Monday, January 28th, 2013 at 10:50 am  |  71 responses

Pau Gasol Says the Lakers are Playing Their Own System Not Mike D’Antoni’s


Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D’Antoni’s ongiong troubles selling his offensive system to his skeptical stars has been well-documented. And despite the team seemingly having turned something of a corner lately, Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol remain skeptical of D’Antoni’s philosophy. Both big men spoke last night of not always following their coach‘s plan, with Gasol doing so more explicitly. Per the OC Register and la Liga Endesa (a report which was roughly translated from Spanish): “I’ve accepted it because nothing is really ideal right now, nothing is perfect or great,’ Gasol said. ‘We’re going to put team functioning and team success first and that’s what I’m doing. I’m accepting that and whatever the coach decides, whether I like it or not or whether I agree with it or not, I’m still going to go out there and do my job and do the things that I can do.’ [...] ‘I do not know if we are playing D’Antoni system much right now, we are playing our own system a bit, with a slow passing game, putting the ball a lot in Kobe Bryant’s hands, playing the blocks … and distributing the ball very well. We’ll see if we can continue playing like this,’ said Gasol in the locker room. ‘With aggressive defense, and when facing tall and athletic players, we have to move the ball and the defense. If we force situations and abuse the one-on-one, then we are doing our opponents a favor. We are dangerous when we are not predictable,’ he said.”

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  • bike

    These comments are freakin hilarious. LMFAO.

  • shutup

    You replying to a comment by saying “you guys” is a little off putting. I am not defending anyone’s point of view just commenting on the facts presented.

    Your initial gripe was about the headline, and think we both can agree that the comments by Pau can be seen in many different lights, I agree that slam sensationalizes it’s headlines as does all good media outlets but this time this wasn’t really the case.

    As for the finer details about the system being run, read deeper in my replies to you, I don’t think our philosophies or conclusions are that far apart.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    i meant you and Allen, but yeah that’s my bad.
    .
    my initial gripe is not about the headline, infact i never said anything about the headline anywhere.

    .”the words in this article are just flat out false.” is my initial gripe (and only gripe, the headline is not “wrong” as much as it is incomplete, which i totally understand). It’s the complete lie in the article, “Both big men spoke last night of not always following their coach‘s plan, with Gasol doing so more explicitly.” which as I already said to you earlier, is nowhere even implied, let alone stated.

  • RunNgun

    Agreed, NBK. This is lazy journalism.

  • shutup

    I am sorry for thinking that you meant the headline is bad, I thought it was inferred in the first sentence your wrote. That is my mistake completely.

    As for the “Both big men spoke last night of not always following their coach‘s plan, with Gasol doing so more explicitly.” which as I already said to you earlier, is nowhere even implied, let alone stated. We are going to have to agree to disagree, unless said interview or article is made handy, we can’t really argue about the contents in it; however this article does contain; (which if we attribute it as a direct quote) Pau commenting on the system being run and arguably (imo) that Pau implies that the changes rest on the players (thus the “our”); now whether or not that is the case idk, but I do know that Kobe being a more willing passer is the key to the resurgence of the Lakers.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    they are made handy. See the blue letters? nowhere, anywhere, does anything say the team is not listening to D’Antoni. The only changes that are stated, by ANY Laker after last night’s game are -

    (The Nash Comments)
    (Pau “the team has set aside all personal goals and statistics in an effort to salvage the season”)

    (D’Antoni: ” Nash gets in trouble if he tries to go one on one — and Kobe Bryant gets in trouble if he tries to go one on two or one on three.”)

    .
    Basically, the only change that happened is, Kobe stopped being selfish, and everybody else is now enthusiastic.
    .
    I mean, everyone give’s the best player’s credit when they win (like now, when Kobe magically started doing what everyone asked, but apparently is doing it inspite of his coach, he gets the credit) but they never get the credit when they lose (like the 6-26 record the team has when Kobe shoots 20 or more shots), that falls on the coach.
    .
    It can’t be the coaches fault when the team loses, but the player’s fault when they win, especially if the thing that changed IS the best player, in actual reality.

  • shutup

    So this is a direct quote from the article, it doesn’t read much different from the above articles quote followed the Blue letters lmao “”do not know if we are playing much D’Antoni system right now, we are doing our own system a bit, slow passing game, put a lot of the ball in the hands of Kobe Bryant, playing blocks direct from the low post and from there distribute the ball very well.’s see if we can continue like this, “”

    He clearly states they are not doin D’s system and they are doing their own, other than D’s system. For arguement sake I will look up the article from the OC Register and see if Dwight did comment and if Pau’s comments were more explicit; but truth be told the fact that if he is quoted in the OC Register and then the Spanish paper then he was more explicit

    http://www.ocregister.com/sports/lakers-409450-one-game.html

    I can’t say for certain that this is the article that was quoted but out of the 3 most recent ones it fits the best, and yes Pau was more explicit about the teams change. It’s an interesting read as well on how Kobe and Nash switching roles actually makes Kobe more of a willing passer, thus explaining a different look than traditional D’antoni.

    Lastly I never blamed the coach, Kobe in my mind is the biggest culprit; for he alone holds the key to that team having the chemistry that begets winning. I think any coach with Kobe on board in that manner would have success (not “ANY” coach but almost any NBA caliber coach would, I think Mike Brown could have won with Kobe playing this style of ball.)

    Here’s an article with quotes from Dwight on the new style of play

    http://lakers.ocregister.com/2013/01/28/dwight-howard-he-and-kobe-on-same-page-now/75847/

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    looks like we just view Pau’s words differently, I think what is being misinterpreted is in the meaning of saying they are not playing D’Antoni’s system, as I’m positive they aren’t (in a sense). the team had to change their style (as D’Antoni stated would happen numerous times over the last couple weeks), but that doesn’t mean D’Antoni wasn’t involved in the process. It just means the team deviated from his system (or what he originally had in place). — and again, I have seen a D’Antoni led team run a high-lo / post oriented offense. There are slight differences, but it’s the same. So, admittedly, that is fueling my interpretation of this article .
    Other than that, we completely agree. I wasn’t saying you blame the coach (again that is my fault, I just type, and you are extremely intelligent which means you catch the little mistakes) I meant in general, that is what is happening. And I felt Slam is playing that hand. Not that I was actually accusing you personally of blaming the coach and not Kobe.

  • pposse

    wow pposse you said this five days ago and now look the lakers are on a two game winning streak…i wonder if it was kobe or dwights entourage or D’antoni himself that follows you??!

  • Redd

    Dang Bruce, long sentences & detailed knowledge befuddle your mind? You know, it’s easy to ignore comments but I assume you’ve felt guilt about being too slow to read them so you decided to ride to stupid train with zogs huh?

    Was that too long?

  • Redd

    Eh, I disagree I don’t think it’s entirely Bickerstaff, his sample size to say he’s great is way too small. Do I think he’s good? Yes. Do I think he played a role? Yes.

    But I can’t say that he’s the sole or major reason cause his past work isn’t large enough to say so. We’ll see as time goes by tho I guess.

  • Redd

    Zogs, you can’t seem to lay off the caps, you seem to want attention a lot.

    You ok moron? Is this a case of the Napolean complex gone wrong or are you naturally an idiot who hypocritically has no life?

  • shutup

    Truth be told I reread the same quote I used maybe 4 times during this post and Pau says “I do not know if we are playing D’Antoni system much right now”. Which means he really doesn’t understand the system or whats being run, I apologize. However though I think everyone’s words sans Kobe translates roughly into; this ni**a is finally passing the ball, and look we are winning.

    By the way thank you for the compliment, as many times as we have butt heads , just know I respect your basketball knowledge, even though we may have different opinions. My knowledge of all things Clyde Frazier is your doing, well all except his expansive and annoying vocabulary; which I was privy too before we talked.

  • Mike From Spain

    I’ve read the Spanish article. It does not change things much, I think it is left to open interpretation but I would agree more with nbk. It is hard for me to believe that players would refuse to follow a coach’s system in a pro league such as the NBA. Perhaps they are just saying that D’Antoni has changed his usual style of play to adapt, but it could be what you say…

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    exactly. really, everyone involved with the Lakers has basically said, “well, since Kobe is passing, we are finally happy, which has translated into winning, surprise surprise”
    .
    And man, i really appreciate the respect. i’m over our confrontation (have been for a while). i know you were just trying to get under my skin, because you disliked me or whatever it was all about (doesn’t really matter to), i recognized then you were intelligent. And since then you have been less of a d!ck (or i have?) and more of a steadying force around here. I actually really enjoy your insights, especially when we disagree, because you have the ability to state your opinion, listen to mine, and nobody gets offended.

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk
  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk
  • shutup

    It’s an effort on both of our parts, I think. From what I can tell we both share that ultra-competitive streak in regards to all things basketball related, and I think that just spilled over to the comments. I would like to think that I have matured and now save that energy for the sporadic weekend runs and late night call of duty sessions. Your basketball knowledge could never challenged; and I too look forward to your insights and opinions.

  • shutup

    LMFAO

  • http://twitter.com/sooperfadeaway nbk

    my ultra competitive streak leaks into everything. This place is just my outlet, so i think it kind of brings that out of other’s who typically wouldn’t treat a comment section competitively.

  • slam sucks

    inaccurate reporting.

    this is my first time going on this site and it will be the last too.

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