Tuesday, November 13th, 2012 at 10:05 am  |  85 responses

Kobe Bryant Thinks Lakers Will Be ‘Phenomenal Defensively’ Under Mike D’Antoni


Kobe Bryant doesn’t appear to be too concerned about head coach Mike D’Antoni’s (perhaps unfair) reputation as someone who doesn’t really care all that much about defense. In fact, Kobe seems to think the Los Angeles Lakers will thrive defensively under D’Antoni. From his Bean’s Facebook page: “It’s been a wild week to say the least. I’m happy to have closure and can’t wait to get to work with Coach D’Antoni.. spacing, ball movement. And despite the chatter, I believe we will be phenomenal defensively. I’m looking forward to getting started with him and his staff this week. Mamba out.”

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  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    because, Dwight. Not for any other reason.

  • keyon dooling

    Kobe also thinks he’s capable of shooting above 46% in a season. Neither of these will happen. (other one being that the Lakers will be “phenomenal defensively” under Pringles)

  • elmaar

    Kobe just made clear they gave no effort and basically tuned out Mike Brown

  • pposse

    kobe is such a baby..there has never been a star athlete as whiny as him. I can’t wait for things to go sour for this team and have him throw D’Antoni under the bus.

  • Adrian Chestnut

    Mamba out lol

  • FLIGHT 9

    I hope they average 110 points per game… A first round playoff exit is a BIG possibility…

  • spit hot fiyah

    that s#!t needs to stop

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    no it isn’t.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    he has done that before, 6 times.

  • Perry the PlatyPteranodon

    When Kobe retires, I genuinely hope he says “Mamba out.”

  • http://www.facebook.com/jun.kaviedes Jun Kaviedes

    I know right, just like when He threw Phil under the bus after the sweep by Dallas and the way he threw Mike Brown under the bus after the pathetic start to the season.. oh wait, none of that happened.

  • justin05

    The defensive end of the floor is all about effort. Hustle. Idk if Gasol and Jamison can step up enough for our defense to be “phenomenal”. Nash/Blake is a liability on defense as well. Kobe slacks off a lot and Artest is not a spring chicken so we will see. It’s all about how much they want it, could come back to hurt on the offensive side of the floor too

  • Max

    How is this whining?

  • pposse

    just like he stopped playing in the second half of game 7 against the suns, just like he brought back the fact that smush parker was his teammate so he wasnt MVP, just like he was looking at houses in Chicago cause he wanted to get traded, just like @elmaar so eloquently states beneath that he made it clear that no effort was made and a Mike Brown tune out happened..the list goes on and on bruh

  • shockexchange

    3rd person talk from Mamba? A de facto co-sign for the Shock Exchange. Apparently the Shock Exchange has been influening Mamba as well.

  • pposse

    just like ‘the mamba death stare’ which precedes the Mike Brown firing by like 12 hours cmon..coincidence young watson? I think not!

  • shockexchange

    Yeah keep dreaming Horry Jr … (i) Steve Nash couldn’t guard a bear in a phone booth and (ii) According to Stephen A. Smith “Steve Blake who shouldn’t even
    be on the Lakers yet alone in the NBA.” Ouch!

  • bike

    Can this team get any more bizarre? Sounds like D’Antoni won’t be in LA for a couple of weeks and let’s suppose they win every game between now and then…

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    he’s coaching on Friday.

  • shockexchange

    … which makes the timing of the Brown firing all the more suspicious. L.A. fired him just prior to a stretch of very “win-a-ble” games against weak competition. Someone wanted Brown gone before he could accumulate the political capital the comes with winning.

  • Redd

    This will be hilarious, Kobe is going to look foolish. Outside of Metta and Dwight there’s no Doubt.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003246310246 Jason Carter

    what else is he spose to say?

  • Junior Taylor

    Is he the same guy that swore the Lakers were going to win the ’11 series vs Dal when they were down 3-0? Come on son…..I know that supreme confidence is one of the things that make Kobe a legendary player but you have to draw a line somewhere. Antoni had decent-very good defenders in PHX (Bell/Marion) yet they still ranked near the bottom every year defensively and this Laker team has one of the oldest backcourt in a league full of great backcourts (hell…their conference is full of great backcourts- SA, OKC, DEN)

  • LakeShow

    When you rank at the bottom defensively and the top offensively, the defensive rating is skewed. Pace man. Pace.

  • LakeShow

    How in the sam freaking hell do you think a team with Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, and Dwight Howard…. With Pau Gasol is a first round exit?
    You sound like a moron.

  • LakeShow

    Yes. Like I said yesterday to Taylor, Dwight is a good defensive team.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    @juniortaylor:disqus actually, the worst ranking any of those Mike D’Antoni coached defenses were was 17th. Which is middle of the pack.

  • Junior Taylor

    So you deep down inside believe that PHX team was good defensively and their offensive style was the reason why they were so bad defensively? How about the fact that the Knicks went from being a terrible defensive team with Antoni to become a respectable to very good defensive squad with Woodson? It’s obvious that Antoni doesn’t place enough value on defense and anyone that isn’t a “fan” of the Lakers most likely agrees with that assessment.

  • Junior Taylor

    You’re right…my fault. Still, the Suns were never able to get stops on a consistent basis and that alone in my eyes makes you a bad defensive team.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    they had Amar’e Stoudemire and Boris Diaw guarding the Rim. Not Dwight Howard.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    the Knicks defense before D’Antoni quit/got fired was ranked 6th in the league.

  • Sergio

    Question? If you hate Kobe so much, why do you know everything about him.

  • robb

    I don’t think they’ll thrive defensively at all, but at this point the best thing we Lakers fans can do is to support D’Antoni and stick together. There’s enough pressure on his shoulders already. Let’s do our part and hope for the best. No booing or “we want Phil” chants please.

  • pposse

    Question? If you kno what i am saying to be true, then why do you like him? I know enough about Kobe cause the media constantly reports about him and his silly antics. They try to make Lebron’s ‘Decision’ worse than Kobe demanding a trade or Lebron’s damn near triple double against the celtics (when on the cavs) a sign of giving up when Kobe shoots the ball twice in the second half of game 7 against the suns…but then next year the playoff promo’s on tnt and abc have Kobe hitting that buzzer beater in that same series he lost against the Suns. Kobe’s game is not dramatic he is..just callling it like it is.

  • LakeShow

    See below.

  • Junior Taylor

    So how exactly are the Lakers going to defend the perimeter with a 34yr old Kobe, 38yr old Nash and 33yr old Artest? You can not expect Howard to erase every single mistake the Lakers make on defense, do you? Yeah…Howard carried a team made up of mostly bad defenders in ORL to the Finals but everyone forgets that they had good perimeter defenders in Peaches (Mickael Pietrus and CLee) to throw at cats like Bron and Kobe.

  • Junior Taylor

    I may be wrong but wasn’t the guy that is currently coaching the Knicks (Woodson) on the staff with Antoni? That may be the reason why their D ranked so high.

  • LakeShow

    Bean and Artest are on par with most 2,3 position combo’s in the L defensively. They might even be better than most in playoff competition when it’s all on the line. The Lakers haven’t guarded the PG position in years…
    That’s how.

  • LakeShow

    Bean and Artest are on par with most 2,3 position combo’s in the L defensively. They might even be better than most in playoff competition when it’s all on the line. The Lakers haven’t guarded the PG position in years…

    That’s how.

  • LakeShow

    Didn’t mean to send this one here…

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/ORL/2011.html – the same way that Orlando team with Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, JJ Reddick, and Hedo Turkoglu finished 3rd in defense.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    that really may be the reason, idk. i was just saying, the defense wasn’t horrible under D’Antoni once he got a good rim defender, not Amar’e Stoudemire.

  • RayJr

    We’ll see tonight. Huge game against the SpurMs(yes I hate SA). If Lakers can hold SA to 40% or less shooting and get the W, that would be a great step forward defense wise.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000166716900 Anthony Darnello Taylor Jr.

    another unrelated note: Lebron also had a better game at the garden than Kobe did too. 55 10 and 9 (i believe) vs. Kobe’s 61 pts and they rave over that stuff every year Kobe is in the Garden and barely mention what LBJ did.

  • LakeShow

    Why does tonight matter? D’Antoni won’t be coaching till Friday at least.

  • keyon dooling

    above 47%** . overrated bum

  • RayJr

    Because SA shoots lights out and it would be an accomplishment to hold them to a low percentage without really even having a coach.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    you know, it totally defeats your sh*tty unfounded criticism when you have to come back and correct it to sound better. but good try.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    but that doesn’t matter. the system will be completely different by friday.

  • shockexchange

    By the end of the year, Horry Jr will be back at 40% on 30 shots/game and the stans will go “Look at how many points Horry Jr scored … He’s just like Jordan.”

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