After a weekend replete with pandemonium following former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown’s ousting, complete with two days of Phil Jackson rumors, crowd chants and speculation, we have a resolution. The LA Lakers have hired Mike D’Antoni, the mastermind of the 7-Seconds or Less offense. All-Star power forward Pau Gasol welcomed D’Antoni to the team on Twitter. [Read more…]
While all of the focus has been on the soap opera swirl around the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA’s other similarly storied franchise has its own set of issues. The Boston Celtics also raised expectations by adding some key pieces in the offseason, then promptly stumbled out of the gate. But there were no death stares, insurrections, coach beheadings or panic moves. But there are some problems in Beantown. Let’s allow team leader Kevin Garnett to explain. “You can’t speed chemistry up,” Garnett said.
When the NBA lockout was announced in the summer of 2011, I was driving the streets of Dallas and checking out the three sports radio stations in the area. I listened briefly to each one to get their take on the major news of the day and then called my basketball cohort Mike Monroe in San Antonio. “Guess what the three sports radio stations are discussing?” I said. “Not the lockout?” wondered Monroe. “Hardly.” “Well then what?” “Two of the three are in animated discussions
During a roundtable NBA discussion on TheOpinioNationNetwork , Jabari Davis, Jamieson Welsh, Twan Staley, and Jory Dreher were joined by NBA historian/author Roland Lazenby following the news of Los Angeles Lakers’ Head Coach Mike Brown being fired on Friday morning. Lazenby has been a fixture around NBA locker rooms for the past four decades, and is a close personal friend of Tex Winter and Phil Jackson. Lazenby has credited Winter (Father of the Triangle Offense) to have practically taught him the
The big news Friday was the firing of Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike Brown. The immediacy of it was surprising to most everyone, not necessarily that he was fired, but that they kept him around—with their full confidence, and then let him go after only five games. In the wake of Brown’s release, there has been an outpouring of facts, statistics, rumors and prognostications about the circumstances surrounding his firing and who the Lakers will hire to replace him. Houston Rockets rookie
In watching all of this Laker drama play out, I had a tough time not invoking memories of a former Bush administration official who shares a name with the recently deposed coach of the Lakers. Michael Brown was the FEMA director when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2006. Brown was famous for being the recipient of President Bush’s famous compliment, “You’re doing a heckuva job Brownie.” Not long after this, Brown was forced to resign as the director of FEMA for an incompetent response
There is a lot of speculation and conjecture out there today regarding Phil Jackson’s possible return to the Los Angeles Lakers, but one piece of information has a lot more meat on the bone than others. It comes from Ric Bucher, formerly of ESPN and now writing hoops for CSNBayArea.com, and it says one of Jackson’s desires is to have final say on personnel decisions — which would render both Jim Bus and Mitch Kupchak relatively powerless. An excerpt from Bucher’s report:
This may be the shortest-lived poll in the history of this site. Then again, Phil Jackson might say “no.” With the Zen Master, you never can quite tell. So without further ado, we ask you: Who do you think should be the next coach of the Los Angeles Lakers now that Mike Brown has been fired? Vote below, and the results will display after you have cast your ballot.