Was It Mike D'Antoni's Fault The Lakers Failed?

Gary A. Vasquez/US PRESSWIRE

Mike D'Antoni has resigned from his position as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

He may have resigned because he coached the Lakers to a 27-55 season, their worst record since moving to Los Angeles. It may also be because he is the only coach in Lakers history that did not get a playoff win in his first two seasons. It may have even been because he has the worst winning percentage by any coach in Los Angeles Lakers history that kept the Lakers from offering D'Antoni his extension, causing him to resign from his position.

So was it Mike D'Antoni's fault the Lakers failed during his tenure as their head coach.

To be fair D'Antoni never had a chance during his time as the Lakers head coach. From the moment the news broke that it was Mike D'Antoni, and not legendary coach Phil Jackson, who would be coaching the Los Angeles Lakers that cold November night the basketball world went insane. The Lakers just fired Mike Brown and seemed that it would only be destiny that the best coach in sports history would come back to coach a remake of the early 2000's.

D'Antoni was given the job after offering the job to the Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson. The backlash followed immediately after the Lakers swept the rug from under Jackson's feet and gave the job to D'Antoni on a late Sunday evening, while Jackson was given until that Monday to make his decision.

The hype for the Lakers was still enormous going into the 2012-13 season, which is exactly what you would expect from the Lakers with a roster led by Steve Nash, Dwight Howard, and Kobe Bryant.

That hype didn't last long as we watched the Lakers go through hell the rest of that season, going 45-37, and being swept out of the first round of the playoffs.

That's why hiring D'Antoni was a head-scratcher considering the only star on the Lakers who could actually flourish in his system was a 38-year old Steve Nash. Nash's injury plagued season didn't help matters any and the Lakers entered the All Star break with a record of 25-29. They were looking like they would miss the playoffs for only the fifth time in franchise history, even with their All Star laded starting line-up (Nash, Bryant, World Peace, Gasol, and Howard were the starters but because of injury they really didn't get too much playing time together).

Kobe Bryant willed his team to an unbelievable run to the playoffs but unfortunately wouldn't be playing in them. The Lakers were led by Bryant to a 20-8 record after All Star break and snuck into the playoffs as the seventh seed out of the Western Conference.

I was lucky enough to witness one of Kobe's last games that season. Being that I live in a place where the NBA was robbed (Thanks again Clay Bennett) I had to travel down to Rip City, but I was able to catch a glimpse of Kobe's rampage through the end of that season. I watched the Black Mamba and a new rising star in Damian Lillard go back and forth the entire game with the Lakers pulling out a huge win at the Rose Garden in Portland, Ore.

Kobe tore his Achilles the very next game against the Golden State Warriors, he wouldn't make it back to the court until early December the next season.

Mike D'Antoni and the Kobe-less Lakers where swept out in the first round of the playoffs, with the lasting image being Dwight Howard fouling out in the final game as the Lakers get sent home.

Howard left for Houston during the offseason, while the Lakers kind of stood still with not much wiggle room to work with in the free agent market.

D'Antoni was left with a team whose leading scorer in their season opener was Xavier Henry who was only averaging 4.5 points per game in his first three years in the league. The second leading scorer was returning Lakers guard Jordan Farmar.  He did coach them to a 116-103 win over their Staples Center roommate LA Clippers that night but the winning record wouldn't last long.

The Lakers wouldn't make it to above .500 again until one month later while also losing Steve Nash in their first eight games of the season.

Kobe was able to make it back a couple days after that but his season was shot lived when he played in six games in just ten days. The Lakers were then set with their eleventh starting line-up after that injury with Nash in and out of the line-up with injuries as well.

The injury bug rode with the team the entire season as the Lakers would miss the playoffs for only the fifth time in franchise history. 

I mean at one point of the season if you looked at the Lakers bench you would only see one extra man, and he was taking a nap.

So can you really blame Mike D'Antoni's failure as the Los Angeles Lakers head coach?

Of course you can.