Movember is for Mustaches

As many of you know, November is also known as Movember.  Meaning men grow their mustaches to raise money and awareness for prostate cancer. What a perfect occasion for me to talk about one of the most mustachioed men in the NBA.,  New Los Angeles Lakers head coach Mike D'Antoni.  

Mmmmm

A lot of controversy was raised when all signs pointed towards the Lakers bring back Phil Jackson for his third tour of duty on the Lakers bench.  Instead they went with D'Antoni who Lakers' ownership and general manager Mitch Kupchack have claimed was a better fit for the job.  Lakers fans cried that the Zen Master and his 11 titles spoke for themselves, but let's take a look at the numbers.   

11 chips speak for themselves?

Some Lakers fans were disappointed in the decision.  But Laker's management has a point.  D'antoni is a great fit for the current roster.  For the same reasons I thought Jerry Sloan would have been a good choice, D'antoni has a great pick and roll offense.  Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol will feast with Nash on the Pick and Roll, and Kobe, Metta, and Antwawn Jamison will have open threes a plenty.  D'antoni also brings the best out of Nash.  Steve won two MVP awards playing while playing under D'antoni in Phoenix and the Suns had the best offense in the NBA.

Jackson homers will say that Phil has eleven more titles than D'Antoni.  But, I don't necessarily think thats a great thing.  D'Antoni has never been past the conference finals.  But this could serve as motivation.  Phil has won titles, doesn't need money, and was rumored to be asking for an ownership stake in a team.  That's way too much to pay for a Lakers team that already has many large guaranteed contracts.  D'Antoni will be motivted to win a title and has already said that if the Lakers don't compete for a championship with their uber talented roster than the blame should lie squarely on him.  It seems D'Antoni understands that this roster is time sensitive, with Pau, Kobe, and Nash all 30+, and with Dwight's contract situation up in the air.  He knows that they must win and win now.  And that is exactly the coach the Lakers need right now.  

I personally, am very excited to see this team implement D'Antoni's patented "seven seconds or less" offense.  In Phoenix his team would try to score before seven seconds had passed in the possession.  The offense became so exciting and popular that a book was even written about it.  

7 Seconds or Less

This Lakers squad doesn;t have the knock down 3 point shooters that those Suns team has, but D'Antoni can implement his offense based on the pieces he has in LA.  Hopefully better than he did in New York, where he was fired last season. However, this team is significantly more talented than last year's New York Squad.  D'Antoni debuts tonight, and we'll know significantly more after this game, but the Lakers looked good last game running D'Antoni's offense (against who else but the Phoenix Suns), and won handily.  This Lakers team was going to win a bunch of games no matter who their coach was.  However, only time will tell if D'Antoni can do what Jackson has done so many times over and over again.  In Los Angeles, they don't hang banners for conference championships (well maybe if you're a Clippers fan).  It's title town for a reason, and D'Antoni and his mustache will have been a mistake if the championships don't follow him.  Let the games begin.