Lakers fire Mike Brown

[MOtorboat]

What's the point of going an entire offseason with uncertainty, only to fire a coach after five games (6 percent of the NBA season, not including playoffs)?


Lakers fire Mike Brown

Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown has been fired after a disappointing 1-4 start to the season, the team announced Friday.

"I have great respect for the Buss family and the Lakers' storied tradition and I thank them for the opportunity they afforded me," Brown said in a statement. "I have a deep appreciation for the coaches and players that I worked with this past year and I wish the organization nothing but success as they move forward."

Assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff will take over as interim coach for Friday night's home game against the Warriors.

Good for Bernie, long-time Nuggets coach back in the day.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8610888/los-angeles-lakers-fired-coach-mike-brown

[SR]

That didn't take long

Sent from my iPhone using Forum Runner

[Davii]

Crazy.

[Nomad]

Not that I watch NBA, but I heard Kobe gave him the 'death stare'

[Denver Native (Carol)]

Phil Jackson and Mike D'Antoni are the leading candidates to replace Mike Brown as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, a source with knowledge of the situation told ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne on Friday.

"It's neck and neck," the source said.

The Lakers are expected to reach out to both men as early as Saturday morning, as well as several other candidates. They'd like to move quickly through this process as interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff has only committed to working a few games.

rest - http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8612254/phil-jackson-open-nba-coaching-return-sources-say

[EMB6903]

Dantoni would be horrible.

Obviously Jackson would make the lakers favorites but Sloan would be no slouch.

[Northman]

Not shocking. Go through all the trouble to get all that extra talent only to start off 0-3 or whatever it is. That team should be better than it is.

[Dzone]

Bernie Bickerstaf is still around? I didnt know that. Anyway I think its funny to see some team like the lakers, go out and buy up some serious talent and then suck. LOL

[Ravage!!!]

I think people were talking about the Miami Heat ...early.. saying that they should be better than they are..... but they only kept getting better to the point of getting to teh Championship. I mean, they have 1,000,0000,000 more games to go through this absurdly long season.

[tomjonesrocks]

Hope they implode and lose every game this year. Not that I still watch the NBA.

[Timmy!]

Jackson gets the job. Duh. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[MOtorboat]

D'Antoni hired.

[Dapper Dan]

I think people were talking about the Miami Heat ...early.. saying that they should be better than they are..... but they only kept getting better to the point of getting to teh Championship. I mean, they have 1,000,0000,000 more games to go through this absurdly long season.

This. Anytime you get a new group of guys together like this, it takes time to adjust. I hope they just stink it up all season, but that's not very likely. It makes me wonder if there were other reasons for firing the coach this early.

What kept them from getting Phil? Wasn't it reported that he was interested? Seems like if you're going all in, you go all in and get Phil Jackson also.

[Denver Native (Carol)]

D'Antoni hired.

Yesterday, I read an article where Jackson was their first choice, they were in negotiations with him, but one of the things Jackson wanted was restricted travel time. Today in an article on ESPN, it stated that talks broke down with Jackson. I can not see any team hiring a head coach, who does not want to be on the bench for all road games. If they gave into Jackson, there would be an assistant coach, with the same responsibility as the head coach for games on the road, and making no where near what Jackson would have wanted to be paid. Also, would an assistant coach make the same moves, decisions, that Jackson would have made?

[slim]

D'Antoni :lol:

[Denver Native (Carol)]

Phil Jackson was prepared to return to the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday morning if negotiations between his agent and the team went well, a league source told ESPNLosAngeles.com late Sunday night.

When the Lakers called to tell Jackson that they had instead chosen Mike D'Antoni to be their next head coach, he was "stunned," according to the source, because he had been under the impression "it was his job to turn down," although no formal offer had ever been made.

Sources over the weekend said Jackson had made significant contract demands, including salary, personnel decisions and the ability to skip some road games, but ESPN NBA analyst Kurt Rambis -- who has since spoken to Jackson; the two are close friends -- said that was never the case.

rest, with video with Rambis - stating that Jackson set no demands, etc. Rambis is a close friend with Jackson, and spoke with him

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8622878/stunned-phil-jackson-was-prepared-return-los-angeles-lakers-source-says

[MOtorboat]

An interesting column from Adrian Wojnarowski:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--lakers-resist-phil-jackson-s-power-grab-11051709.html;_ylt=Avs3GkjMosRFfE15mZqBGGQ5nYcB;_y lu=X3oDMTQ0dmdlZnYxBG1pdANGRUFUVVJFRCBNZWdhdHJvbiB TUE9SVFMgRlAEcGtnAzkwMjkwZTk0LTA2YTEtMzg0YS1hYWQxL WU4NDkyMzQ3NjNkOQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDbWVnYXRyb24EdmVyAzh hYWZlMDMzLTJkMDMtMTFlMi05ZWZmLTNhYWI3NzdkNjE5NA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

[Denver Native (Carol)]

An interesting column from Adrian Wojnarowski:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--lakers-resist-phil-jackson-s-power-grab-11051709.html;_ylt=Avs3GkjMosRFfE15mZqBGGQ5nYcB;_y lu=X3oDMTQ0dmdlZnYxBG1pdANGRUFUVVJFRCBNZWdhdHJvbiB TUE9SVFMgRlAEcGtnAzkwMjkwZTk0LTA2YTEtMzg0YS1hYWQxL WU4NDkyMzQ3NjNkOQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDbWVnYXRyb24EdmVyAzh hYWZlMDMzLTJkMDMtMTFlMi05ZWZmLTNhYWI3NzdkNjE5NA--;_ylg=X3oDMTFpNzk0NjhtBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRw c3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANob21lBHB0A3NlY3Rpb25z;_ylv=3

Those are the same things I heard before. Jackson was the Lakers first choice, but the Lakers did not want to meet his demands. I suppose it is possible that Rambis stated the things he did, to protect Jackson's reputation - I don't know.

Earlier today Scott Hastings said that he was told that the Lakers had no choice but to reach out to Jackson first, to satisfy the Lakers' fan base.

[MOtorboat]

Those are the same things I heard before. Jackson was the Lakers first choice, but the Lakers did not want to meet his demands. I suppose it is possible that Rambis stated the things he did, to protect Jackson's reputation - I don't know.

Earlier today Scott Hastings said that he was told that the Lakers had no choice but to reach out to Jackson first, to satisfy the Lakers' fan base.

Everything that's coming out tonight (Phil's statement and "insider" reports), shows Mitch Kupchak likely screwed over Jackson.

And Kobe skipped out of the practice facility without talking to the media.

[Denver Native (Carol)]

from article:


The decision apparently came down to on-court matters. Sources told Broussard that the feeling at the top of the organization was that while Jackson's triangle offense would have been a good fit for Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol, new additions Steve Nash and Dwight Howard would not have thrived in the system.

The Orange County Register’s Kevin Ding tweets a similar take: “I'm told Lakers ultimately decided D'Antoni's system would be better fit for Lakers personnel (Dwight/Nash), which was a concern all along.”

As Jim Buss, the son of owner Jerry Buss, took more control of the Lakers basketball operations, the organization made the decision to distance itself from the Phil Jackson era — that’s at least according to former Jackson assistant Brian Shaw, who said back in 2011 that his association with Jackson was the reason he wasn’t hired as the team’s head coach.

“Phil let me know going into the interview (with the Lakers) for me to almost disassociate myself from him, that anything that I said about him or the triangle system would hurt me because of his lack of relationship with Jimmy Buss,” Shaw said then.

full article - http://aol.sportingnews.com/nba/story/2012-11-12/phil-jackson-mike-dantoni-lakers-coach-hired-contract-kobe-bryant

[MOtorboat]

Isn't Jackson still dating Jeanie Buss?

:awkward: