What a rough season its been for the Los Angeles Lakers and their fans. Suffering through the worst season in franchise history, all fans have had to look forward to is the upcoming NBA Draft.
Much of the fans scorn has fallen on embattled, and often times clueless, head coach Mike D’Antoni. Fair or not, D’Antoni has taken the brunt of the blame for this injury-riddled, loss-filled season.
The Lakers have basically been unable to win under D’Antoni, so with two games remaining on the schedule and Los Angeles in need of two losses for optimal draft position, D’Antoni and the Lakers went out and… won.
With many fans upset that the Lakers had sabotaged their draft lottery hopes, D’Antoni attempted to defend the win (which sounds ridiculous, but welcome to Laker fans) and in the process showed that he knows pretty much nothing about the standings and draft lottery nowadays.
“They played hard, and I think, if I’m not mistaken, it’s the same number of pingpong balls, right?” D’Antoni said. “They flip a coin, or something.”
A reporter informed D’Antoni that the win by the Lakers actually cemented the Jazz with a worse record and thus better lottery chances.
“I mean, you kind of hate that,” D’Antoni responded, realizing what the win did to the potential draft order. “But, I thought we had the same rank.”
You really can’t blame D’Antoni for just wanting this season to be over with, but not even knowing where your team is in the standings? Yikes.
This all will likely be coming to an end soon, as the Lakers are expected to let D’Antoni go once the season comes to an end.
We’ll see where the ping pong balls land for the Lakers during the draft lottery on May 20th. If Los Angeles lands an unfavorable pick, it could be a very long off-season for the franchise.