Mike D'Antoni apparently was just as surprised to get the Los Angeles Lakers' coaching job as Phil Jackson was that he didn't get it. D'Antoni told the New York Daily News that he assumed, like most everybody else, that Jackson was a lock to return to the franchise as Mike Brown's replacement. Brown was fired after the Lakers stumbled badly out of the gate, struggling to learn his Princeton-inflected offense and playing mediocre defense. "Sure I did," the former Suns and Knicks coach told the newspaper. "For sure I did. Didn't everybody? When I got the call that it was me, my first reaction was, 'Are you serious?' " A league source told ESPN.com that D'Antoni received a three-year deal worth $12 million with a club option for a fourth year. D'Antoni's agent Warren LeGarie confirmed the deal late Sunday night, several hours after the Lakers beat Sacramento 103-90 for their second straight win under interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff. Read more: http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...toni-was-stunned-los-angeles-lakers-hired-too
You know its crazy when even the person hired is just as surprised as everyone else in the world. NBA.com featured an interview where Chris Weber got very in depth about how D'Antoni's hiring makes no sense. Even mentioning that a few plays would probably be run for Dwight Howard in the post. D'Antoni has big shoes to fill as he is basically in Phil Jackson's shadow right now.
