Mike D’Antoni gives an insight about the offensive approach he plans to implement at Los Angeles – NBA Update
Back when he was the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, Mike D’Antoni became famous – notorious to some extent – for his "Seven Seconds or Less" teams which used their athleticism and speed to pray on their opponents. That philosophy changed the Suns, and transformed them into genuine title contenders.
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then for D’Antoni. He had a failed stint with the New York Knicks in the years that followed and after nearly a year of absence, Mike has been made the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, the most celebrated team of the last decade and the most famous one at that as well.
To add to the pressure, he was preferred over the legendary Phil Jackson for the post, and that was basically because of his offensive philosophy. The problem however is that D’Antoni needs young and athletic players for his system to be effective. Down here at Hollywood, he has got a bunch of veterans at his disposal.
Talking about his new job on the "Mason and Ireland" show on ESPNLA 710 recently, D’Antoni admitted that with a different team, which is relatively older, he will have to make some changes;
"This is a completely different team," D'Antoni said. "This team will be more skilled, bigger, a little older, much more experienced and our object will be to find the best shot within the 24-second period. We'll push the tempo a little bit. I think the model will be something like 'Showtime.' But that's hard to reach. That was the best probably it's ever been done, but that's kind of how we will evolve things."
The silver lining for D’Antoni is that his veterans are among some of the best players this league has seen in the last 20 years. Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash have been the best players at their positions for a long time now, and in Dwight Howard you have by far the most dominant centre in NBA. Then there are the likes of Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace and D’Antoni just knows that there won’t be too much of a burden on him, given the quality of the players he has got.
"You have great experienced players (who) you wouldn't try to burden them with too much," he said. "Just let 'em play. I'm not coming in and trying to change everything. These guys know how to play."
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