In a piece by Kevin Ding of OCRegister.com, it seems pretty clear that the Lakers have no intention of getting rid of D'Antoni anytime soon:
There’s plenty of heat and speculation — and plenty for Mike D’Antoni to hash out as far as better utilizing his players, including 2013 free agent Dwight Howard — but I was told Thursday the Lakers are not considering a buyout or firing of D’Antoni as head coach.
Under D'Antoni, the Lakers are an abysmal 12-20 (2-10 in January alone) and currently sit on the outside looking in for the NBA playoffs, trailing the eighth-seed Houston Rockets by four games.
It has been a depressing season thus far, and there's no doubt this team is greatly underachieving with all the superstar power they possess in their starting lineup. The acquisitions of Dwight Howard and Steve Nash during the offseason should have made the Lakers an elite team in the Western Conference, but the exact opposite has happened.
There has also been dissension in the ranks and the first example of this was Pau Gasol's benching. The Lakers big man voiced his displeasure with the move in an interview with TNT's Craig Sager.
Then the team's star player, Kobe Bryant, voiced the need for some change in the way this team operates, per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:
We're going to have to change something … probably going to have to post the ball a lot more, slow the game down a lot more," he said. "I am a big history guy. Playing here in this arena with these incredible fans, you're in the house [that] M.J., [Scottie] Pippen, P.J. built. To put this kind of brand of basketball on the floor is just not acceptable.
The part ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
