What the hell D'Antoni???

[Shaqdaddy11]

So now Kent Bazemore is out for the rest of the season. A 24 year old athletic guy with no previous injury history that I can find.

Anyone else surprised how literally EVERY player coached by D'Antoni is getting injured?

Kobe, Nash and Gasol you could blame partly for age, but never in their careers have they been this badly affected. Other guys who are years away from 30 are just dropping down like flies. Henry never seemed to have injury problems; Farmer never got hurt this much, let alone Nick Young.

Fuck D'Antoni. He's fucking up our players.

 

[bksballer89]

Maybe he had no injury history because he was the water boy for the Warriors?

 

[trojanfan12]

Now injuries are D'Antoni's fault. Some of you are making me embarrassed to be a Lakers fan.

 

[lakersrule]

Sucks. Don't think you can blame D'Antoni though. Nash no. Coach didn't write up a play where Lillard would break Nash's leg. Gasol no. Coach didn't infect him with an upper respiratory infection which has evolved into this vertigo deal. Coach can't be faulted if someone lands on a defender's foot and tweaks an ankle. I'm not defending D'Antoni's coaching abilities, but most of the injuries aren't his fault.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Now injuries are D'Antoni's fault. Some of you are making me embarrassed to be a Lakers fan.

Who's fault is it then? Something in the water at Staples? What is the blame for almost EVERYONE missing at least 10+ games?

 

[wildturkey]

To be fair, "out for the season" really just means he's out a week at this point. That's not uncommon for an ankle injury

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

I don't buy it any more. Anyone who's ever played competitive bball before knows that the coach has to change things when players start dropping off like flies. You change your practise drills/length, you change your offence, you rotate players more often when you DO have healthy guys.

Change fucking SOMETHING.

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

Xavier Henry is also out & will have surgery this friday.

 

[trojanfan12]

Who's fault is it then? Something in the water at Staples? What is the blame for almost EVERYONE missing at least 10+ games?

How about the fact that almost every one of these injuries were before D'Antoni? Kobe and Pau have been having injury issues for years. Nash suffered a freak injury running a slower version of the system that brought him 2 MVP's. Kaman had injury issues before he came to the Lakers. Dwight had back surgery when he was in Orlando.

These injuries have nothing to do with the coach. Guys in their 30's get injured. Guys who have never gotten a lot of playing time that are suddenly playing a lot get injured. Every player suffers injuries in an NBA season.

It doesn't matter who the coach is. These types of injuries would have happened.

 

[trojanfan12]

I don't buy it any more. Anyone who's ever played competitive bball before knows that the coach has to change things when players start dropping off like flies. You change your practise drills/length, you change your offence, you rotate players more often when you DO have healthy guys.

Change fucking SOMETHING.

Apparently you haven't played competitive ball. This is completely untrue. Also, that Lakers have done things differently because of the injuries. They've been given days off and they have had more of what amounts to walk through's in practice because they haven't had the bodies to have full contact practices.

Things like this happen. The Lakers aren't the first team it's happened to and they won't be the last.

 

[bksballer89]

This is funny....The only sport IMO you can blame a coach for injuries is sometimes with pitchers in baseball

 

[trojanfan12]

This is funny....The only sport IMO you can blame a coach for injuries is sometimes with pitchers in baseball

Exactly and even that is only sometimes.

 

[Shaqdaddy11]

Guys who have never gotten a lot of playing time that are suddenly playing a lot get injured.

Right! And who decides how many minutes a player gets on the floor? Who is the guy who should know that a player averaging 8 minutes per game might get hurt if he suddenly starts playing 35 minutes per game?

Am I also the only one that thinks there might have been just a slim chance Kobe wouldn't have torn his Achilles if he didn't play at least 40 minutes for SEVEN consecutive games? And who decides how long a player stays on court?

Would ANY good coach play a 34 year old player for seven straight quarters without a break?

 

[LALakersboy24.7]

Now injuries are D'Antoni's fault. Some of you are making me embarrassed to be a Lakers fan.

 

[trojanfan12]

I stand by that. Blaming the coach for injuries is embarrassing.

Anyone else see this?

Rex Chapman tweets that John Calipari will be coaching the Lakers - CBSSports.com

 

[trojanfan12]

Right! And who decides how many minutes a player gets on the floor? Who is the guy who should know that a player averaging 8 minutes per game might get hurt if he suddenly starts playing 35 minutes per game?

Am I also the only one that thinks there might have been just a slim chance Kobe wouldn't have torn his Achilles if he didn't play at least 40 minutes for SEVEN consecutive games? And who decides how long a player stays on court?

Would ANY good coach play a 34 year old player for seven straight quarters without a break?

These guys are playing the minutes they are because the 3 main guys on the team Kobe, Nash and Pau have been out pretty much all season long and other guys with past injury issues have been out as well.

The NBA isn't going to shorten games to limit guys minutes because they're not used to playing a lot. When you are starting games with 10 or fewer available players, guys who aren't used to a lot of minutes are going to have to play more. That's how it works.

Considering every doctor that has spoken about Kobe's achille's has said that his minutes had nothing to do with the injury and that it could have happened stepping off of a curb. Yes, you may be the only one who thinks that. Well, you and Hizzle maybe.

 

[Silas]

As much as I believe D'Antoni is an anchor around the Lakers' neck, I can't blame the injuries on him. If I can plug D'Antoni in any respect it's that he has had to juggle players and lineups all season.

Of course, even if everyone was healthy, the Lakers would still be a mediocre team at best because D'Antoni doesn't coach defense, but we've covered that issue ad nauseum.

 

[Retroram52]

One of the things short Buss did when he took over besides gut the scouting department was close the strength and conditioning department as well. I don't think the Lakers have much of a staff for strength and conditioning and usually have to seek it out on their own. Perhaps this is the reason they are getting injured with such frequency. No practice, days off, and no strength and conditioning=lots of injuries.

 

[Kold]

Now I will say this, I've always thought that Dantoni ran Kobe into the ground and that went a ways into causing that achilles injury....BUT I don't blame Dantoni for the injuries for the most part. You just can't really explain the last 2 years. Just really bad luck is all that I can say. It's to the point where I watched the game Sunday, and I said oh Bazemore too eh? Swaggy too eh? Injury wise, I've never seen anything like this

 

[trojanfan12]

Now I will say this, I've always thought that Dantoni ran Kobe into the ground and that went a ways into causing that achilles injury....BUT I don't blame Dantoni for the injuries for the most part. You just can't really explain the last 2 years. Just really bad luck is all that I can say. It's to the point where I watched the game Sunday, and I said oh Bazemore too eh? Swaggy too eh? Injury wise, I've never seen anything like this

While I don't think Kobe's minutes had anything to do with the Achilles (no medical basis for that according to doctors), the "injury bug" can hit any team, any time. It happens to at least one team in every sport, every season.

When you think about it, the Lakers have been pretty fortunate throughout the organizations history of not having many seasons where injuries are a big issue. They seem to stay fairly injury free and/or have been blessed to have players like Kobe who manage to play despite injuries that would sideline most players. Maybe it was just their turn?