ESPN: Mike Brown Fired

[Jace]

Oh my, SVG won't be coaching this team. He's GOING IN on the Lakers front office on Dan Le Batard's Miami radio show. Asked "So you're not interested in the job?" Answer: "GOD no."

Again, since this will be brought up, Stan has said he'd love to coach Dwight again, and they still have a good relationship.

[Jace]

Who will be the first in the media to bring up Coach K?

‏@Chris_Broussard Source says Mike D'Antoni would be interested in Lakers job, that he'd listen.

THANK YOU CHRIS.

[Babe Ruth]

Bernie Bickerstaff? Is Stan Albeck available? Kevin Loughery or Gene Shue?

The players were already miserable during training camp...long practices with too much standing around, too much talking. None of the stars are 100%, the bench sucks, Brown was already on thin ice after season's early exit. If you're going to make the change eventually, make it now. But not going to be an easy fix for the next guy.

[Knicks4life]

Originally Posted by Jace

Again, since this will be brought up, Stan has said he'd love to coach Dwight again, and they still have a good relationship.

I doubt the feeling are mutual Dwight bitched about the way SVG was using him on offense for years, and I would not be surprised if the way Dwight tell SVG how he feels differs from the way he actually feels.

[Knicks4life]

Kobe Bryant's statement on Mike Brown's firing (via Kobe's Facebook page)

"Tough day. I've seen coaches as well as friends come and go. No matter how many years I've been playing, it's still hard to deal with. I had a good relationship with Mike and I will continue to have one. I wish him and his family nothing but the best. I spoke with him today and thanked him for all of his hard work and sacrifice.

"As a team, we must focus our energy on tonight's game. We must block out the weight of today's news and simply do our jobs to the best of our ability.

"I'm not sure what direction we are heading in next. All I can do is focus on the here and now.
Mamba out"

...

[Jace]

"Mamba out"...?



"I'm too old for that stuff."

Originally Posted by Knicks4life

I doubt the feeling are mutual Dwight bitched about the way SVG was using him on offense for years, and I would not be surprised if the way Dwight tell SVG how he feels differs from the way he actually feels.

Good points. Dwight has no backbone. He's probably super buddy-buddy with Stan and trashes him as soon as they hang up.

[Knicks4life]

D'Antoni would be great fit as next Lakers coach

Mike D'Antoni would be a bold and smart hire for the 1-4 Lakers after their surprising dismissal of coach Mike Brown on Friday.

It is a move that would pay off at both ends of the floor. D'Antoni has been telling friends for months that he looks forward to hiring a "defensive coordinator'' in some form (the exact title to be determined) the next time he becomes an NBA coach. In those conversations, D'Antoni has acknowledged that he allowed his prolific gains on offense to define his persona as a coach, creating an impression that he was indifferent to defense -- an impression that he has promised to change with his next head-coaching job. (The Lakers rank 22nd in defensive efficiency.)

D'Antoni has long insisted that he has cared about defense, but that he lacked defensive-minded players in Phoenix during the Suns' run of four straight seasons of 54 wins or more through 2007-08. The weakness of players who could excel at both ends of the floor was affirmed when the Suns tried and failed to emphasize defense by hiring Terry Porter to replace D'Antoni. Porter went 28-23 in 2008-09 before the Suns replaced him at midseason with Alvin Gentry, who restored much of D'Antoni's system, guiding the Suns back to a 54-win season on their way to the 2010 Western Conference finals.

If D'Antoni was stubborn in the past about suggestions from management to change his coaching staff, his views have changed. Friends say he will tell his next employer that he will make defense a priority, much as he began to do in New York last season after the Knicks acquired center Tyson Chandler. D'Antoni wound up resigning from the Knicks after 42 games -- roughly two-thirds of the season -- as Chandler went on to be recognized as the NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

This makes D'Antoni the right coach in the Lakers' time of need, even though they would likely have to wait to until next month to bring him on as he recovers from knee replacement surgery. In the meantime, they could put the ball in Steve Nash's hands (as soon as he recovers from his current shin injury) and liberate him from the Princeton offense. Nash won two MVPs while running D'Antoni's offense in Phoenix, and over the short term he would be able to establish many of its strengths while pushing the ball in transition and running pick-and-rolls with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard.

It is hard to imagine that any of the Lakers' stars wouldn't welcome the hiring of D'Antoni. He has had a longstanding relationship with Bryant, who grew up in Italy and was a fan of D'Antoni's while he was a star point guard for Milan. There have been times over the years when Bryant has scored a basket against D'Antoni's teams and then spoken phrases in Italian to the coach while running back down the floor. "His Italian is pretty good," D'Antoni has remarked with a wry smile.

Nash would obviously flourish if he were to be reunited with D'Antoni, and Gasol's versatility as a scorer and passer would be engaged by an offense that depends on quick ball movement. But the Laker who might benefit most of all would be Howard, who would be the perfect center for D'Antoni's style of play.

During his years of title contention in Phoenix, D'Antoni struggled to find a big man who could lead on defense while also playing a useful role offensively. In Howard, D'Antoni would have the rim protector he always wanted, and in return for all of his dirty work, Howard would be rewarded with easy dunks in transition as well as the open looks around the basket that made an instant star of Amar'e Stoudemire years ago.

[Knicks4life]

@RJinVegas
Next #Lakers coach: D'Antoni +300, Jackson +325, Shaw +700, McMillan +800, Sloan +1200, J. Van Gundy +1800 [via SIA]

Bovada odds to be next Lakers coach: Jerry Sloan/Mike D'Antoni 2/1, Phil Jackson/Brian Shaw 5/1, Nate McMillan 6/1, Bernie Bickerstaff 8/1.

...

[Dre]

It wasn't on him, it was on the guy who did heavy lifting all summer but ultimately brought back a team with the same weaknesses as last year.

No coach is going to save them besides maybe Phil or JVG.

I don't see Sloan and the Buss' working together, and of course D'Antoni would accept the job but is he the best fit? McMillan you could do worse....SVG would be hilarious

It just sucks that they do this without the full scope of being able to interview coaches from other teams and such....but like I said they shouldn't have done it in the first place.

Whats funny is Bernie Bickerstaff will be in the Lakers' annals as a coach....he epitomizes the recycled, mediocre basketball coach to me and now he's currently coaching one of the most storied franchises in one of their most anticipated seasons...how many bricks would be shat if you told Laker fans this in August

[Jace]

He's only going to coach for a couple games.

[Dre]

I didn't say he wasn't it's still just funny to me.

I think something happened today too. They probably talked with Brown and the conversation went steadily south before they just decided it wasn't going to work..there's no other reason to fire someone after two weeks.

[Dre]

Oh and people are talking about Brian Shaw too. A lot of players and former players wanted him to have it in the first place

[TucsonClip]

I see no point in them hiring Brian Shaw during the season, unless they somehow strike out on D, Jackson and Sloan.

[Hyperion]

Originally Posted by TucsonClip

One note for everyone. Jackson's entire staff outside of Shaw, are sitting at home with nothing to do.

Well, his main man Tex is done.

[Jace]

Could be true that something behind the scenes happened, Brian Windhorst tried to get answers from Brown, whom he knows well, but apparently they're clueless.

But either way, the Lakers dug this hole. They shouldn't have hired him in the first place, and should've fired him over the offseason when they built this team.

How do you let this keep coaching your team?



For everyone advocating Phil or Shaw, keep in mind, the triangle neuters PGs. People were complaining about Nash's role/production in Princeton, might be worse in the triangle.