From his very first day on the job last year as Lakers head coach, D'Antoni seemed poised for failure. Fans overwhelmingly wanted Phil Jackson back for a third act, but they got the coach who resigned from the miserable New York Knicks instead. He literally limped into the introductory press conference, having undergone recent knee surgery—not a good, upbeat sign.
In a city that treasures its sports teams, the iconic Lakers will always judge their head coach on his wins, losses and playoff success. For that reason, Mike D'Antoni is still on a proverbial hot seat.
Sure enough, the 62-year-old D'Antoni does have a .535 winning percentage over 10 regular seasons but only .441 in the playoffs, the "real" season by Lakers standards. Conversely, Jackson, the NBA's all-time winningest coach, with a .704 winning percentage in the regular season (1,155 regular season wins), a .688 percentage in the playoffs and 11 World Championships to his credit, defines what it means to be great.
With Kobe Bryant set to return to action on Sunday, the ragtag Lakers are one game over .500 and have won six of their last eight games. D'Antoni continues to seek respect from hardcore fans still smarting over last year's decision to hire him over Jackson when the team unceremoniously fired Mike Brown five games into the season.
Would Dwight Howard still be with the Lakers if Phil Jackson were its coach? Hard to say, but let's go out on a limb and say YES. But that is old history and D'Antoni now finds himself with a team (sans Howard and Metta World Peace) that he can truly call his own.
In reality, D'Antoni's performance over the past year has not been bad. In fact, this year's version of the Lakers is comprised of talented castoffs who never ma...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers