Los Angeles Lakers Hire Mike D'Antoni as New Head Coach

As soon as Mike Brown was relieved of his duties as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, it seemed only logical that Phil Jackson would return to his rightful place behind the bench, but that is not the case.

Mike D'Antoni, former Phoenix Suns and New York Knicks bench boss, will be the man tasked with managing a team of talent highlighted by Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol.

The deal is for four years, and financial terms were not disclosed.

There are the obvious ties between D'Antoni and Nash dating back to their Phoenix days, but the Los Angeles Lakers of 2012-13 are not the Phoenix Suns. Although Steve Nash is still one of the best passing point guards in the NBA, this is Kobe Bryant's team.

Many Knicks fans became critical of how D'Antoni utilized his players in New York, so considering he will be dealing with more talent in Los Angeles, there will obviously be pressure on the coach.

The news of D'Antoni being tapped to become the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers was broken on Twitter by Mike Bresnahan of The Los Angeles Times, and it was later verified by other sources like USA Today.

According to Bresnahan, D'Antoni will ease into the job after coming off of knee surgery and isn't expected to be introduced until later this week:

"

The Lakers will officially introduce Mike D'Antoni at a news conference as early as Tuesday but more likely later in the week.

— Mike Bresnahan (@Mike_Bresnahan) November 12, 2012"

Will Mike D'Antoni be able to manage this team full of talent, and will the Lakers be successful under D'Antoni? He had trouble with the Knicks, and the team only had Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony in terms of premium talent.

It will be interesting to see if Laker fans are surprised that Phil Jackson will not become the next head coach and if they will be receptive to D'Antoni as the next head coach.