L.A. Lakers Hire Mike D'Antoni

From ESPN: The Los Angeles Lakers, in a wholly unexpected move, announced Monday morning that they signed former Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni to replace Mike Brown as head coach.
D'Antoni's deal is for four years, his agent, Warren LeGarie, confirmed to ESPNLosAngeles.com late Sunday night
The Lakers said they plan to hold a press conference most likely on Tuesday or Wednesday. Team spokesperson John Black said Lakers owner Jerry Buss, executive vice president Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak were "unanimous that D'Antoni was the best coach for the team at this time."
Sources confirmed a Los Angeles Times report that D'Antoni quickly agreed to coach the Lakers after L.A.'s weekend of negotiations to bring back Phil Jackson broke down.
It had been widely anticipated that the Lakers would be bringing back Jackson after deciding to oust Brown just five games into the regular season, but sources said that the Lakers ultimately couldn't stomach Jackson's contract demands to return, which were believed to include a salary ranging from $10 to 15 million annually, significant say in personnel decisions as well as his eventual replacement along with the ability for the 67-year-old to skip selected road games.
Sources indicate that the deal was consummated very quickly late Sunday night toward the end of the Lakers win over Sacramento.
D'Antoni, who had knee surgery at the beginning of November, hasn't yet been cleared to travel, according to sources and "it'll be a couple of days before he comes in, but he's further along than people believe."  http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8622773/mike-dantoni-hired-next-coach-los-angeles-lakers-sources-say
I'm not a Laker fan by any stretch of the imagination but it was interesting to see how this worked out.
Clearly, the Lakers wanted Phil Jackson and he apparently wanted the job, but apparently Jackson demanded too much and he wanted to be a part time coach because he didn't want to go on some road trips.
D'Antoni heavily lobbied for the job but the Lakers thought he was a second string coach.
While Steve Nash wanted D'Anton', this is Kobe Bryant's team and it will be interesting to see how he reacts.  Kobe was loyal to the previous coach Mike Brown so it will be interesting to see how he reacts.
But in the end, I don't think the Lakers are not going to make the playoffs.