The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into the upcoming NBA season with the Dwightmare being a thing of the past and head coach Mike D’Antoni basically starting with a clean slate. Although many Lakers fans still disagree with D’Antoni getting hired over Phil Jackson last year, it is what it is at this point, and the team needs to look forward rather than backward.
Along with D’Antoni entering the season with low expectations and a lot of new faces on the roster, the veteran head coach made a point of it to clear the air with Lakers’ Executive VP Jeanie Buss.
D’Antoni met with Buss recently after comments came to light about her feelings regarding the team passing on an opportunity to hire Jackson in favor of D’Antoni.
D’Antoni said the following about the meeting with Buss via Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports:
“There is a process you have to go through, and I think everybody is good now,” D’Antoni told Yahoo Sports. “We just have to make it work in the sense that we got to win. Everything is good. It really is.”
With the air clear and the team basically starting from scratch this year, D’Antoni has an ideal opportunity to turn this team around while rebuilding his reputation in Los Angeles at the same time. The chants for Phil will likely continue every time the team struggles and the fans want to take it out on D’Antoni, but he has a chance at redemption if he is able to get this team back into the playoffs this season.
As of right now, no one expects much out of this team potentially at the beginning stages of a rebuilding process, but that may work to D’Antoni’s advantage with the storied franchise creeping out of the shadow of title aspirations.
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