Jayne Kamin-Oncea-US PRESSWIRE

The Los Angeles Lakers hired Mike D’Antoni as their new head coach late last night. It was a move that surprised some since Phil Jackson seemed to be their No. 1 target but a deal could not be reached to acquire the Zen Master.

The biggest aspect of the D’Antoni hiring is that he will be reunited with point guard Steve Nash who thrived so much under his system in the past that he won two MVP awards. Nash was an afterthought in the Princeton offense Mike Brown was running this year and would have remained that way in the Triangle under Jackson.

We can expect to see a very different offense for the Lakers this season now with D’Antoni running the show.

Nash should be featured much more but maybe not as much as he was in Phoenix since Kobe Bryant also needs to be accounted for as someone who needs the ball. The Lakers will be running a lot more pick-and-roll in general and posting up less.

The Lakers are posting up 20.6 percent of the time on offense so far this year and scoring 0.93 points per possession on those plays which is good for 4th in the league. In 2009-10, the last season Nash played under D’Antoni, post-up plays accounted for just 8.5 percent of the Suns’ offense.

The Lakers are running the pick-and-roll 10.7 percent of the time so far this season. Nash and the Suns ran it 19.6% of the time back in 2009-10 and scored more PPP than anyone else in the league with it.

The Nash-Amare Stoudemire pick-and-roll was one of the best in history and such was the case three seasons ago. Nash scored 0.99 PPP as the pick-and-roll ball handler that season which was 10th best in the league. Stoudemire scored 1.21 PPP as the roll man which was 18th in the league.

While Nash now is a slight downgrade from Nash three years ago, Dwight Howard may be an upgrade from Stoudemire. Howard scored 1.36 PPP as the roll man last year with the Magic which was 2nd best in the league. He was also great scoring off cuts scoring 1.41 PPP.

Kobe scored 0.86 PPP as the pick-and-roll ball handler last season which was 41st in the league. He will undoubtedly be doing a lot more of this under D’Antoni and if he can keep scoring at that clip, he should be just fine in the new system.

Another key to D’Antoni-Nash is spot-up shooting. The Suns were the best in the league on spot-up plays three years ago scoring 1.11 PPP. They had a large cast of capable outside shooters back then which the Lakers don’t quite have this year.

Players like Antawn Jamison and Jodie Meeks should see an increase in spot-up opportunities and both have a history of being very good on those plays in the past.

The Lakers will probably run more under D’Antoni now too. It won’t be seven seconds or less exactly since they are pretty old but maybe something like 10 seconds or less instead.

Transition plays accounted for 13.3 percent of the Suns’ offense three years ago. The Lakers transition offense makes up just 10.1 percent of their offense this year.

The Lakers under D’Antoni may be better suited to match up with the Thunder now than before. The Thunder were 4th best in the league last year defending post-up plays while the Lakers posted up more than anyone.

OKC was in the top eight defending the pick-and-roll last year and has struggled out of the gates doing so this year. OKC was also just 23rd in the league last year defending transition plays. If the Lakers can improve in the pick-and-roll and run more, they may be tougher for the Thunder to match up with.

The Lakers are 3-4 on the year and will play their next game Tuesday night vs. the San Antonio Spurs. D’Antoni is still recovering from knee replacement surgery so likely will not be with the team for that game but he is expected to make his debut within a week or two.

The Lakers will play the Thunder for the first time on Dec. 7 in OKC.

US PRESSWIRE

The Los Angeles Lakers made it official last night hiring Mike D’Antoni, not Phil Jackson, as their next head coach.

The deal in total is for four seasons in which D’Antoni is guaranteed $12 million over the first three with a team option for the fourth.

“We signed Mike D’Antoni to a multi-year deal,” Lakers spokesman John Black told the LA Times. “Dr. [Jerry] Buss, Jim Buss and Mitch Kupchak were unanimous that Mike D’Antoni was the best coach for the team at this time.”

D’Antonti most recently coached the New York Knicks last season before being replaced by Mike Woodson. He is currently recovering from knee replacement surgery and will take over as head coach within a week or two.

The Lakers started this season 1-4 under Mike Brown and then have won the last two games since he was fired under interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff.

The Lakers wanted Phil Jackson to come back but apparently he wanted too much and a deal could not be reached.

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash have both expressed their support for the D’Antoni hiring. Kobe also was all four Jackson returning but likes D’Antoni too, idolizing him growing up and he even wore No. 8 to begin his career because of D’Antoni.

Nash has a great history with D’Antoni winning two MVP’s while the point guard in his 7 seconds or less offensive system. Nash, D’Antoni and the Suns made it to two Western Conference Finals together.

The Princeton offense era in L.A. is dead already and there won’t be a return to the Triangle either. Nash will surely be the focal point of the offense again under D’Antoni with some obvious tweaks being made for Kobe, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard as well.

Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

The Los Angeles Lakers are in search of a new head coach now after firing Mike Brown after a 1-4 start to this season.

Phil Jackson and Mike D’Antoni are both being targeted by the Lakers. Jackson is reportedly “willing to listen” as he awaits the inevitable phone call from the Lakers.

D’Antoni just had knee replacement surgery and wouldn’t be able to travel with the team until later this month if hired.

Some of the Lakers players are already backing the potential hiring of Jackson.

“He’d be great,” Dwight Howard told the LA Times. “There’s a lot I can learn from him. But until he comes, we’ve got to put faith in Bernie [Bickerstaff].”

Jackson once said that if he could pick one player to start a franchise with, it would be Howard and not LeBron James. The chance to now coach Howard in L.A. and chase some more titles might be enough to entice the Zen Master.

Former assistants Jim Cleamons and Kurt Rambis are ready to re-join Jackson on the sidelines if he does return, according to Yahoo! Sports.

D’Antoni would be an interesting fit in L.A. because of his history of not being a defensive-minded coach. To be fair, D’Antoni has almost always had Amare Stoudemire on his team and that never makes it easy to play great defense. Howard would be about the biggest possible upgrade from Stoudemire in terms of defense and could make it so D’Antoni’s system is able to more closely compete for a title.

There is Steve Nash’s history with D’Antoni which also must be considered. Nash thrived under D’Antoni winning two MVP’s and making it to the Western Conference Finals twice. Nash did not look like he was going to be used right in the Princeton offense and the Triangle offense also doesn’t feature a point guard much.

There have been a few other names mentioned as possible replacement candidates for the Lakers head coaching position. Former Utah Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan is among the candidates as well as Brian Shaw and Mike Dunleavy.