Posts Tagged ‘Mike Brown’

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Morning Shootaround — Feb. 14

February 14, 2013  ·  7:34AM

Missed a game last night? Wondering what the latest news around the NBA is this morning? The Morning Shootaround is here to try to meet those needs and keep you up on what’s happened around the league since the day turned.

The one recap to watch: Although the matchup of All-Star point guards failed to live up to our hopes, the Spurs-Cavs game was a thriller down the stretch. Tony Parker did his part, going for 24 points and seven dimes, but Kyrie Irving had one of his toughest nights of the season, shooting 2-for-15 for six points to go along with seven assists himself. Rookie Dion Waiters showed some clutch skills with a step-back jumper to give Cleveland a two-point lead with 9.5 seconds left. But Parker — who won his lone Finals MVP by dicing up the Cavs in 2007 — went to work, operating out of the pick and roll to find a wide open Kawhi Leonard on the baseline for the game-winning 3-pointer.

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News of the morning

Brown chimes in on old squad | KG done with All-Star Games? | Jennings clarifies future | Big Al question dogs Jazz | Why Spurs won’t get J-Smoove

Ex-Lakers coach sees bright future for L.A. — Depending on your point of view, it may not seem that long ago that the Lakers fired coach Mike Brown after going 1-4 to open the season. Since then, there’s been plenty more drama in Lakerland, USA, and we haven’t heard much from the man who had the first crack at making the Dwight Howard-Pau Gasol-Kobe Bryant-Steve Nash “superteam” work this season. Brown stopped by Colin Cowherd‘s ESPN Radio program yesterday, though, to say he sees some signs that the Lakers are heading in the direction he couldn’t get them to go when he had the gig:

Former Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown has had three months to ruminate on his former team and its struggles amid the additions of coach Mike D’Antoni, Dwight Howard and Steve Nash, and the departure of Andrew Bynum.

Brown says despite a slow first half, he sees a Lakers team that can, with some work, turn its season around.

“I think it can be done,” Brown said Wednesday in a telephone interview with “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” on ESPN Radio. “Mike has a different philosophy, and it’s worked for him the many years he’s been coaching in the NBA. And I’m sure he’ll figure it out, which he’s been doing.

“He’s been making some adjustments as time’s gone on. So I think it’s a matter of time before they get it going.”

Brown noted he was skeptical when D’Antoni, upon his hiring, said the Lakers would implement a run-and-gun style offense and score in the 110-115-point range — “be the old ‘Showtime.’”

“I did not feel that was a running team,” said Brown, who was fired in November after a 1-4 start to the season. “Kobe [Bryant] is a guy who can run, but if you look back at the history of his career, he really hasn”t been on a running team, in his 15, 16, 20 years — whatever he’s been in the league.

“Then you talk about having two bigs,” Brown said of Howard and Pau Gasol. “And both of those bigs are agile and capable runners, but they’re not the type of runners that you need to have to play in a system that’s going to score those types of points.”

Brown related his experience as an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs, when they had both Tim Duncan and David Robinson, saying an efficient scoring tandem is indeed possible between players with the skill sets of Howard and Gasol.

Regarding his firing, Brown said he was “shocked” to learn of the Lakers’ decision.

“But I always look at it this way,” Brown said. “It’s their team. They have every right to do what they want to do with it. You know, I appreciate the opportunity that they gave me, and it was a decision that the Busses and Mitch Kupchak came to. They felt they would be better going in another direction. So from that standpoint I respect it, I appreciate the opportunity, but it was a little surprising.”

KG bidding adieu to All-Star Game? — All-Star starter Kevin Garnett is making his 14th appearance in the league’s midseason showcase, but I guess we should all take time to soak in his play there. According to the Boston Herald’s Mark Murphy, Garnett says this will be his final All-Star Game. That would seem to imply that KG is pondering retirement after this season, but the Celtics’ standout said his reasons for not wanting to be in the game in the future have more to do with fatigue than the end of the road in the NBA:

Kevin Garnett said last night that his 14th All-Star Game appearance on Sunday in Houston will also be his last, though the Celtics forward stopped short of saying he was retiring at the end of the season.

Garnett, realizing he had just set off an alarm, then turned cryptic. He has two years remaining on his contract.

“This is definitely my last All-Star Game,” he said. “Ya’ll don’t know what I know. I’m more than grateful, and I’m not going to act like I have more All-Star Games in me. I’ll enjoy this one with friends and family. That’s what I meant.”

Garnett added he simply plans to enjoy himself this weekend.

“I’ll have no feelings whatsoever,” he said when asked about Sunday. “I always enjoyed each All-Star Game. I’m not a guy who is going to show too much emotion at that time. The All-Star Game for me is more for friends and family. You always have that wild-assed uncle who shows his ass, you always have that friend you always have to pull to the side and have that little conversation (with). It’s a fun time.”

Garnett admitted to feeling the wear and tear on the inside this season.

“The last four or five days have been exhausting,” he said. “Mentally more than physical. The three overtimes against Denver was emotionally draining, the travel, having to come in here and prepare after losing to Charlotte, so yeah, it’s been a bit of a whirlwind.”

Jennings refutes talk of frustration — Bucks fourth-year guard Brandon Jennings is having one of his better all-around seasons, averaging 18.5 ppg, 6.1 apg, 1.9 spg and shooting 36.4 percent from 3-point range. Jennings, a restricted free-agent this summer, had a chance to sign a four-year, $40 million extension with Milwaukee but passed on it and will test the free-agent waters this summer. An analysis story on ESPN.com said that Jennings has “irreconcilable differences” with the Bucks’ front office and is demanding a trade by the Feb. 21 deadline. But Jennings later came back and spoke with ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard — who did not write the first Jennings story — to clear up his side on things:

ESPN.com, in an analysis story on 10 NBA players who could be traded, cited sources as saying Jennings is frustrated. One source called it “irreconcilable differences” and said Jennings wants to be moved before the Feb. 21 trade deadline.

“That is not true,” Jennings said in a text message when asked if his relationship with the Bucks is beyond repair. “Just because I got a new agent doesn’t mean anything. That stuff never came out of my mouth. They’re just reaching for a story since I changed my agent [to Jeff Schwartz].”

ESPN.com said it stands by its reporting.

A year ago, Jennings told ESPN.com that he was “doing [his] homework on big-market teams.” Since then, Jennings’ long-term status in Milwaukee has been the subject of speculation among league insiders, and when Jennings left agent Bill Duffy, the rumors swirled again about whether the guard is unhappy with the Bucks. The Bucks offered Jennings a four-year, $40 million extension, according to sources, but he turned it down. He will become a restricted free agent this summer.

One other theory being floated: Jennings is upset because he didn’t make the Eastern Conference All-Star team, despite leading the Bucks into playoff position by averaging team-highs of 18.5 points and 6.1 assists, or that he wants more exposure than small-market Milwaukee can offer.

Jennings denied that.

“Being in Milwaukee wasn’t the reason I didn’t make the All-Star Game,” Jennings said. “Guys just had better numbers than me.”

When asked about his future on Wednesday, Jennings said he’s only focused on the present.

“That’s something me and Jeff will discuss in the offseason,” he said. “The Milwaukee Bucks are in 8th place in the East, and I’m looking forward to helping them get to the playoffs in the second half of the season.”

Jazz’s lingering question: What to do with Big Al? — Utah has one representative — Jeremy Evans in the Sprite Slam Dunk Contest on Saturday — heading to Houston this weekend, which might be a good thing for the front office. Leading scorer Al Jefferson has been thrown about in trade rumors, but nothing of serious merit has floated out there. Jefferson, an unrestricted free agent this summer, has said in the past the Jazz will have the right of first refusal for him. The emergence of second-year center Enes Kanter as well as Utah’s desire to eventually free up minutes for third-year big Derrick Favors puts it in a situation where some decisions have to be made, writes Kurt Kragthorpe of the Salt Lake Tribune:

The Jazz’s biggest issue, as they head into the All-Star break after Wednesday’s game at Minnesota and anticipate the NBA’s Feb. 21 trade deadline, is what to do with Jefferson. His expiring contract will make him a free agent in July, creating options for the team. How the Jazz’s management addresses the Jeffersonian Dilemma is central to the franchise’s immediate and long-term future.It’s complicated, that’s for sure. The answer is not as simple as saying the Jazz should trade him just to get something in return before he walks away. Any deal they make next week must genuinely advance their rebuilding process, not merely bring them some temporary assets that the other party wants to unload.

The Jazz keep showing enough flashes of potential, such as Tuesday’s convincing win over Oklahoma City, to make this season’s goals worth pursuing, as opposed to starting over with two months remaining. When the injured Mo Williams and Gordon Hayward return, the Jazz should be able to solidify a playoff spot in the Western Conference, and I’ll always endorse postseason play as meaningful.

The tricky part of this discussion is that the Jazz have become so dependent on Jefferson that he’s both the solution and the problem with their offense.

Averaging 17.5 points and 9.4 rebounds, Jefferson has done more than anyone could have expected of him in his third season with the Jazz. He’s the team’s closest thing to an All-Star and he cares about winning, by all accounts.

It’s just while I’ve come to appreciate his game more and more, I still say his style — backing in, holding the ball, faking and working for a shot — just doesn’t fit the Jazz’s traditional offensive approach that calls for the players and the ball to keep moving. To his credit, he’s become much more willing to pass in the last month, resulting in the team’s field-goal percentage finally climbing above .450, ranking in the top half of the league.

The summary is that even though I don’t see him as a long-term fixture here, trading him is not necessarily the right call.

The Jazz should move Jefferson only if they can net a return that’s a reasonable percentage of the package they received from New Jersey/Brooklyn for Deron Williams two years ago. They got Derrick Favors, Devin Harris (later traded for Marvin Williams), a first-round draft choice in 2011 (Enes Kanter) and a future first-round pick, which will be conveyed via Golden State this year.

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In any case, the D-Will deal should be somewhat of a model for any trade of Jefferson. It actually would make more sense for the Jazz to trade Paul Millsap, as popular as he is, because Favors is better prepared than Kanter to assume a bigger role right now.

For the sake of their future, the Jazz have to commit themselves to Kanter, at some point. I’m just not sure that time is next week.

Why Smoove to the Spurs doesn’t make sense — Few players have had their name bandied about in trade rumors more the past few weeks than Hawks forward Josh Smith. From New Jersey to to San Antonio (and points inbetween and beyond), there’s been talk of the multi-talented forward having his skills shipped to any number of contenders around the league. The Spurs would seem to be a Finals shoo-in should they pick up Smith, but we’ve got a dose of reality courtesy of the San Antonio Express-News’ Jeff McDonald on why a Spurs trade for Smith is nonsense:

And so we come to the “rumor” that the Spurs are looking to trade for Atlanta forward Josh Smith. In a power-rankings column yesterday, the great Marc Spears at Yahoo! Sports mentioned the Spurs as one of many teams expressing interest in Smith.

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This morning, the folks at ProBasketballTalk took Spears’ mention a step further, hopping on the trade machine to put together a hypothetical deal between the Spurs and Hawks. To PBT’s credit, the site made imminently clear the “hypothetical” part.

The deal they made up: Kawhi Leonard, Stephen Jackson’s expiring contract, a pick (perhaps?), a young point guard (perhaps?).

Again, nobody is reporting that the Spurs and Hawks have discussed any sort of deal at all. It’s all hypothetical.

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If I may, here are three reasons why the Josh Smith-to-Spurs thing will not happen.1) The Hawks are primarily interested in acquiring picks. Lottery picks. The Spurs, as you may have read, are 41-12. They’re going to have to do a championship job of tanking after the All-Star break to wind up in the draft lottery. As it stands now, they’re going to have the No. 30 pick overall. Not an enticing trade chip for a team like Atlanta.

2) The Spurs have little to no interest in adding big payroll after this season. Smith is going to want a maximum contract when his deal is up. It’s the reason the Hawks are shopping him. I have no doubt some team out there will give Smith the payday he desires. I guarantee you it’s not going to be the Spurs. You really think the Spurs would be interested in giving up Kawhi Leonard — a guy Gregg Popovich envisions as the future face of the franchise – for a half-season rental? Because I don’t.

3) Leonard is borderline untouchable at this point. Look, you never say never about trading anybody (except maybe Tim Duncan). But thanks to the rookie scale contract system, the Spurs have Leonard — aka “Bruce Bowen with skills” — for two more seasons at a total of $3.1 million. That’s chump change, and quite a value for a player who is becoming increasingly important to what the Spurs do at both ends of the floor. For the budget-conscious Spurs, a player so vastly over-performing his contract is worth holding onto for dear life.

ICYMI of the night: JaVale McGee gets a lot of heat on Shaqtin’ A Fool when he does something wrong, and most of the time the criticism is deserved. But when he does something right — like this dunk last night over Gerald Wallace – well, we’ve got to give him props …:

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D’Antoni Isn’t Going Anywhere Soon

January 25, 2013  ·  12:47PM

HANG TIME, Texas — OK, so Mike Brown got the ax after a 1-4 (.200) start and now Mike D’Antoni is 12-20 (.375) as his replacement.

In some places that maybe be called progress. In Laker Land it’s got many fans already looking for the next candidate to sit in Phil Jackson’s former big chair on the sidelines. Even Phil Jackson.

But while the angry villagers may be carrying torches and pitchforks as they make their way to storm the front gate, our man Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register says they’re wasting their time and kerosene:

There’s plenty of heat and speculation — and plenty for Mike D’Antoni to hash out as far as better utilizing his players, including 2013 free agent Dwight Howard — but I was told Thursday the Lakers are not considering a buyout or firing of D’Antoni as head coach.

The Lakers’ next chance to get off the floor is tonight, when they start a three-game homestand against Utah, Oklahoma City and New Orleans.

The bad news for D’Antoni’s critics is they’ll still have him to kick around as the Lakers try to stumble toward respectability. The good news is at least he’s got to stay there and watch it with them.

What do you think? Is it too crazy for the Lakers to bounce a second coach in the same season?

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Gasol And Howard A Bad Mix Under D’Antoni … Sound Familiar?

January 22, 2013  ·  12:36PM

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HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – Mike D’Antoni is right. The Lakers have been much better with only one of their two $19 million big men on the floor than with both of them together.

That was D’Antoni’s explanation when he said before Monday’s game in Chicago that Pau Gasol would be coming off the bench until further notice. And the numbers back D’Antoni up, even after the Lakers lost to the Bulls by 12 in a game in which Gasol and Dwight Howard played just seven minutes together.

Lakers efficiency with Gasol and/or Howard on the floor

On floor MIN OffRtg DefRtg NetRtg +/-
Gasol + Howard 612 102.7 103.5 -0.8 -14
Gasol only 329 110.7 101.0 +9.7 +61
Howard only 736 108.1 100.5 +7.5 +83
One of the two 1,065 108.9 100.7 +8.2 +144

OffRtg = Points scored per 100 possessions
DefRtg = Points allowed per 100 possessions
NetRtg = Point differential per 100 possessions

Offensively, with both Gasol and Howard on the floor, the Lakers have scored at a rate that would rank 12th in the league. With only one of the two on the floor, they’ve scored at a rate that would rank second.

Defensively, with both Gasol and Howard in the game, the Lakers are defending at a rate that would rank 19th in the league. With only one of the two in the game, they’re defending at a rate that would rank ninth.

Overall, with Gasol and Howard on the floor together, the Lakers have the point differential of a 37-win team. With only one of the two on the floor, they have a point differential of a 61-win team.

The question, of course, is why the Lakers can’t play well with two of the best big men in the league on the floor together. And it’s hard not to point at the coach, because things were OK before D’Antoni took over.

Lakers efficiency with Gasol and Howard on the floor together

Coach GP MIN OffRtg DefRtg NetRtg +/-
Brown 5 135 110.8 95.4 +15.5 +41
Bickerstaff 5 130 105.4 100.8 +4.6 +6
D’Antoni 18 346 98.6 107.7 -9.1 -61

Five games apiece for Mike Brown and Bernie Bickerstaff are small sample sizes, but it’s clear that the Lakers’ early issues weren’t with their bigs. When they got off to a 1-4 start under Brown, the bench was more of a problem.

The big man issues under D’Antoni are on both sides of the ball. Offensively, Gasol is a different player when he’s on the floor with Howard. In those 612 minutes, just 44 percent of his 208 shots have come from the paint. With Howard on the bench, 67 percent of Gasol’s 109 shots have come from the paint.

D’Antoni’s system calls for three shooters around a point guard (who can also shoot) and a pick-and-roll big man. And Gasol can’t space the floor like a true stretch four.

Gasol’s shooting with Howard on and off the floor

Howard on/off FGM FGA FG% %FGA paint
Howard on floor 83 208 39.9% 44.2%
Howard off floor 54 109 49.5% 67.0%

Here’s the thing: Gasol played 5 1/2 seasons with Andrew Bynum. And with Bynum on the floor, Gasol still took 66 percent of his shots from the paint, because Phil Jackson‘s offense allowed for two post players. The Lakers were a very good offensive team with the two bigs on the floor together.

Defensively, the Lakers have breakdowns all over the place this season, mostly with guards Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant. But there’s no clear explanation why they’re much better with only one of the two bigs on the floor. It may be a foot speed issue, and they may just be able to recover better with a smaller, quicker player at the four. Under Jackson, they were better defensively with Lamar Odom at the four than with Bynum and Gasol out there together.

Still, this is all kind of ridiculous. And it’s all too familiar. On the last team D’Antoni coached, he had two guys making about $40 million combined who couldn’t play well together either.

Under D’Antoni, the New York Knicks were a minus-137 and absolutely awful defensively in 1,506 minutes with Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire on the floor together. The coach’s inability to get his two stars on the same page is a big reason he isn’t in New York anymore. Under Mike Woodson, the Knicks are even (plus-0) in 497 minutes with Anthony and Stoudemire on the floor together.

The Lakers probably aren’t going to be making another coaching change. Instead, Gasol is probably on his way out the door. And we can only wonder what might have been had L.A. hired Jackson when they let go of Brown in November … or if they had just kept Brown.

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Starving Lakers: Yo Quiero A Win!

January 12, 2013  ·  12:56PM

HANG TIME, Texas – There had already been plenty of unfathomable events in the Lakers’ season:

• Firing head coach Mike Brown after a 1-4 start.

• Collapsing down the stretch in a pair of horrible losses at home to Indiana and Orlando.

• Getting whipped in Cleveland.

• Any time that Dwight Howard steps to the free-throw line.

But then came Friday night and the height of absurdity when the announcement informed fans at Staples Center that they’d all get a free taco “if the Lakers win and hold their opponent under 100 points.”

At that moment, 2:05 left in the third quarter, the Lakers were trailing the Thunder 90-68.

So maybe it was just hunger pangs gnawing away inside Magic Johnson when he blurted out on ESPN:

“It’s over for my Lakers — no playoffs, no nothing.”

It seems the Earl Clark Era had a short shelf life and the news keeps going from bad to worse for the would-be challengers to Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and the rest of the real deal from OKC.

The Lakers announced that Jordan Hill will miss the rest of the season with a hip injury.

While Hill was averaging just 6.7 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, the bedraggled Lakers, who are also playing without Howard (shoulder) and Pau Gasol (concussion), can hardly afford to be without any of their parts as they continue their heavy lifting job — or fantasy quest — of trying to get back into the Western Conference playoff picture.

Hill told our man Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times that he took the news personally:

“I feel like I let down the team,” said Hill. “I let down the fans.”

According to the Lakers, Hill was examined by team doctor Steve Lombardo and hip specialist Dr. Jason Snibbe Friday and underwent an anthrogram test. The test revealed “loose fragments in addition to a possible labral tear” in the hip, which will require surgery, the team said.

Hill was hurt Sunday against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center.

“Andre Miller drove baseline and Kobe [Bryant], trying to go back and guard him, he accidentally stepped on my foot,” he said. “Like, I stayed in one spot but my hip kept going. It kind of pulled the joint out.”

Hill will get a second opinion before setting a date for the procedure but he noted it’s inevitable.

“I definitely need surgery. It’s definitely mandatory,” said the Lakers forward/center. “I have fragments floating around that need to be out.”

The recovery period should take all the way through to the summer.

The question is whether that’s enough time for the entire Lakers organization to recover from their troubles.

Of course, Lakers owner Jim Buss had a slightly different view, as expressed this week during a radio interview. “How can you not believe in this team?” he said.

Well, six losses in a row, seven in eight games and the No. 8 spot in the West standings fading quickly in the rearview mirror.

There wouldn’t seem to be much help coming from over the horizon, even with a team that has only 14 players — one under the maximum on its roster. The Lakers already have a payroll of roughly $100 million and a luxury tax bill of $30 million.

The Lakers have not been this bad (15-21) since the 1993-94 season when a 15-year-old Bryant was still playing at Lower Merion (Pa.) High.

Next up are home games with the Cavs, Bucks and then a Thursday night showdown against the Heat that was supposed to be a preview of the The Finals.

“I don’t have to look to know we’re in a heap of …” coach Mike D’Antoni said before Friday night’s game. “Not a good place. As long as mathematically it can be done and it’s in our hands, then I’m good.”

At least nobody will starve with all those tacos still on their hands.

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Wall’s Return Puts Heat On Wittman

January 12, 2013  ·  10:25AM

 

HANG TIME, Texas – The win over the defending champion Heat in the first week of December was an eye opener. Taking down the Thunder in the first week of January was no less impressive.

But if the goal of the Wizards is to provide more than a once-a-month shock to the NBA system, then the season begins tonight.

Point guard John Wall will make his season debut tonight against the Hawks after missing three months due to a stress injury in his left patella. While nobody is expecting to see the player that averaged 16.3 points. 8.6 assists and 4.6 rebounds in his first two seasons, just having the former No. 1 draft pick on the court is finally a lift for the club that is again foundering at the bottom with a 5-28 record, the worst in the league.

Wall is trying to keep a lid on expectations, as he told Michael Lee of the Washington Post:

“I figure the first couple games probably won’t be the best games,” Wall said after practicing for the third consecutive day without complications from his left knee.

“Just go out there and play my game,” he said. “Don’t do too much. I know that’s the main thing I’ve got to do for my first game back. Just let the game come to me and just try to help my team out.”

Wall also doesn’t expect to have a difficult adjustment to playing alongside several new teammates after sitting next to the Wizards coaching staff for nearly every game and observing their tendencies. His teammates have already marveled as his speed and decision-making, which has been sorely missed for a team has started five different point guards this season – A.J. Price, Shaun Livingston, Jordan Crawford, Shelvin Mack and Garrett Temple.

When asked if he felt any external or internal pressures with coming back, Wall quickly responded, “No pressure at all.”
The biggest challenge for him, Wall said, will be “getting my legs underneath me but just working the offense, being the point guard, finding my teammates and knowing guys’ sweet spots is pretty easy to me.”

Without Wall to run the show, the Wizards have been virtually clueless all season, unable to attack defenses and score. In one more season when Washington made significant changes to the lineup — Emeka Okafor, Trevor Ariza, rookie Bradley Beal – they have clearly lacked a leader to pull it all together.

While the medical staff will have Wall operating under a limit on playing minutes as he works his way back into game shape, Wizards coach Randy Wittman says there will be no limits to what he asks of his franchise player in terms of leading his team.

“John is going to have the ball in his hands a lot,” Wittman said. “I don’t want to take any pressure off him. He hasn’t gotten any pressure yet this year. I want him to feel some pressure. John likes pressure.”

Of course, Wittman can only hope that Wall will relieve any pressure on his own situation, which has to be in the crosshairs of a season when Mike Brown, Avery Johnson and Scott Skiles have already been relieved of their head coaching jobs.

If there has been a reason that Wittman has been spared the same fate, it’s because he’s been coaching with one hand tied behind his back without Wall. Now that the Wizards’ main man is back in the lineup, the heat is on and the clock is ticking.

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Blogtable: It’s Tough Being A Coach

January 9, 2013  ·  11:06AM




Each week, we’ll ask our stable of scribes to weigh in on the three most important NBA topics of the day — and then give you a chance to step on the scale, too, in the comments below.

Week 11: Kevin Garnett is … | Encouraging signs for Lakers? | Next coach to go

Mike Brown, Avery Johnson, now Scott Skiles: Next? Please explain.

Steve Aschburner: Maybe we should note the specifics of those situations, with Mike Brown‘s firing a panic move, Johnson’s pink slip driven by unrealistic expectations of his bosses and Skiles’ departure a mutal thing set up by his lame-duck contract status. Then again, maybe those are distinctions without differences. Coaches topple every season and someone surely is next. Hate bandying about a fellow’s job security but I wonder how patient the Maloofs will be with Keith Smart in Sacramento (with DeMarcus Cousins as an X-factor in this dynamic). I also wonder how much improvement John Wall really will bring in Washington – without a big bump, Randy Wittman could be getting cross-eyed looks too. Guess I’m going with one of the former Hoosiers not named Mike Woodson.

Fran Blinebury: The obvious choice would seem to be Randy Wittman as the Wizards wallow at the bottom of the standings, but it’s happening without John Wall.  So here’s a wild thought.  If the Lakers continue going completely over the cliff, how long can they keep selling Mike D’Antoni as the answer?

Jeff Caplan: I’m not going with probably the most obvious name, Washington’s Randy Wittman, because of all the injuries. I think he’s used like 15 different starting point guards already. And, hey, he’s worked wins over Miami and Oklahoma City. Let him get John Wall in there and see if they can catch a spark. In the East, of the teams in the playoff mix, Milwaukee and Brooklyn have already done the deed. The teams out of the playoff mix have relatively new coaches. And then there’s Byron Scott in Cleveland, who in my estimation is running neck-and-neck with Phoenix coach Alvin Gentry in the West.

Scott Howard-Cooper: I guess we’re not saying Vinny Del Negro anymore. In that case, Randy Wittman. Once John Wall returns, possibly by the end of the week, the Wizards need to show considerable improvement. It’s one thing to be on 12-win pace with a beat-up roster, but quite another if this path continues for much longer.

Sekou Smith: Plenty of coaches should be worried now that guys whose teams are playing .500 or better are getting their walking papers. Judging a coach based solely on his team’s record, however, seems like a thing of the past. There’s so much more involved these days, what with all of the advanced metrics involved in the game today. It takes a very particular set of circumstances for a franchise to make a coaching change. We could pick on Alvin Gentry in Phoenix or even Randy Wittman in Washington, guys who have been in place for a while now and still haven’t been able to guide their teams out of the basement of their respective conferences. Skiles going was a bit of a surprise. But Brown and Johnson came into the season with more pressure on them than any other pair of coaches in the league. The expectations for both teams were enormous. So you knew if they struggled or failed to measure up to those expectations, there was a chance they could get popped. Beyond those obvious situations, however, there aren’t any glaring candidates for the coaching hot seat right now.

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D’Antoni Must Bend If Lakers Are To Mend

January 8, 2013  ·  11:06AM

HANGTIME SOUTHWEST – Most disappointing about Mike D’Antoni‘s 10-13 start with the Los Angeles Lakers is the smug realization that he took seven seconds or less to contemplate his stubborn, unbending tactics. Rather than modify the ideas that suffocated the New York Knicks and sent him packing, D’Antoni instead shoved that baggage into the overhead compartment and set out for sunny L.A., where the skies have quickly darkened to a shade of misery and contempt.

His Lakers are in a deeper hole today at 15-18 — with Steve Nash back for the last seven games — than the day D’Antoni limped into Tinseltown on a freshly implanted, still-stiff and achy knee. Phil Jackson, rejected by a surprise midnight phone call, was the favorite to take over by many. But he was left to blissfully carry on his shopping for a rock to slip on the waiting finger of the daughter of D’Antoni’s new boss.

Perhaps D’Antoni — arms crossed, lips pursed and eyes vacant sitting while on the Lakers bench — simply tuned out the “We want Phil” chant in the Staples Center during Sunday’s most recent implosion, just as he has dialed down his interest level in his veteran players. As the Lakers were again being pulverized at home in the fourth quarter by the Denver Nuggets, the 112-105 loss their third straight loss, the cry of the fandom began to swirl.

The “We want Phil” chorus didn’t rock the house as it did two months ago, but it did rise up for the first time since the glorious interim era of Bernie Bickerstaff, the only coach of this season’s trio (including Chick-Fil-A-loving Mike Brown) to post a winning record. Bickerstaff took four of five just as it seemed Jackson was saddling up his white stallion.

Now, D’Antoni’s lifeless Lakers have lost four of five, and the suffering promises to deepen considering Monday’s catastrophic injury news: Dwight Howard (torn labrum), Pau Gasol (concussion) and Jordan Hill (hip) will be sidelined indefinitely.

With L.A.’s front line out of commission, winning at red-hot Houston on Tuesday night, at San Antonio on Wednesday and then Friday at home against Oklahoma City just got harder than quieting former Lakers great Magic Johnson’s criticism on Twitter.

In his most recent social-media monologue, Johnson, unabashedly critical of D’Antoni’s hiring and over the weeks his failure to tailor his system to his talent, says he’s tired of blaming the coach. It’s time, he tweeted, to expect more from the players if this wreck is to be yanked from the ditch.

But lumping all this on the Lakers’ luxury-tax-blasting roster of All-Stars would be to allow a perplexingly defiant D’Antoni to wiggle off the hook. Through 23 games, more than one-quarter of a regular season, D’Antoni has only provided his critics with ammunition.

His teams will never defend at a championship level because there is no foundation for defending. Offensively, he’ll jam his genius, guard-heavy system down his players’ throats, fit be damned, forcing square pegs into round holes with Gasol being the biggest square of all.

In Friday’s loss to the Clippers, Gasol wandered aimlessly around the arc where D’Antoni wants him, ineffective as a jump shooter, appearing terribly uncomfortable mechanically, forcibly bending his knees and flicking his wrist like some ill-formed shooting guard, all the while out of position to snare offensive rebounds, a category in which he is averaging a career low.

Two nights later against Denver, Gasol was far more active in the first half, backing down on the block, rolling to the basket for an alley-oop pass from Kobe Bryant, who has consistently championed his championship-winning big man’s need for the ball on the block to little avail. And then in the second half, Gasol disappeared, a non-factor, a figment of D’Antoni’s imagination until a blow bloodied Gasol’s nose and jarred his brain.

If D’Antoni is too entrenched in his beliefs to use Gasol in his rightful place, then what’s the use? Trade him already for shooters and legs better suited for the system.

Meanwhile, Antawn Jamison, a member of L.A.’s shallow bench who is capable of fulfilling the stretch-4 role and stands to see increased playing time in wake of the injury explosion, is now a walking ball of confusion. The coaching staff told him more than a month ago that he could be this team’s equivalent to Shawn Marion on D’Antoni and Nash’s old blazing Suns teams. Only Jamison is 36, not 27, and has never defended quite the way Marion still can.

Still, Jamison expressed school-boy giddiness in early December about playing in D’Antoni’s system and he nearly burst with exuberance about Nash’s impending return. And then, without explanation, the 15-year vet fell out of the rotation. After five consecutive DNP-Coach’s Decision, he vented to the media over D’Antoni’s inexplicable lack of communication.

For these Lakers, who one-by-one have taken turns being agitated, everything looks to be a struggle. The offense shifts from Howard fighting off collapsing defenses with teammates hopelessly standing around the arc, to Kobe going full-on Black Mamba as his teammates watch. Turnovers, even with Nash, are prevalent. The defense is atrocious.

Trust on the most basic level — between players, and between players and the head coach — appears nonexistent.

If D’Antoni wants to prove he is a great leader then he must bend, prove his system to be pliable, reveal a human touch. Or, with that stiff upper lip, he will continue to defy the obvious and arrogantly self-destruct, taking this team with him.

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Who’s Sitting On A Hot Seat Now?

December 27, 2012  ·  6:11PM


–

HANG TIME, Texas — Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.

In the NBA that familiar line from the holiday classic “It’s A Wonderful Life” has a different twist.

Every time the bell rings a head coach gets his walking papers and a handful of others start looking over their shoulders.

It’s a tenuous life.

Of course, this season has already been quite unusual with Mike Brown fired by the Lakers after just five games. But now that the schedule has reached the one-third mark and claimed Avery Johnson, it’s time to look at some others down around the bottom of the standings.

Randy Wittman, Wizards (3-23) – No, he hasn’t had John Wall all season. Yes, he’s had to play at times without Nene and Trevor Ariza and Bradley Beal. But the Wizards are the only group in Washington that makes Congress look competent by comparison. After a recent 100-68 thumping by the almost-as-hapless Pistons, even Wittman seemed to have enough. “That was an embarrassment, and I apologize to our ownership and to our fans,” he said. “I especially apologize to anyone who watched that entire game. I would have turned it off after the first five minutes.” It would seem to be a matter of when, not if.

Monty Williams, Hornets (6-22) – It’s hard to see the Hornets turning right around and cutting Williams loose just months after giving him a four-year contract extension. There has been the matter of Eric Gordon’s injury and the fact that No. 1 draft pick Anthony Davis was on the shelf for 13 games. But there are rumblings in New Orleans about his constantly changing rotations and collapse of his defense, which ranks 29th.

Byron Scott, Cavaliers (7-23) — The Cavs are likely headed to their third straight trip to the lottery under Scott, but that doesn’t mean that he’s headed to the exit. The key to his previous success at New Jersey and New Orleans was having a top-notch point guard and Scott has an excellent relationship with maybe the next great thing in Kyrie Irving. This was always a long, heavy lift from the moment LeBron James bolted and that has not changed.

Mike Dunlap, Bobcats (7-21) – What a difference a month makes. After beating the Wizards on Nov. 24, the Bobcats were 7-5, had matched their win total from last season and their rookie coach was getting praised. Now 16 straight losses later, Dunlap is preaching patience with his young core of Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kemba Walker, Byron Mullens and Jeffery Taylor. He has earned that. A dozen of Charlotte’s 21 losses have come by 10 points or less, a dramatic change from the historically horrible last season when the Bobcats were rolled in one-third of their games by 20 points or more.

Lawrence Frank, Pistons (9-22) — Frank insists that his Pistons are a better team than they were a year ago. The record — identical then and now — does not back that up. He says that his club now is more competitive, but just doesn’t know how to finish games. Some of the players have grumbled that there is also a failure of coach to make the right calls and adjustments when games get late. When push comes to shove, it’s the coach that gets nudged out the door.

Dwane Casey, Raptors (9-20)– Another one of those seasons when the Raptors were supposed to turn things around and make a push for the playoffs in the lesser Eastern Conference has gone south. Injuries to Andrea Bargnani, Kyle Lowry and Linas Kleiza. Amir Johnson gets suspended for throwing his mouthguard at a referee. G.M. Bryan Colangelo says the talent is there, but the Raptors lack focus and attention to detail. The Raps’ offense is mediocre (ranked 17th) and their defense just bad (27th). Even in Canada during the winter, that all puts Casey on thin ice.

Keith Smart, Kings (9-19) – Smart got the job to replace Paul Westphal specifically because of what was perceived as an ability to work with the mercurial DeMarcus Cousins. So he turned Cousins loose last season, let him do just about anything he pleased and got enough results to earn a contract extension. Now that Cousins has abused his free-rein relationship with his coach and another season is sinking fast, it would be easy to just blame Smart, which the Kings eventually will do. But this is a bad team with a knucklehead as its centerpiece and ownership that can’t tell you where they’ll be playing in two years.

Alvin Gentry, Suns (11-18) — It was at the end of a seven-game losing streak when Suns owner Robert Sarver told ESPN.com that Gentry’s job was safe. “We’ve got confidence in our coaching staff and we’re not considering making changes,” he said. Of course, that usually means start packing your bags. It was all about starting over in this first season post-Nash in the desert. He’s changed lineups more than his ties and the result is usually the same. Gentry is a good bet to last out the season, but it’s probably going to take a big finishing kick to return next year.

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Kobe: ‘Big-Boy Pants’ For Pau!

December 3, 2012  ·  9:05AM


HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – Pau Gasol keeps finding himself on the end of the Los Angeles Lakers’ bench at crunch time, a strange place for one of the world’s best post players. But that’s exactly where Gasol was with the game on the line Sunday at Staples Center, for the second time in just five games.

And if you thought things couldn’t get any worse, now Kobe Bryant is dishing out his own brand of public advice/motivational talking points to … help inspire Gasol to keep himself on the floor?

The Lakers’ dysfunction has run deep this season, but perhaps never more than it did Sunday night after a despicable 113-103 home loss to the Orlando Magic, Dwight Howard‘s former team, when Bryant told reporters:

“Put your big-boy pants on,” Bryant said. “Just adjust. Just adjust. You can’t whine about it. You can’t complain about it.”

You don’t have to read between any lines to figure out that Kobe is calling Gasol out in the best/worst way (depending on your perspective). Demanding that Gasol man up and take responsibility for his own game and his own transition from Phil Jackson‘s system to Mike Brown‘s system and now, Mike D’Antoni‘s system, is exactly what you’d expect from a team leader.

This isn’t the first time someone has felt the need to light a fire under Gasol. Jackson had to do the same on several occasions when he coached the Spaniard, famously poking him in the chest during Game 3 of that playoff series they lost to the Dallas Mavericks in 2011 in an effort to challenge Gasol’s toughness in a critical situation.

The specifics of this latest late-game benching, provided by Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com, highlight a disturbing trend where Gasol is concerned:

Gasol was subbed out with 6:07 remaining in the fourth quarter and the Lakers up 84-83. Orlando outscored L.A. 30-19 the rest of the way. Gasol ended his night with 11 points of 4-for-11 shooting, seven rebounds, two assists and a block in 29 minutes.

“I don’t get irritated,” Gasol said of the benching. “I like to be out there. It’s upsetting for me as a player but I won’t allow it to irritate me.”

It was the second time the benching occurred with Gasol’s family in the building. The first time came against Marc Gasol and the Memphis Grizzlies and Gasol’s father and younger brother, Adria, were at Staples Center for the game Sunday.

Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni downplayed the difficulty of getting Gasol back on track.

“Just talk to him,” D’Antoni said. “There’s no magic words out there. He’s going to have to play. He still had 11 and seven and he’s playing, but we just have to be a more dynamic team. We’re slow right now. It’s just athletically, we’re struggling.”

D’Antoni added that he didn’t want to “lose Pau,” but Bryant assured that would not be a problem.

“We’re not going to lose him,” Bryant said. “That’s just not going to happen. I’ve been around him long enough. I know how to deal with him.”

The Lakers need to worry about losing games right now, too. They’re 8-9 after dropping this game to the Magic, a 6-10 team that had won just three times in its last 13 outings prior to Sunday.

Every time it seems the Lakers are getting on track, like they appeared to do in Friday’s win over Denver, they follow it up with a nasty fall like we saw against the Magic. This uneven approach under D’Antoni is not what anyone expected and certainly not what Bryant said we should expect after the coaching change.

And yet here they are, still struggling with their own identity while serving as the punchline for jokes league-wide because they can’t find a way to manufacture wins with one of the best rosters on paper.

If they keep this up through Christmas, calling for “big-boy pants” for Gasol will only be a small part of the barking Bryant is doing as the Lakers head into 2013.

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D’Antoni A Confidence Builder? Or Just More Fun To Play For?

November 23, 2012  ·  12:07PM

What’s being portrayed and psychoanalyzed as a difference in coaching temperaments in Los Angeles these days might, in fact, relate to something much simpler.

All the talk comparing and contrasting new Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni with predecessor Mike Brown and with gold standard Phil Jackson might be off the mark, as far it relates to personalities and the ability to lead and inspire men. It might be as basic as D’Antoni being seen as the relief valve from the early-season disappointments under Brown – and thus, having more in common with Jackson’s happy times, even if the new guy hasn’t coached in The Finals or won anyone even one ring.

As for the warm embrace D’Antoni has gotten from the Lakers players, it might be even more simple than that: offense vs. defense.

Coaching, teaching and playing defense, let’s face it, has a negative orientation to it. It’s all about avoiding bad results, rather than actively creating good ones. There hasn’t been a shutout yet in the NBA but that remains an ideal for a lot of defensive-minded coaches, who can nitpick a botched close-out or a bad route around a screen even when the shots don’t drop.

Offense is different. Players love scoring and coaches who craft their reputations there can stroll into a dysfunctional situation (such as the Lakers) and be welcomed with open arms. By definition, they’re preaching fun vs. hard work and active, positive rewards every time the ball goes through the net.

From the inside, Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register focuses more on confidence and leader-of-men stuff:

Kobe Bryant put all three coaches in context recently by saying there is one broad commonality between D’Antoni and Jackson (and, by implication, not Brown):

Bryant said both D’Antoni and Jackson are skilled in their ways of “not micro-managing the team.”

Brown believed just as strongly in his basic defensive blueprint as D’Antoni does in his offensive one, but Brown’s overall confidence in what he knew just didn’t translate into trust in him from his players. D’Antoni might sound like a slick salesman at times, but you know that he totally believes in his product.

It’s just the latest demonstration of how the most important thing about coaching a professional sports team is being able to inspire.

The Lakers, even before [Steve] Nash unveils his magic act, believe in what D’Antoni believes. Carmelo Anthony aside, it’s the way it has always been for D’Antoni and all the past players he has empowered.

That is because he empowers by trusting. There is nothing freer than a basketball bird with a license to shoot and unafraid of getting benched for a mistake — two of D’Antoni’s core principles.

We already see it just in the way Metta World Peace is more certain of himself, Pau Gasol is more decisive than in years, Jodie Meeks is more comfortable in his own skin and [Darius] Morris is more youthful-energy infusion than Devin Ebanks ever was despite all that playing time Brown gave him.

From the outside, though, this might be as simple as being freed up from Mom or Dad and their incessant demands to eat vegetables. It’s always more fun to have a sleepover at Uncle Mike’s, where the fridge is stocked with ice cream and pop and no one says a word about bedtime.

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