The Lakers have a new head coach but it’s not the one most were expecting. The Lakers have announced a four-year-$12 million deal with Mike D’Antoni. Per Pro-Basketball Talk, D’Antoni was chosen over Phil Jackson partly because the Zen Master’s salary demands and travel options weren’t agreeable to Mitch Kupchak, Jerry and Jim Buss.
D’Antoni is over course Steve Nash’s former coach from his days with the Suns and Kobe is familiar with him from the Olympics and his childhood in Italy were D’Antoni was one of the players he idolized. Reached via e-mail, the Black Mamba said, “I love him” to Yahoo sports.
As for Dwight Howard, D’Antoni had a great pick-and-roll option in Phoenix that should work to Howard’s advantage. I’m not disapointed in this hiring but I bet several Laker fans will be. I wasn’t convinced that Phil would be the answer. We’ll see though. The Lakers are currently on a two game winning streak.
