I know we're all getting on Byron and rightfully so because my God you talk about ineptitude and incompetence as a head coach. He's second to none right now. However to me I'll never be as disgusted with him as MDA. This guy ruined one of the truly, truly all time greats career. I mean it really takes a special kind of moron to play Kobe, a guy who has been in the NBA since he was a 17 year old kid what was it 45 minutes a game the last month. That's basically an entire game for a 34 year old who really is closer to 36 and 37 in terms of overall mileage. Kobe is my favorite player of all time. Argurably the greatest player of this era. If he's not the greatest Laker of all time he's right behind the Magic man. Kobe has given absolutely everything to this franchise. Absolutely everything. There's gonna be a statue outside of Staples Center one day. He is the closest thing the game has seen to Michael Jordan since him. He is a rare breed in terms of competiveness and and will to win along with obviously an immense basketball skill set. I'm not absolving Kobe of blame here in terms of how he's played so far this season. He really has done a poor job of inexplicably shooting three after three. It just disgusts me though because even at age 34 Kobe was playing as well as anyone outside of LeBron. He had one of the most efficient years of his career and carried the team back into the playoff hunt after a horrible start. I know we have another Kobe thread to discuss him, but I just wanna say I will always appreciate this dude. It still irks me how we wasted three years of his career when he was head and shoulders the best player in the league. I always thought it was asinine that the media and others tried to say Kobe needed a championship without Shaq to validate himself. You like at teams that were starting Kwame Brown, Smush Parker, Luke Walton, the fact that Kobe took those teams to the playoffs twice in three years and probably would've in 2005 if it wasn't for the high ankle sprain he sustained is a testament to this man's greatness. All the big shots. All the times he's gutted it out, playing with hurt ankles, back spasms, all the finger injuries sustained. I mean you talk about a warrior this guy is a warrior. I don't think anyone ever anticipated seeing an 80 point game from a player in this day and age. That ridiculous stretch of 40 point games in 2003 and 50 in four straight in 2007. Really kills me seeing a team like San Antonio with Coach Pop. Seeing how he's done such a great job of managing Tim Duncan's minutes. I don't think he's played over 30 in years. Sat out a lot of back to backs. Always kept fresh for the playoffs. Never been run into the ground. I just feel terrible for Kobe. I remember tears being in my eyes the night he tore his Achilles because I knew he'd never be the same. It was just brutal to watch. I really hope Kobe can finish this year without another major injury. I'd hate to see him sustain another brutal injury that could potentially hinder him after his career. He doesn't deserve that. He deserves to enjoy life after basketball and enjoy time with his wife, with his kids, and I really hope he can stay healthy. Thank you Kobe Bryant. There will never be another Kobe. All the joy you've given Laker fans over the years. The great moments, the great and clutch performances, in the biggest moments Kobe was always at his best. He's a champion in every sense of the word.
Yeah what a piece of s***. How hypocritical. Cleveland has the biggest pay role in the LEAGUE. They got their precious LeBron back and are paying two other stars max money. But we couldn't have Chris Paul? I hope Cleveland never wins a thing.
Everything says yeah to that ^^^ except with the personnel we have now the offense would have to look better under D'antoni. One would think except with huge caveat of 'antoni's guaranteed mis-use and benching of our best big men for serious minutes of the rotation, when he was unable to pound "square shaped" Hibbert, Randle and Bass into his round holes.
Maybe. But Our improvement is not due to Scott. It's due to Clarkson and Randle just being good players and doing good things despite him. Brown is on his own level of suck. But Scott and D'Antoni are equal in suck.
I don't see improvement. Keep in mind last year, we got off to a 1-9 start; so if we start off 2-10, I'd guess I'd consider that baby steps...
As bad as Byron has been, he will never match damfony in mind as the worst coach I've seen in the decades I've watched Laker basketball. He ended Kobe's career. He couldn't use bigs and he came off as a jerk. He was awful, worst thing that ever happened to our team.
The only thing I'll give credit Pringles for as a Laker head coach as opposed to Byron was that he ran some semblance of offense. He also rode the hot hand and left them on the floor... a little too much most of the time, breaking down one of the all time greats physically. Byron... I don't even know what he's trying to run these days.
To me, 'Antoni is worse than either. Neither of them rode Kobe into the ground. Potatohead is just a dumber Byron. Yes, I said it. I didn't think it was possible, but I do think he was.
Re: Pringles. I think what most of you are remembering is that he was actually really great with Xs and Os, but his rapport with our players was AWFUL. He was whatever the opposite of a player coach is. He came in and immediately alienated Pau and proceeded to consistently misuse him. He was terrible with the press. He was self-depreciating and sarcastic. He didn't take responsibility for mistakes and when guys screwed up he wouldn't protect them to the media. Terrible. He was great with the clipboard though. I remember being happy when Byron got here that we'd get a guy known as a player friendly coach who commanded respect. Even that is fading with this locker room and that was basically Byron's only redeeming quality.
If Mitch would have had his way, he would have did something like this: Adleman over Brown, Jackson over D'Antoni, and G. Karl over Byron. Just a hunch.
I was SO pushing for Adelman...the disappointment I felt when we got Mike Brown was colossal. Despite the hoopla over Phil 3.0, I don't think he would have actually come back.
