7 Seconds or Less Coming to Hollywood

In the 25 years I have followed the Lakers, one thing they have been consistent about is not doing the expected. From wining every year to questionable signings and game time decisions and performance, it can be pretty frustrating to cheer for the purple and gold. One thing for sure, "dull" the Lakers are not. With anyone knowing a thing about NBA, Phil Jackson return to Hollywood was already written it was just a matter of when he'd be starting and who was he bringing along. Then the Laker surprised everyone, really at this point can the Lakers really surprise anymore?, anyway they shocked the basketball world by passing on the Zen Master owner of more rings than fingers, to sign the run and gun style of Nash's best years front man, Mike D'Antoni. The "experts" are appalled with many predicting a blown chance to get another trophy for the Buss family, since according to sources the job was for PJ to turn down. Nothing is ever set in stone for the Lakers. Pros and Cons point out the hardware, 11-2 Finals record in the last 21 years, including a trio of three-peats and a one back to back against a someone who has never gone to the big dance. Well when you put it that way, then the Lakes screwed up, but's let's rewind a sec, to Phil's last hurrah almost 2 1/2 years ago when the title run Mavs put a hurting on them in a most embarrassing way emphasized by the cheap shots of Bynum and Odom. Anyone remember the lifeless Lakers of that year with an "improved" roster that failed to finish off a team that until then was know for choking the playoffs? All was not well then, it seemed the Zen Master stayed one season too long, but can you blame him, the Lakers had a chance to give him another triple crown, but the effort was not there of past championship teams. So the Lakers moved on with life without Phil, something that didn't work out too well the last time they tried to cut ties the triangle, for those with a short memory, the Lakers missed the playoffs that year and also did not finish with their start of the season coach. PJ was rehired, Lakers become significant again ant 3 straight Finals appearances with 2 titles followed, it's a no brainer the Lakers can't win with out Phil right? Not entirely, while his second stint was successful, c'mon anytime you can bring consecutive titles to your tenure how could it be viewed as anything but success, his start did not succeed from the get go, it took 3 years and arrival of the Spaniard to get them back to the Finals only to again get spanked in historic fashion by the hated Leprechauns. The interest and fun of the title years was gone in Phil's last year, maybe it was the new additions or the need to change from a proven system that had gotten to familiar and boring whatever it was Phil's last year was disappointing. So why not now? You would think the Lakers would admit his system works and they need him to be successful and may awaken that interest again in the quest for another ring. But no, the Lakers decided to go with another coach stating Phil price was a little high. If it's pricing, then we as fans don't feel the Lakers want to win then, as they're shouldn't be a price to high for guaranteed success. So that can't be it, what about control? Apparently Phil wanted a little more control, in other words not have to deal with Junior Buss who from what is said is not his BFF. If one thing the Lakers have made clear in recent years, it's that no one but Magic and Kareem were bigger than the franchise. Shaq learned it and now so has Phil, sure they could have won, there is no denying what the return of Phil would have done to the Lakers, but the Big Bad Lakers are not gonna succumb to a coach even at the expense of winning. So now what? Are we stuck with sloppy seconds? Well if you feel that way, then you don't know basketball, new head man D'Antoni is more than capable of guiding the Lakers to the promise land if the players are willing to bust their ass for him. While I find it hard to believe the 7 seconds offense will be instilled on this aging Laker squad, the fact that D'Antoni trusts Nash will make his adjusting easier. Yes the Lakers are slow compared to blurs the west poing guards are, but it's not like they're glued to the floors. His Suns teams fastest player was Barbosa, Matrix was the versatile one, and A'mare was the freak athletic big man. In 2005 future Atlanta millionaire Joe Johnson was the perfect Nash running mate who stretched the floor along with streaky Q Richardson. The Suns had a balanced attack relieved by the Brazilian Blur and sometimes Jim Jackson. Nash would get MVP and Suns the best record. Then Joe took a stumble and the Suns lost a huge piece of the offense. No one seems to remember that, he was not the same again for the rest of the post season, missing 6 games, it's good to point out that the sole victory against the Spurs he netted 26 points. No game was won by more than 9 points, so you'd figure a player with his shooting ability would have made a difference. While Spurs still may have won, things sure were looking up for the Suns, then bad luck hit again, and A'mare was sidelined for season, the roster now included more gunners, Tim Thomas, Boris Diaw, Eddie House, James Jones and Defensive Specialist Raja Bell. Even without their All-NBA big man Nash would get another MVP and they made a second trip to the West Finals only to lose to the Mavs, can you imagine if he had been healthy? A'mare would return in '07 and the Suns would continue to be contenders, in probably the most painful of their runs, first with famous game when the great medical staff of Phoenix could not get Nash and his gash into the game again and then the Suns would get absolutely robbed when Laker favorite almost tarnished his legacy with a cheap leveling of Steve Nash into the scorers table. The suspensions sealed this series and I didn't see anymore of the playoffs that year, what for? The title had been given to the Spurs already. That Suns team would have gone to the Finals and won it, giving Nash his well deserved ring and D'Antoni a place along the few coaches to win during the Phil Jackson, Gregg Popovich era. The D'Antoni era would end next year when the Shaq experiment failed in Phoenix exiting early once again against the hated Spurs. So what would some good luck in their way have meant? They easily could have had 3 straight Final appearances if not for bad luck, D'Antoni reputation would have been quite different. While I don't expect the same barrage of 3s the Suns had I do think D'Antoni is going to bring back a fun style to the Lakers, will it work? As good as the Suns were in his tenure, D'Antoni's never had a hall of famer scorer like Bryant, or a defensive big man like Howard, add a skilled big man in Gasol and the defensive mentality of Ron Ron with the IQ of Steve Nash and the possibilities are actually quite scary. I'm looking forward to this change and hope both D'Antoni and Nash can finally get their ring.