Mike D'Antoni is standing on thin ice among Los Angeles Lakers fans, and his latest comments about star Kobe Bryant may have decided his fate once the season is over.
Though many players and coaches come off generally miserable after a loss, D'Antoni took things to another level.
After his injured star Bryant tweeted some requests that the Lakers continue to use post plays for forward Pau Gasol in the Lakers Game 1 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, former head coach Phil Jackson chimed in telling Bryant it'll "drive him bananas to watch the ship go down."
Well during the press conference after the game D'Antoni was asked about Bryant's tweets, and after rolling his eyes a bit, he made a sarcastic remark and dismissed Bryant's advice by calling him "just a fan right now."
That of course was a shot to Bryant's ego, who then took offense to the comment and sent out a tweet heard around the world.
During Monday's episode of the popular ESPN show First Take, stars Steven A. Smith and Skip Bayless unleashed the furry of outrage behind D'Antoni's comments.
Smith made himself very clear in his notion that D'Antoni should issue a public apology to "one of the greatest players ever." He went on to talk about D'Antoni's past relationships with other star players and how he seemingly causes a rift between himself and his team with his "my way or the highway" type attitude.
Bayless added that D'Antoni is now being "exposed" during the playoffs as he appears to have no clue on how he should run his offense. He also downplayed his coaching style that made him famous in Phoenix, saying that it will not work with the players that he currently has. He even went as far to say that guard Steve Nash, who is used to D'Antoni's coaching scheme, has suffered tremendously this season.
Things aren't looking too good for D'Antoni right now, and unless he can pull of a championship season this year, he'll remain to be highly criticized by fans around the world.
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