Moustachio!!!

What a ridiculous roller coaster of events!  On Friday, I'm practically dancing out of work listening to music that was sounding better than it actually was because the Lakers had just fired Mike Brown.  However, on Monday, I'm commuting into work absolutely bewildered over the D'Antoni hiring while wearing headphones that weren't playing anything at all.  In between, I had a nice comfortable weekend with Bernie....Bickerstaff that is.  On a sidenote, I rather enjoyed my weekend with Bernie.  No pressure.  Care-free attitude.  Hilarious press conferences.  In fact, over my weekend with Bernie, I've never been so sure of two wins prior to game time in my life....absolutely stressless.  If only I can always be so sane, confident, and positive.  Thanks Bernie.

Well...now it's back to real life and my mental-case self.  As you may expect, today's mental bout has obviously been trying to convince myself that this Mike D hiring is going to be a good move even though I know full well that it probably isn't.  As I mentioned in my previous post--and I'm paraphrasing here--I live in the wrong city and have the wrong friends for my team to be hiring Mike D'Antoni and me having to defend it.  Nonethelss, I have been trying all day to wrap my brain around the situation and shine a positive light on what is going down.  Personally, I think I've been doing well with this task so far and I'm about to share those thoughts.  However, prior to my attempt at a positive spin, I want to make it perfectly clear that I was 100% behind hiring Phil Jackson.  This whole "Mike D is a better fit for this roster" crap is clearly faulty logic.  Why a team would voluntarily walk away form the "automatic-win" cheat code for a coach is beyond me.  Well...the Lakers did.  So lucky for me I have more stuff to be mental about.  (Sidenote:  I think I like having to worry about crap like this.  As great as Phil was for us, there is something about this struggle that I'm kind of enjoying....well at least kind of enjoying now that Mike Brown has been eliminated from the equation).

Okay...here goes my "glass is half full" take...

First off, and most importantly, had I been told last week that I would be trading Mike Brown away for Mike D'Antoni, I think I would have been really psyched.  As difficult as it may be, I have to try my hardest to not let the Phil Jackson flirtation get in the way of this reality.  Bottom line, Mike Brown is gone and fresh air is in. 

Secondly, you can't say D'Antoni is a bad fit when Steve Nash is the point guard.  Together, the two won 73% of their games and NEVER had offensive or defensive talent around them like they do now.  If it wasn't for an untimely Nash bloody nose or a ridiculous leaving the bench penalty in San Antonio, Nash and Mike D would have found themselves in the finals.  Now, Dwight Howard will be a better version of Amar'e, Pau a better version of Diaw and Kobe will simply be Kobe.  Role players like Jodie Meeks and Antawn Jamison--that looked to be headed for the abyss--now will have their offensive talents tapped.  Heck, even Chris Duhon has proven he can be an effective player in this system (and it might finally mean Blake will be relegated to bench warmer).  Defensively?  Well, I guess I can pray that the defense is better than what Mike D had in New York.  Hopefully, we bring in Nate McMillan to coordinate that situation and Dwight and Metta can finally earn their reputation and hold it down.  My wishful thinking tells me that Mike D's more enjoyable style of play will pick up the energy all the way around which will translate to a better defensive effort.  Even though this thought is probably completely jaded, bogus and desperate, the defense can't be much worse than what it was under Brown in his last 20 games.

Finally, I'm excited about the new energy Mike D's system will bring.  For 2+ years, I feel like the Lakers have been playing a slow, painful, uphill pace that has drained both the players and me.  It was a tired, stubborn, sluggish act that--even under Phil--lacked urgency, purpose and enthusiasm way too often.  Our lethargic, loaming style allowed opponents (even the Sacramento's of the word) to dictate the action and take it to us more often than not.  Simply put, the Lakers didn't seem to have fun playing the past few years and it finally came to a head..  Now, enter D'Antoni and something new, exciting and entertaining.  His style is the antithesis of what has driven me absolutely nuts the past few years.  The games will be more exciting and, more importantly, played the way the Lakers want it played.  Personally, this aspect of the coaching change is what I'm looking forward to the most.  If we are going to go down, let's do it swinging and on our terms.

Well...that's it.  That's the positive side of hiring an also-ran versus hiring an 11-time champion who knows the key players, is famliar with the franchise and has a proven championship system.  Now all I need is for James Worthy--now the studio guy for Laker coverage on TWC SportsNet--to realize that it's Mike D'Antoni and not D'Antonio.  That's like the dad on "Teen Wolf" pronouncing "wolf" as "woof."  Curious casting job there, huh?

The Door is Closed,
Sedale Threatt