Bring back Phil !
 

bye Mike


http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers...,4845829.story

:D

I think Phil would be a bad fit with this team. His offense, well, Tex Winters' offense, much like the stupid Princeton offense, de-emphasizes the point guard. Phil won all of those titles and never once did he have a ball dominating point guard on his teams. Jordan won six, Kobe won five, LeBron just won, Wade won, Bird won three.....and all of those guys did it being the main ball handlers on their teams. In Jordan's case, Pippen was also there but again, no ball dominating point guard. You don't need a Steve Nash when you are running a system like that. You'd just be wasting him. The next problem is that his defensive schemes have always left the point guards very vulnerable and Nash is already horrible on defense. You'd see Howard in foul trouble every night while trying to make up for all of the defense being out of place due to Nash getting beaten off the dribble. Another problem is that Jackson is a strong believer in playing inside out if you've got the guy to do it. That was the reason why Jackson and Kobe clashed before. Kobe openly complained about the triangle offense, even in the middle of them winning three straight titles. He hated that the offense went inside out with Shaq and I have to believe that with Howard down there, that is the way Jackson would have it go again. At this late stage of his career, I can't see Kobe being ok with that.

The other name getting the most talk is Mike D'Antoni. Another bad move in my opinion. For the opposite reason though. I think because of his comfort and familiarity with Nash, he'd give him more control of the offense than Kobe would be comfortable with. I can't see Kobe being ok with having Nash control the ball for 18-20 seconds of each possession and being left to get the ball at the whim of Nash. Not in this lifetime. Nash is a genius on the court and when he see's that the mismatch or best offensive play is Howard or Gasol on the block or Artest spotted up somewhere, that's where he's going with the ball. Kobe won't like that. We know Kobe. Second, D'Antoni's offense is a spread and run offense and it was designed to take advantage of the fact that his teams did not have strong post players so you wanted to get out in space and create matchup mismatches and capitalize on speed and quickness. That's counter to what they should be doing with Howard and Gasol. The thing the Lakers will have over every team is an inside advantage and not using it to it's max is counter to doing what's best for the team. Plus, I doubt D'Antoni can even spell defense.

What you are not factoring is that good coaches adapt a system to fit the talent. One could say, prior to the shaq years, that the triangle deemphasized the center. I think the reason that the point guard was taken out of play in those offenses in chicago and LA is that they had two other worldly talents in Jordan and Kobe that needed the ball to thrive and they didn't have a point guard that could make plays. The first three championships in chicago you had bj armstrong and jon paxson playing point. The last three you had Ron harper getting big minutes. In LA, besides Fisher who was the constant, they had many different point guards of shapes and sizes including Gary Payton at one point. Never did he have a playmaker of Nash's ability...even to the diminished level of today.

Jackson will find away to work those parts together...if they are workable. The triangle certainly won't hold him back. I would say the same thing about D'antoni. The guy is a genius. I am sure that he could find away to get touches to everyone although i do agree that the lack of three point shooting could pose a problem. Regardless, i think he could still get them to score some points.