Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown has been fired after a 1-4 start to the season, a source tells ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne.
It is not known yet who will take over for him, but a source indicated that it will either be assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff or Chuck Person on an interim basis.
Sources had said earlier Friday that his job would be in jeopardy if the team did not perform well on its upcoming six-game homestand.
The Lakers have had a healthy Steve Nash in the lineup for only 1½ of their five games so far thanks to a leg injury, while fellow newcomer Dwight Howard has acknowledged that he's still recovering from the back surgery that brought a premature end to his 2011-12 campaign and knocked him out of the London Olympics. Kobe Bryant has also been playing through a foot ailment.
The Lakers are off to the worst start in the Western Conference despite carrying the league's largest payroll at just over $100 million, which would trigger an estimated luxury-tax bill at season's end of nearly $30 million.
It's only been five games! Is hitting the panic button really necessary?
SI.com is now saying there's about a 95% chance that Phil Jackson will come back for a third run with the Lakers.
OK, this is just getting sad now. Are the Lakers so shallow and insecure that they fear only the greatest coach of all-time can help lead them to championships?
(Yes.)
OK. Phil Jackson isn't going to live forever. They won't be able to keep going back to the same well indefinitely.
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do." --Stone Cold Steve Austin
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Originally posted by ekedolphinOK. Phil Jackson isn't going to live forever. They won't be able to keep going back to the same well indefinitely.
The Jeannie Buss factor is what keeps bringing Phil back. I'm in agreement that they can't keep going to this well, but I do like watching Jim Buss go crawling back to Phil after Jimmy was so determined to purge the organization of any signs that Phil ever existed.
I'm more concerned with what happens to Steve Nash, given that Phil's never been big on smaller point guards.
Originally posted by ekedolphinOK. Phil Jackson isn't going to live forever. They won't be able to keep going back to the same well indefinitely.
You guys are looking at this all wrong. Phil is still the best available coach out there, no denying that and I'm not even rooting for him to get the job. I'd prefer D'Antoni + someone else to work on defense, but what do I know?
Keep in mind that the last time Phil left, it was his choice and because of health concerns. I don't know the status of those health concerns now. Cant imagine he's all healed up by now. However, he's still the best coach available, he left on good terms, and he still has a "relationship" with the team. I don't see the problem.
Who wouldn't want to coach this team? Kobe, Gasol, Nash, Howard? I mean come on! I would be shocked if Jackson said no. He knows that he has a HUGE opportunity to get one to three more rings in the next few years and further build his legacy. if Howard and Nash were not there, he would have turned it down already.
If I am D'Antoni, I am camping myself outside of Lakers HQ and telling them he will take 1/3 of what Phil wants.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no...
**inhales**
no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!!!
ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the no's! Help me out, Daniel Bryan.
I could not be more happy about this move. Phil was asking too much because he thought that he had LA over a barrel. Mike D gets his wish to coach Kobe, gets his dream to be reunited with Nash, and in Howard and Gasol has a much better offensive front than anything seen in the Phoenix days. I know that a large part of the LA fan base will be upset that it's not Phil, but I can't see the triangle working as well as it did in the past with the players who are there. It's just not Nash's game and a complete waste of his talent. But as It's False said, those 140-128 games will alleviate a lot of bad feelings.
Knicks had Top 10 defense before D'Atoni left. There's a possibility that Phoenix was simply bad on defense because, you know, they couldn't play defense.
Phoenix was not as bad on defense as everyone assumes. Head over to espn.com and look a Hollinger's stuff. During there heydey, they were league average, once you factored in the number of posessions (they had many more posessions to defend than a normal team due to the "7 Seconds or Less").
I would also recommend Jack McCallum's book of the same name, it followed the Suns during one of those seasns (06-07?)
There's also a misnomer that D'Antoni isn't a championship caliber coach, perpetuated by folks like Screamin' A. Smith. It's so easy to forget that D'Antoni was one win away from getting that Phoenix team to the finals before that BS bench-clearing brawl suspension removed Amare for the rest of the series.
I wish there was a "like" button for posts as was suggested in the feedback column because, It's False you have been nothing but correct and amazing in this thread. D'Antoni is severely underrated because of his disastrous experience in NY. But look at the factors: no real pg after the Melo trade, no shooters, no anything except A'Mare. Melo grinds that offense to a halt with the way he plays. And his playing style works, just not in that system. I am salivating to see what Nash does with Kobe, Ron, Pau, and Dwight once Mike D gets there.
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