Mike D’Antoni Introduced as New Lakers Head Coach

Mike D'Antoni Introduced as New Lakers Head Coach

Moving smoothly on crutches while his Los Angeles Lakers went through drills orchestrated by his assistant coach and brother, Dan Mike, D'Antoni circled the court 2 feet at a time.

D'Antoni's couldn't wait any longer to get the Lakers rolling, although his surgically replaced knee is slowing him down a bit.

The new coach formally took over the Lakers on Thursday; just four days after the slow-starting club hired him to replace Mike Brown. The former Knicks and Suns coach is still on crutches and pain medication after surgery earlier this month, but thinks he'll soon be back to normal while he attempts to transform the Lakers into his vision of an up-tempo, high-scoring team.

''I'm really happy to be here - excited,'' D'Antoni said.

''We're starting to put stuff in now. Might take a little bit, but ... we're built to win this year. This is not a five-year project. We have a window, and we're going to try to get through it.''

Mitch Kupchak, Lakers general manager, welcomed D'Antoni after practice at a news conference packed with dozens of media members. D'Antoni, given his limited mobility, isn't likely to make his sideline debut until Sunday night against Houston, with interim coach Bernie Bickerstaff probably manning the bench again Friday night against Phoenix.

''This is a great city to have an up-tempo, exciting game that has a legitimate shot to win a championship,'' D'Antoni said. ''I can't ask for anything more.''

D'Antoni's affable charm immediately worked on the Lakers, who praised their new coach's behavior during their first few hours together. The coach acknowledged few doubts about taking over the star-studded roster that got off to a 1-4 start to the season, speaking instead of the limitless possibilities of the Lakers' talent within his creative style of coaching.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Saturday November 17 2012, 5:11 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0