Now that Mike Brown is no longer the coach of the Lakers, though I felt like he got a bit of a raw deal, we can start to speculate who will be the next coach. It appears that the Lakers already have two people lined up for the title. It will either be Lakers/Bulls legendary coach Phil Jackson or Mr. Run-n-gun himself Mike D'Antoni.
I can guarantee that if Phil wants the job it is his and his only. The Lakers fans, players, supporters, owners would all like to see Phil back at the helm. He is one of the greatest coaches ever and he has taken the Lakers to the promise land 4 previous times. Also, he knows how to handle all of the egos that the Lakers currently possess. I think that it is Phil's job first and foremost.
I really would love to see Phil back on the bench in his high chair quietly zen-ning all the players into shape. He has an unusual ability to get a lot accomplished without saying a whole lot. It is a tad eery if you ask me. Nonetheless he is the coach that we would all love to have.
Mike D'Antoni is the other option here is Phil decides not to return. I have to say that as a fan of the fast paced, scoring machine type teams in the NBA having D'Antoni on the bench would bring back some showtime to the Lakers. The problem I see with his hiring is that he will not fix the defense and I believe that to be the biggest issue on the Lakers right now.
D'Antoni can take the Lakers to the playoffs and may be able to get them into the NBA Finals, but I don't think he has that ability to turn a really good team into a championship team. Look at the teams that he had in Phoenix who always looked poised to win a title and then fell apart during the playoffs, because of porous defense. D'Antoni will get the Lakers back on track, but only Phil can lead them back to a title.
Of course this is only my opinion and I could be totally wrong about both coaching possibilities. Honestly, I think if Phil decides not to come back as the coach I would rather see somebody like Brian Shaw brought back. I always thought that Shaw would be a good coach. Either that or just let Kobe be a player/coach. It hasn't happened in a few decades, but I think Kobe could handle the responsibility. He controls the game already, might as well just let him control the offense/defense/substitutions/timeouts/etc...
I am sure we will find out very soon who will take over and until then let us all hope that the Lakers at least start to play some better basketball. These games have been a little embarrassing of late. Go Lakers!
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