Ranking all 7 Lakers head coaches since Phil Jackson from "bad" to "scapegoat"

No. 4: Mike D'Antoni

Few head coaches in the history of the Los Angeles Lakers were hired with such a pedigree and track record as Mike D'Antoni. Phil Jackson, of course, joined the team after winning six championships, but most notable head coaches in Lakers history made their name first with the Lakers, with Pat Riley being a notable example.

Mike D'Antoni was the architect of the "Seven Seconds or Less" offense with the Phoenix Suns, which maximized changing league rules and a superstar floor general in Steve Nash to field elite offenses that changed NBA offense forever.

What D'Antoni didn't have upon joining the Lakers was playoff success, going 26-25 with the Suns and 0-4 with the New York Knicks in between. Unfortunately, he wouldn't gain it with the Lakers either, as he was unable to take a feuding, aging and ill-fitting collection of star players and make them sing.

Kobe Bryant, Nash, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard looked like an amazing collection of talent on paper, but in reality they struggled with injuries and chemistry and D'Antoni wasn't able to find the breakthrough to bring them together. The Lakers went 40-32 his first season and then were demolished by the Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs four games to none. They stumbled to a 27-55 year the following season and D'Antoni was fired.

Nash played a total of 65 games combined across those two seasons; Kobe missed all but 6 games of that second season. D'Antoni was handed a grenade, it went off in his hands, and he was blamed for it. Still, he didn't do anything to earn himself a more prominent standing on this list, and it's an indictment of the other Lakers coaches during this period that there were three ranked worse than he was.