Lakers Thinking about Keeping D'Antoni

Published on 2-Apr-2014 by Stacey Mickles

Basketball - NBA    NBA Daily Update

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Lakers Thinking about Keeping D'Antoni

If you're a Los Angeles Lakers fan hoping that they're about to dump head coach Mike D'Antoni, think again.

Looks like Lakers management is planning on retaining the embattled coach for next season, which won't sit well for fans or star player Kobe Bryant. He's said he doesn't want to play under D'Antoni for another year.

Here's what Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report is saying:

"D’Antoni has one more guaranteed season left on his Lakers contract, and the club is leaning toward retaining him despite some privately disgruntled players and massive public disdain. It’s not clear which way the organization will go with him."

Ding continued with a reason for the disconnect:

"... D'Antoni has no patience for entitled veteran egos unwilling to play consistently hard and together ... D'Antoni is a purist, operating from a baseline belief that players should give great effort all the time in any role -- and it sets him up for profound disappointment when it doesn't happen."

With the Spurs and Pacers not looking to hire anytime soon, he's just possibly in the wrong league.

And since Phil Jackson is now with the New York Knicks, the Lakers might have a tough time finding a credible coach to take the job right now.

Frankly, Mike D'Antoni did the best he could this year considering the situation he was put in.

There are times toward the end of the season where the Lakers have actually looked competitve, and then there are times where they looked beyond bad. Because he's the coach, both can be attributed to D'Antoni.

What decent coach do you know would be able to take his team to the playoffs without their best player?

Oh, that's right. The Chicago Bulls, who lost Derrick Rose; never mind.

But back to D'Antoni, he has suffered through a laundry list of issues this season that most coaches wouldn't be able to survive and only time will tell if he will survive.