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.”