and that's what he'll be doing when he's coaching the Minnesota Lynx in three years.
Lowe: I'm generally a fan of D'Antoni. I defended the hiring, and I consider him a very smart basketball person whose teams in Phoenix played much better defense — about league-average defense — than commentators who don't factor in pace would understand.
Simmons: I defended the hiring as well, mainly because I thought for sure he'd learn from his mistakes in New York. Nope. Instead, it's almost like he blew those mistakes out into a much fancier sequel — a little like how Mike Myers blew out Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, added new characters and beefed up Dr. Evil's backstory. I always thought D'Antoni grabbed the money in New York. He knew that wasn't the right roster for him, he knew Chicago was a better fit … but he couldn't walk away from that fat paycheck. Now it's happened twice. He's obviously a coach who can succeed only with a certain type of roster and certain types of players. Stick him on Miami or even Houston and he'd look like a genius again. He just picked the wrong team. Twice.
Lowe: It's fitting that we're discussing this stuff right after the Lakers lost to a Chicago team giving heavy minutes to Nate Robinson. Do you think Tom Thibodeau, defensive perfectionist and no-nonsense soul, actually likes Nate Robinson's game? Heck no. But he needs Robinson's offense, so he's using him. D'Antoni didn't like Robinson in New York, so he buried him at the end of the bench, unleashing him now and then out of desperation for the inevitable Nate-Rob explosion. Which is to say: If D'Antoni has flaws as a coach, one of them might be a certain kind of stubbornness that affects his rotation choices and strategy. Connected to that: It just feels like he's overthinking it with this team, which is why I brought up the fact that his "best five" lineup has barely played.
E poi il finale:
Zach, I will leave you with this: If we've learned anything from professional sports over the years, it's that nobody can inflict more damage on a franchise than an incompetent owner. Just look at how the Maloofs destroyed basketball in Sacramento, or what James Dolan did to the Ewing era, or what Donald Sterling did for his first 25 years with the Clippers. There's a really good chance that Jimmy Buss might be THAT bad. And if that's the case, I guarantee Kobe is already coming up with an exit plan. We will see.
