Courtesy of Jackie McMullan’s “When the Game was Ours.”

Magic and the Lakers

“Paul only ran this system where I was supposed to only run down the floor on my designated side, the left side,” Magic said, “I’m saying, ‘Are you kidding me? I can only use the left side of the floor?’”
“Coach we need to get back to running.” Magic said to Westhead after one practice. Westhead answered, “Magic, stick to the game plan.” The fractured Lakers were stunned by the Houston Rockets in the opening round of the best of three series. Magic shot 2-13 from the floor in the final game and threw up an air ball on the final play as he drove to the basket.

Magic wasn’t the only player who chafed at Westhead’s style. Neither Nixon nor Wilkes liked it either, but only Magic spoke his mind. During a timeout Westhead told Magic “You’re busting the system. You’re not doing your job.” This led to an argument after the game in the hallway. Soon, Magic went to the lockeroom and announced to reporters that he wanted to be traded. The next day when the Lakers arrived in Los Angeles, West and Buss were waiting for Magic and they told him they had fired Westhead.

Magic was relieved. Pat Riley (the assistant), whom Magic had trusted and liked was named the head coach. On the night of November 20, Johnson arrived earlier than normal to the forum. He was anxious for a new start and couldn’t wait for the game to begin.

The 1983 Celtics

Celtic players did all they could to ouster coach Bill Fitch. “It was a bad season,” said Ainge. “Maxwell (Cedric) and Parrish weren’t listening. They had totally tuned Fitch out. And Kevin McHale wasn’t happy either.

“It was a professional mutiny,” said Buckner. “They just wouldn’t play for Bill Fitch. They spent half a season trying to embarrass him. That’s not an environment I was familiar with. Bill deserved better.”

“I admit it,” M.L. Carr said, “Our goal in 1983 wasn’t to win a championship. It was to get rid of Fitch. After the Bucks sweep, McHale caused a stir when he declared he could “Hold his head high” following the debacle.

WOrthy>Melo

Jabbar>Melo

BIrd>Melo

Parish>Melo

McHale>Melo

BIll Fitch and Paul Westhad each had won championships with those clubs.

each of those players had won with those exiled coach.

MDA had not.

Melo had not.

Nalod wrote:Magic>Melo

WOrthy>Melo

Jabbar>Melo

BIrd>Melo

Parish>Melo

McHale>Melo

BIll Fitch and Paul Westhad each had won championships with those clubs.

each of those players had won with those exiled coach.

MDA had not.

Melo had not.

So, aslong as you have championship hardware, its okay to not give 100% and get your coach fired?

yellowboy90 wrote:What is happening in Clipper land? Is Paul try to get his coach fired.

Hope so- Del Negro is a terrible, terrible non-coach, I honestly don't know how he ever got the Clippers job- I know they stink, but he showed absolutely nothing in Chicago- why pick him out of all the other non-entity coaches out there?

Anywhay, now they have better players on their team and higher goals, it's time to ditch Del Negro- probably D'Antoni would be a good fit there next season.

Uptown wrote:

So, aslong as you have championship hardware, its okay to not give 100% and get your coach fired?

Look, it happens with every team and nearly every player- a team has a coach, after a few yars the players lose confidence in them and then they start to dog it until the coach gets fired- and that's how it should be. If a coach isn't working and can't motivate their players then why keep them around.

I suppose the Melo/D'Antoni situation is a bit different because most of the team probably supported D'Antoni, even though I suspect they didn't have a great deal of faith in him. I'd say by the end of his era, D'Antoni had lost Melo, Shump, TD and JR. I think Tyson and Amar'e probably didn't really have confidence in him, but were willing to carry on supporting him publically.

Not a fan of Melo's behaviour the past few weeks, but what will define him for me is what he does the rest of this season. If he carrys on putting in the effort, playing defense, rebounding and passing and doesn't grumble about his lack of shots, then I can root for him- if he starts whining again then I've had it with him.

smackeddog wrote:

Uptown wrote:

So, aslong as you have championship hardware, its okay to not give 100% and get your coach fired?

Look, it happens with every team and nearly every player- a team has a coach, after a few yars the players lose confidence in them and then they start to dog it until the coach gets fired- and that's how it should be. If a coach isn't working and can't motivate their players then why keep them around.

I suppose the Melo/D'Antoni situation is a bit different because most of the team probably supported D'Antoni, even though I suspect they didn't have a great deal of faith in him. I'd say by the end of his era, D'Antoni had lost Melo, Shump, TD and JR. I think Tyson and Amar'e probably didn't really have confidence in him, but were willing to carry on supporting him publically.

Not a fan of Melo's behaviour the past few weeks, but what will define him for me is what he does the rest of this season. If he carrys on putting in the effort, playing defense, rebounding and passing and doesn't grumble about his lack of shots, then I can root for him- if he starts whining again then I've had it with him.

Cant argue with anything you said here. Very fair post.

crzymdups wrote:The idea that star players haven't had friction with stubborn coaches before is clearly wrong. It's some weird notion that sticking with Melo over MDA is baaad. I think some posters are overprotective of MDA and oddly, the Linsanity-era posters who have signed up in the past week seem to think it's bad for Jeremy's brand to actually be winning games again. Firing MDA wasn't an idictment of Lin, it was an indictment of MDA. If anything, Lin excelling under Woodson proves he is not a one trick pony and will have a long and successful career in this league.

Good point about the Linsanity era posters. It seems that Melo is the devil-himself as he supposedly put an end to the Linsanity era all by his lonesome. Nevermind that the defenses were game-planning for him now, and the tougher competition we faced on the road. But as you said, Lin has proven to be a quick study and is progessing nicely.