Why Mike D'Antoni Can Work for the Lakers

via justin_vidamo on Flickr

After the dust has settled from this weekend's most recent NBA drama, Mike D'Antoni will likely be debuting Sunday as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.  D'Antoni is a more than capable NBA coach, but the reality is he is not going to change some of the problems that are inherent in the construction of this roster.

The general narrative is that Mike D'Antoni could care less about defense.  The track record of his 7 seconds or less offense show that he is certainly focused on that side of the ball but to say that he's incapable of coaching a team to even a mediocre defense is debatable.  The Def rating (which adjusts for pace) of those Phoenix Suns teams were all between 15th and 20th in the league, which indicates they were much closer to average than the worst in the league.  The fact is, D'Antoni has never coached a player with the defensive impact that Howard has on the floor.  Most coaches have not.  Although there are questionable defensive pieces all over this roster, it's not inconceivable to believe D'Antoni will have an average to above-average defense around Howard.  Pair that with what we expect to be an elite offense and the high level talent and experience this team possesses.  That's a scary playoff opponent.  Of course, this all depends on Dwight Howard and his health.

So far this season, defense has not been a strength of the Lakers, and part of that has to do with Dwight's health.  Although his numbers are strong, he has clearly not been able to move as effectively as in the past.  I do think he has improved from the start of the season to now.  In his Lakers debut, he was playing below the rim.  He was even struggling with his lift to the point where he had difficulty finishing around the basket.  He has been better lately.  Against the Spurs, he had some plays where his explosiveness on weak side defense was clear.  He is jumping higher and moving better as his back loosens up and his conditioning improves.  The last area where he will need to improve is with his lateral quickness.

The Lakers have long been terrible at defending the pick and roll.  This typically is because their point guards have been well below average on defense.  That is not going to change when Nash returns from his injury.  The other part, though, was Andrew Bynum.  Teams often attacked Bynum by having his man set the screen.  This was a way to try to get him away from the basket and open up the paint, but also because he wasn't very adept at extending his defense out far enough to help his point guard in any way.  Because of this, point guards who can penetrate have traditionally killed the Lakers over the last few years.  In the past, teams have attacked Dwight in a similar way.  Again, mainly in an attempt to get him away from the basket, but Dwight is far more agile than Bynum and in the past has been able to hedge on screen and rolls and often get back to protect the rim when need be.  This is how Jameer Nelson was a starting point guard on an elite defensive team.  A healthy Dwight can cover up for some deficiencies. His lateral quickness is not fully recovered yet and it has shown in this team's defensive performance thus far, but he is improving.

The main problems that D'Antoni will have to deal with on this roster is their lack of depth and lack of shooting.  A common criticism has been that since Pau Gasol cannot consistently shoot 3's, then there will be spacing issues in D'Antoni's system.  To me, this isn't much of a problem.  Last year Pau shot a respectable 43% from 16-23 feet, good enough for 20th in the league among players who played 30 minutes a game.  And I can imagine him playing the Boris Diaw role, catching the ball at 20 feet and being able to attack rotating defenses with the dribble and his passing skills to find Dwight on the role or shooters on the wing.  It is the shooters that are the issue.  Metta World Peace is an abomination on offense and should never take another dribble or 3 point shot as long as he lives.  Steve Blake was brought in as a bench shooter and can't knock down open shots.  Jodie Meeks should get more minutes but that would mean playing Kobe at the 3 at times.  Jamison is a career 35% 3pt shooter, hasn't shot that high since he was in Washington, and is 3-15 from 3 on the season.

This highlights the other problem: the bench.  Jamison, Blake once Nash is back, Jordan Hill, Meeks and a bunch of questionably NBA caliber guys.  These challenges are ones that Phil would have had to deal with as well.  Either way, I think we can all agree that Mike Brown wasn't the guy for this job.  He was a figurehead for Kobe to be able to manipulate and not be unhappy with as evidenced with Kobe's push for the Princeton offense.  Once this became a legitimate contender with the acquisition of Dwight, than other options should have been explored, no offense Mike Brown.  Mike D'Antoni is not that type of coach.  He is a member of the Team USA coaching staff and is respected and liked by stars throughout the league.  He demands enough respect to get Kobe to buy in and that's the first step.