When Mike D’Antoni first joined the Los Angeles Lakers, not many people saw his offensive system working well with the aging roster. Despite the backing of the front office and even the players, D’Antoni just could not get his style of play to function in Los Angeles.
D’Antoni spoke to the Los Angeles Times, and he talked about what he expects from the team this upcoming season. Although D’Antoni wants to keep it a high-paced offense, he understands what the players are and aren’t capable of.
Which kind of pace does D’Antoni envision the Lakers running this season?
“It won’t be crazy,” he said, “but we want to push it and get a nice pace. We want to get some easy buckets before the defense sets up, so we’ll be up in the top five probably in pace, but it won’t be breakneck speed.”
Steve Nash ran the D’Antoni to near perfection during his days in Phoenix, but the Hall of Fame bound point guard has lost his step over the years. Although Nash is still one of the best pure point guards in the league, it was hard for him to play in D’Antoni’s system when nearing the age of 40.
However, it appears as though D’Antoni is making the necessary adjustments to the offense and is molding his style of play based on the players he has.
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