By the way, I just want to point out that the Lakers management signed off on the decision that MDA was better for their offense because Dwight and Nash had never played in the triangle and it’s a tough system to learn. Never mind that Phil Jackson wasn’t exactly a scrub on the defensive end, how do you not notice that Gasol and Kobe are terrible fits for MDA’s system? Did Melo and Amar’e seem to work with Lin and Chandler? MDA’s system requires a ball handler, a good roll man, and a bunch of shooters. As with the Knicks, superstars don’t buy into a system where they’re being relegated to spot ups and cuts, not when they’re fully aware how talented they are. Now Nash has enough respect from other players to possibly make it work, but Gasol is not going to be very happy being benched for Jamison entirely because Jamison can shoot 3?s better

I believe this is because they decided that of their current players, the only one they feel that they have to keep happy is Howard, since he is a free agent after the end of the year and is the best player of the bunch. I am certainly not saying that they are right to think so little of Howard that he might be put off by having to learn a “hard” system, but I do think that that is their motivation here.

-They’re playing below their Pythag record, which is 11-6
-They rank 8th in SRS
-They’re missing Steve Nash and have been using sub-replacement level PGs like Chris Duhon and Darius Morris
-They rank 9th in offensive rating and 10th in defensive rating
-They are quite solid in the four factors on both offense and defense, except for turnovers in which they are horrible on both ends

On the flip side,
-They’re getting unsustainably hot shooting from several of their key players, especially Kobe Bryant, MWP and Jamison
-Nash himself is turnover prone, so he does not automatically solve their turnover problems
-Their strength of schedule has been about average and figures to get tougher since the West is the deeper conference
-D’Antoni seems hell bent on destroying Pau Gasol’s career
-Their bench is very thin

Can things get any more dysfunctional in Laker land? Enjoying every minute of it.

The whole world is going crazy right now, but they will be MUCH better after Nash gets back (not exactly a revelation). D’Antoni’s system is inflexible, but man does it work when he has the right engine to make it run.

The greater concern is how terrible their defense is. Nash does not make that defense any better. And watching MDA try to use MWP as a Marion-like utility defender is pretty nauseating to watch. Afflalo just killed him yesterday.

This article sums up Antawn’s game pretty well:

http://deadspin.com/5960701/deadspin-nba-shit-list-antawn-jamison-captain-of-failure?tag=nba-shit-list

Here’s the money quote: “If you peel away the team-captain rhetoric, the audience-pleasing curmudgeonly complaints about the underachieving young pups around him, you are left with Antawn Jamison as a pure basketball type—the type who heaves up a ton of low-value shots, pumps up his numbers, shies away from contact, and categorically refuses to play defense. He is, in plain basketball terms, the living caricature of what fans are supposed to hate about the pro game.”

To me that explains why the Suns defensive efficiency was so much worse in the playoffs, even against teams like Memphis.

they are one of the worst defensive playoff teams IIRC