Following the Lakers loss to the Phoenix Suns, head coach Mike D’Antoni was asked if he was discouraged with the Lakers. Citing the team’s propensity to work hard despite the season’s challenges, D’Antoni said that he was not discouraged with his team. He then went on to say that if fans were discouraged, then they should, “find a new team to root for.”
Naturally, those comments weren’t met with wide-ranging enthusiasm from Lakers fans as they called out D’Antoni for ostensibly taking his frustrations out on the fans. Following today’s practice, D’Antoni recognized his mistake and called himself an idiot for bringing the fans into the team’s frustrations, according to Serena Winters.
D'Antoni called himself an "idiot" for the comments he made last night. I'm sure this tweet will be met w/ many comments of their own.
— Serena Winters (@SerenaWinters) December 24, 2013
While it’s easy to see where D’Antoni is coming from. The Lakers haven’t been at full strength all season, and every time the team gets a bit of momentum, someone else has gone down with an injury. Despite the injury problems, the Lakers are still hovering around .500 with a favorable schedule over the next five games following their Christmas bout with the Heat.
Regardless of what D’Antoni meant with his comments, the way the message was crafted was unjust for a fan base that has been following the team long before D’Antoni was a part of the organization.
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