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If Mike D'Antoni is such an offensive genius....

5K views 128 replies 24 participants last post by  e-monk 
#1 ·
...then why is it essentially his way or the highway in regards to Pau Gasol?

You guys have probably been talking about this ad nauseum but I haven't been on here in a minute. My thing is Gasol is still capable of playing like an all-star or close to it, and to completely marginalize him because you can't manipulate your "system" to incorporate his sweet spots shows that maybe you're not an "offensive genius", just maybe a one trick pony

You look at someone like Gregg Popovich he went from a more methodical offense revolving around Tim Duncan for years, and now that Tony Parker is their best player they're taking advantage of his strengths. Any "genius" should be able to do similar. Not to say Pau is the Lakers best player or anything like that, but you know what I mean

Phil is somewhere laughing hard
 
#2 ·
Pau struggled even when Phil was there. :gay:

I guess you don't remember the, "His girlfriend dumped him and now he's depressed!" 2011 second half of the season and playoffs. He's two years older and shittier from then.
 
#6 ·
1. Gasol is not close to being the same players he was, I have seen him post up 3 ft away from the basket and air ball, and fail to post up Ronnie Brewer.

2. Dwight thinks he Shaq and wants to post up every time he gets an opportunity even though turns the ball over almost every time which results in fewer post ups for Pau, he also needs as much space as possible which forces Pau to try an be a stretch 4.
 
#7 ·
i see nothing's changed yall are still crazy

theres no excuse for it when even Kobe is saying they have to get Pau in his spots..when Dantoni and Pau are having meetings trying to resolve it

yall are playing that "hes not even close" card because he hasnt had the opportunity to really be himself on the court in a long time. i guarantee if he gets traded somewhere he fits hed jump back up to like 18 ppg on good percentages...Pau's a guy who's game feeds off his confidence level and a flow, if he gets treated like hes supposed to he'll flourish, if he doesnt he gets soft even when he does get a random opportunity in a game
 
#12 ·
Kobe also said he needs to stop complaining about the system, everybody has to adjust including himself, and Pau needs to put on his big boy pants. :gay:

It's not D'Antoni out there shooting thirty-something percent on post-ups. People always just like to blame the coaches.
 
#11 ·
Because Dwight wants a majority of the low post touches and D'Antoni has to keep Dwight happy.
 
#14 ·
The majority of NBA fans, including myself, anticipated that Dwight and Nash's pick-n-roll presence would dramatically change the Lakers offensive makeup, allowing a guy like Gasol to get easier points from the attention drawn by that specific play. But it hasn't. I have no idea how Howard and Nash fail to make a dynamic pick-n-roll duo, but they have failed miserably. When Nash was at his best with Amare, they were locked in for 3-4 dunks per game, just from the pick-n-roll. That has failed to transpire in lakerland, leaving D'Antoni very desperate and unsure as to how to proceed with his team. The obvious guy to pick on is Gasol, because he isn't a 'true' stretch forward. So instead of being able to adjust his offense, Mike D is just cruising along, expecting miracles to happen for Lakers.

They've got to utilize more ball movement, instead of a pick-n-roll, run-up-the-other-guys type of offense.

To answer the question, Mike D'Antoni IS a one trick pony. His results in New York, and now in LaLa Land, prove this assumption.
 
#19 ·
You keep going in circles. Like I said Pau doesn't suck he's just being misused and it's on D'Antoni. From day 1 D'Antoni never gave him the chance to be himself to even decide if he's lost a step. He just couldn't wait to put a stretch 4 in

We've seen him sulk and underperform before..I dont think hed ever live down how KG dominated him in 07 but he did. He's always up or down based on his mood.

He's not a guy who's going to lose a lot because of physical depreciation, he's physical and crafty...it's clear he's just not comfortable

But whatever agree to disagree


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#22 ·
You don't get paid to make excuses, you get paid to help your team win games. However the real problem with the Lakers is the fact that they play defense as though they don't give a shit. They don't get back on defense for shit and they don't put forth the effort it takes to be good. That was the problem under Mike Brown and it's still the problem with D'Antoni.
 
#24 ·
What does being an offensive genius have to do with coddling a talented, but mentally weak big man? The premise of your argument is that D'Antoni should be doing more to make Pau comfortable and putting him a position to succeed, but at the expense of what? The better players on the team? Pau needs to do his job better and D'Antoni doesn't need to worry about Pau putting up all-star numbers. The Lakers are fine offensively, they're putting up over 106 ppg since Nash and Gasol came back.

The bigger issue for D'Antoni would be getting his 3-time DPOY center to play somewhere close to his defensive potential.
 
#25 ·
I'm gonna go ahead and say that Mike D'Antoni is not an offensive genius.
 
#26 ·
Pau, hasn't lost ability. He's lost confidence. It's affecting everything but his passing and jump shooting.

It's pretty hard to watch as a fan of his, and you really can't blame Pringles for it.
 
#27 ·
He never was an offensive genius. He had a retarded system that worked in Phoenix because he had the right players for it. Now here he is on a slow team and he's expecting it to work, and it's failing miserably. He's an idiot. He has Pau out there on the perimeter for a good majority of the game, why? Just because. The Lakers ever since switching to MD have shown that they give much less of a shit on defense as before, which pretty much gives away that it's D'Antoni's fault, and above all of that, despite the fact that it's failing, despite the fact that it's resulting in the Lakers losing as D'Antoni looks on, he not only continues to act like that's not a big reason for the Laker's struggles, but he makes no attempt to change it. He is an idiot. The guy that hired D'Antoni to do this is an idiot. And anyone who supported the idea of D'Antoni being hired IS AN IDIOT.

And to make things even worse, HE LOOKS LIKE THE GUY THAT'S ON THE BOX OF MY FAVORITE JUNK FOOD GROWING UP. YOU RUINED MY CHILDHOOD, I HATTEEE YOUUUUU OBOWULKBULAISULERWUPEROIWTFUIWOEIROPEIWUPWEIROPU
 
#28 ·
Yeah, what an idiot for running a motion offense on two teams of ball stoppers. The lakers have been bottom in the league in assists for a while now (like years) and it's because they don't have more than a bunch of isolation players. Now Nash and D'Antoni are trying to get a team of players who never pass to play a motion offense.
 
#30 ·
They have one of the best offenses in the league...when you have four All-Star caliber players in your starting lineup, something has to give stastically.

What are we really talking about here?
 
#36 ·
They have one of the best offenses in the league...when you have four All-Star caliber players in your starting lineup, something has to give stastically.

What are we really talking about here?
But at what cost here? Yea sure the Lakers are doing great when it comes to scoring, but when it comes to being able to get back on defense properly, stopping fast breaks, or god forbid according to some people on this site having players like Pau Gasol be effective, his system creates big problems for those kinds of things. They don't need to run this system. The Lakers have more than enough offensive weapons to be able to get good amount of points with just a regular offensive playset alone. They need to be ready, and be able, to play defense when they miss a shot or when the ball is stolen, and they never are. It's pathetic to watch. There's so many things wrong with D'Antoni when it comes to defense but I'm gonna go into detail because it would be so long that I guarantee no one here would read it (hence why my last rant was just about the problems with the offense).
 
#32 ·
You know it sounds a bit crazy, but I'd probably give D'antoni the axe and go back to Bernie if I was not going to PJax (who might not even want the job any more). Bickerstaff is not a great coach, but it seems that he always gets his teams to play hard and that is the thing that the Lakers need.
 
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