They had some tumult at head coach in the first 10 games. Mike Brown's five games (1-4) preceded Bernie Bickerstaff's five games (4-1) before Mike D'Antoni was tabbed as the somewhat surprising replacement.
As of Sunday, the Lakers are just 22-24 since appointing D'Antoni to steer the ship.
While D'Antoni is at fault for not taking better charge of his star players, he wouldn't have to worry about it if the team was playing better. Unfortunately for the coach, his superstar-saturated lineup has not soared to the heights that were forecast.
Dwight Howard has underperformed, Steve Nash has yet to revive the patented D'Antoni pick-and-roll, Pau Gasol is deteriorating and Kobe Bryant, though personally having a very strong statistical season, thinks the team is "old as sh—" (per Dave McMenamin of ESPNLosAngeles.com).
Moreover, Howard and Bryant have been butting heads publicly for months now. In early January, there was Kobe's famous picture on Twitter of staged fisticuffs with Dwight, D'Antoni recumbent on a trainer's table between them, helpless to stop it.
That jest made light of their alleged feud, but it didn't vanish there.
In early February, Kobe told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan that the Lakers "don't have time for [Howard's shoulder] to heal...We need some urgency." Dwight subsequently responded, "That's his opinion, that's it. He's not a doctor" (per McMenamin, ESPNLosAngeles.com).
Even Dwight Howard's dad weighed in and suggested D'Antoni take better charge of the situation (via Jeff Schultz, Atlanta Journal-Constitution).
Throughout it all, D'Antoni has not only been unable to prevent his stars from airin...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
