The Detroit Pistons play the Lakers on Tuesday night. The Lakers won the first meeting 106-96.
The myth of Mike D’antoni is that he saves careers. While that is a point to argue, it is accurate to say D’antoni changes careers. He transformed Jodie Meeks, a decent shooter, into a go-to player and closer, at least for one year.
Apr 8, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Jodie Meeks (10) acknowledges Steve Nash (not pictured) after Meeks scored on assist by Nash to pass Mark Jackson (not pictured) to move into third on the all-time NBA assist list in the second quarter against the Houston Rockets at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
In the beginning of the 2013-14 season, when the Lakers were in need of a scoring guard and Meeks was in need of an opportunity, D’antoni gave him the green light, playing Meeks 33 minutes a game, the most on the team, more than Pau Gasol. Meeks responded. He shot 40% from three (22nd in the league). He made 46% of his field goals. He had a 42 point game against the Thunder, a career high. Meeks had tirelessly worked on driving to the rim and was his most successful than he had ever been, 67%.
Meeks, a second round draft pick out of Kentucky, an undersized shooting guard who lacked explosion and athleticism but worked harder than almost anyone alive, copied Ray Allen’s pre-game ritual of arriving early and shooting until his arms nearly fell off. Allen was always prepared and in that mathematical brain of his, he made sure nothing was left to chance. Shooting is about angles and Meeks, who was never the most talented but had a deep competitive drive to succeed, made sure the angles were always in his favor.
Jodie Meeks had never had a year like last year, but this was also true. He wasn’t an entertainer. People didn’t turn on the television to see what he was going to do. He wasn’t electric when he succeeded and he wasn’t abysmal when he failed. He was a solid player who once said in an interview his success could be traced to being raised in a two parent household outside of Atlanta. Meeks, who received his B.A. degree from the University of Kentucky shortly after last season was over, could never be confused with the high energy, gregarious and sometimes outrageous, self-promotion of Nick Young. Meeks was a good player with a virtuous character but not what sells tickets on a Friday night in Los Angeles.
Feb 22, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Nick Young (0) reacts to a 3 point basket in the second half of the game against the Boston Celtics at Staples Center. Lakers won 118-111 in OT. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
That would be Nick Young. He also was a Mike D’antoni reclamation project, an indulgent and greedy for attention, preternaturally joyful player who was a breath of fresh air for a town that had just seen its 18 year star rip up his Achilles on national television. Sometimes players appear to be robotic but they are human with flaws like everyone else. Young felt accepted by Mike D’antoni’s player-friendly style of coaching.
The thing about D’antoni was that he didn’t treat his players as if they were coming off some prison crew rail line and needed to be punished at every opportunity for what they did wrong. D’antoni used encouragement and praise, saving his critique for private moments.
Mike D’antoni admitted his favorite player to coach last year was Nick Young, despite the truth of Nick Young’s career. Young had accumulated a pretty lengthy list of shortcomings.
Number one on the list: his bad shots. Number two: his dizzying dribbling. Number three: his reluctance or refusal- does it really matter which- to pass the ball. Number four: his allergy to rebounding. Number five: his lack of toughness around the rim.
How can someone with a vertical like that not want to take the ball to the hole? Nick Young wasn’t a secret. He was one dimensional. Take away his shooting and you have a player who can’t do much of anything.
But, D’antoni looked beyond his limitations and took what Nick Young loved- scoring- and he made him the best at it that he could be. Last season, Young scored 18 points a game, a career high. He shot 65% at the rim and 43% on corner threes. He was the perfect teammate for a 27 win season, happy and effusive most of the time which reduced the anxiety and stress that losing brings. Like Jodie Meeks, Young was in the last year of his deal. He wanted to come back to the Lakers. He wanted it badly.
He had to wait his turn. Carmelo Anthony held the Lakers hostage. No other business could be transacted until Anthony made his decision; that would last two weeks, two weeks that Jodie Meeks was not going to wait around for. On July 1, 2014 Meeks accepted an $18 million dollar deal to play for the Detroit Pistons which was a watershed moment for someone selected in the second round of the draft.
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In the meantime, Nick Young waited for the Carmelo Anthony sideshow to end and then he and the Lakers reached a deal: 4 years, $21 million. For a player with one skill, it was a moment of truth. But, money in hand, the question about Nick Young was whispered: was he up for the job at hand, especially the scrutiny?
Three quarters of the season is in the books and both Young and Meeks, who are no longer in the fast paced Mike D’antoni bubble, have struggled.
Dec 26, 2014; Dallas, TX, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Nick Young (0) reacts during the game against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Nick Young is having a horrific year, the worst of his career as he has not been able to adapt nor adjust to the Byron Scott system, a vanity-less, three point starvation, mid-range repressive offense without ball movement so shooters are rarely open. Young may be sidelined for the rest of the year and that is good news for him and for us. He is shooting 37%, a numbing number that means he can’t do the one thing he is good at. Instead, he is torturing the rim with his horrible misses.
Jodie Meeks has seen his numbers drop as well. He is shooting 40%, and 32% from three. His minutes have dropped to 25 a game as he is scoring four points less than last year. Everything else is down too, assists, rebounds and steals. Meeks has not changed, not as a player, but the offense, the Mike D’antoni scoring on purpose, play fast on purpose, is a part of his history now that he is in Detroit.
There is nothing accidental about the Lakers desire of and infatuation with stars. Nick Young doesn’t fall into the star category of the Lakers most famed players but he does attract attention. He is watchable and curious and people want to know about him. But, his basketball skills have not improved since he was a rookie. He’s never been known for work ethic or defense and some of the things he does on the court are a running joke. But, the Lakers erred on the side of entertainment and not blue collar. Realizing this was going to be a lost season, they needed some highlights. They needed Swaggy P. to take everyone’s mind off of things.
What they got was miserable Nick Young basketball. It’s affected Young in the sense that he droops his head too often. He can’t seem to shake this year long slump, having no answers as to why. The easy thing to do is to point the finger at Byron Scott whose refusal to accept Nick Young for what he is has burdened Young and his confidence. At this stage in his career, Nick Young is not going to change. But, Scott is not shy in criticizing Nick in the press, a throwback to when Young played for Doug Collins in Philadelphia, and everything Young did was wrong. That strategy has never worked for Young because he doesn’t take critique and try to prove people wrong. He lives to make people happy.
And so, both players in this season after D’antoni, both Nick Young and Jodie Meeks, have more money. But, they are not in the playoffs and they are a shell of what they were last year and they have struggled with health and they are not immune from the stress and expectations and criticism that taking the money brings. They both have had tough times this year, far worse than what happened to them playing for Mike D’antoni.
It’s intriguing to wonder if things were different, if the Lakers wanted a tough and gritty player and let Nick Young and his entertainment game walk, if Nick Young was in Detroit playing for Stan Van Gundy, if the two former Mike D’antoni stars reversed their history, what would be different?
The playoffs would still be out of their grasp, their respective teams would still reside in lottery-land and their seasons would still trend towards mediocrity instead of brilliance.