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Sad note for talk-show hosts: Mike D'Antoni isn't turning up his car radio to hear you and your faithful listeners destroy him.
"Hell, no," D'Antoni said on a sunny Manhattan Beach afternoon, plenty of time before rush-hour shows typically unleash another round of venom aimed at the Lakers' coach.
These are trying times to be a Lakers fan in Los Angeles, the playoffs hardly a guarantee next season as the Clippers continue their assumed ascension past the 16-time NBA champions.
Naturally, many of the verbal arrows get fired at the affable D'Antoni in comments at the end of online stories, letters to the editor and the above-mentioned airwaves.
No, the specter of Phil Jackson never quite left the Lakers.
"I think anybody that comes in here the next 10, 15 years, it's going to be that way," D'Antoni said. "I don't think there is any doubt that he was so good and so large and he's still sitting out there.
"Had that bothered me, I shouldn't have taken the job because you know it's going to be there. I wasn't stupid enough to think that, 'Oh, they won't remember him.' Sure they will. It doesn't really affect what we do day-to-day and how we approach the game."
D'Antoni, 62, has two more guaranteed years on his contract after going 40-32 last season and then getting swept in the playoffs by San Antonio as his players crumbled physically.
Kobe Bryant's season ended in mid-April, Steve Nash's season never seemed to get underway and even the loss of Steve Blake was mourned in the playoffs (strained hamstring).
Lakers fans didn't want injury excuses. Nor could they ever blame their on-court heroes. So they sharpened their tongues and went after D'Antoni.
"I'm sure it's out there. If you don't win, it's there," he said. "If you're coaching in Fort Wayne, it's going to be the same thing. I think the Lakers are a special case because they're the No. 1 team that's on ESPN. You just do the best job you can do and go on. If you get caught up in what they're saying, you can't do your job."
Then he mentioned his peers in what was a surprisingly cranky, impatient off-season.
"Look at what happened to coaches this year. Eleven get let go. And three or four of them had the best years the franchise has ever had," D'Antoni said. "So who am I to say they're treating me bad? What about all those other guys?"
D'Antoni never feared for his job security despite the first-round playoff flameout.
"No, because Mitch [Kupchak] and Jim Buss were really supportive and great," he said of the team's front-office executives. "I couldn't ask for anything better from the staff and franchise. I don't want to be flippant, but you also have to have an attitude of, 'To hell with everything. Concentrate. Go forward.' You can't get distracted by the noise."
The Lakers finished seventh in the Western Conference last season and then lost Dwight Howard's 17 points and 12 rebounds a game to the "little town" of Houston, to steal Shaquille O'Neal's assessment.
They also lost veteran free agent Antawn Jamison, who publicly criticized D'Antoni and has yet to sign with another team.
Addition by subtraction? The Lakers can only hope, despite their very public courting of Howard that started a mere eight weeks ago and crashed and burned barely a week later.
"We've definitely improved our shooting and I think the chemistry will be better just because the uncertainty has gone away," D'Antoni said. "A lot of people will know their roles better and what's going on on the floor better. Dealing with free agency day to day, we won't have those problems."
The Lakers added Nick Young, Jordan Farmar, Wesley Johnson and veteran center Chris Kaman.
"We're real excited about some of the possibilities and trying to develop some guys that will turn into good players," D'Antoni said. "It'll be good for them, good for the Lakers. It's always exciting to have young guys like that who are willing to learn, willing to work hard."
The important players, though, are the obvious ones, and they'll arrive at training camp in six weeks with question marks and asterisks.
Bryant, who turns 35 on Friday, claims to be ahead of schedule in recovering from a torn Achilles' tendon but hasn't started playing yet. Nash, 39, still isn't at full strength after sustaining a broken bone in his leg last season, along with a complicated hip and hamstring injury that required numerous epidural shots. Pau Gasol, 33, recently began non-basketball activities after undergoing a procedure three months ago to try to prevent further soreness in his knee tendons.
"I think Pau and Nash will be 100% before the season starts," D'Antoni said. "We'll try to go slow with them during preseason and make sure they're OK. We'll see how the season goes but maybe work with them to keep their minutes down to where it's manageable and keep them OK."
Possible playing-time restrictions for Gasol and Nash? Uh-oh.
Meanwhile, the Lakers can only hope Bryant returns for the season opener Oct. 29 against the Clippers.
"I think Kobe's still a question mark in the sense that nobody knows for sure," D'Antoni said. "You have to look at his track record and what he's done and how he's battled through things and it's like, 'Oh, wow.' But until the doctors can tell you, and that's another month away that they'll be able to give a timetable, we'll see what happens."
D'Antoni added that Bryant would "definitely win the battle. He always does."
Few basketball experts think the Lakers will win enough games to make the playoffs. Three teams that finished below them last season — Portland, Minnesota and New Orleans — have improved already-young rosters.
Yet D'Antoni thinks the Lakers can improve upon last season's 45-37 record ... if they stay healthy.
"I don't see why not," he said. "I think we can be better because I don't think we reached our potential last year. Our lack of defense came mostly from lack of energy from guys that didn't feel right in their place on the team. Defense is energy, concentration and the desire to do it.
"If something is sapping that energy — distractions, injuries, not feeling good about the team — then you're not going to put your heart and soul into it and it comes out on the defensive end. They just didn't feel each other."
D'Antoni will go to Wake Forest for a week with his son, Michael Jr., who will be a freshman.
But before the elder D'Antoni heads east, he has kind words for everyone who doesn't think so kindly of him.
"Everything's been good," he said. "It's surprising how many fans there are. It's even more than what I thought. Everything's been real good."
mike.bresnahan@latimes.com
Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan
These are trying times to be a Lakers fan in Los Angeles, the playoffs hardly a guarantee next season as the Clippers continue their assumed ascension past the 16-time NBA champions.
Naturally, many of the verbal arrows get fired at the affable D'Antoni in comments at the end of online stories, letters to the editor and the above-mentioned airwaves.
No, the specter of Phil Jackson never quite left the Lakers.
"I think anybody that comes in here the next 10, 15 years, it's going to be that way," D'Antoni said. "I don't think there is any doubt that he was so good and so large and he's still sitting out there.
"Had that bothered me, I shouldn't have taken the job because you know it's going to be there. I wasn't stupid enough to think that, 'Oh, they won't remember him.' Sure they will. It doesn't really affect what we do day-to-day and how we approach the game."
D'Antoni, 62, has two more guaranteed years on his contract after going 40-32 last season and then getting swept in the playoffs by San Antonio as his players crumbled physically.
Kobe Bryant's season ended in mid-April, Steve Nash's season never seemed to get underway and even the loss of Steve Blake was mourned in the playoffs (strained hamstring).
Lakers fans didn't want injury excuses. Nor could they ever blame their on-court heroes. So they sharpened their tongues and went after D'Antoni.
"I'm sure it's out there. If you don't win, it's there," he said. "If you're coaching in Fort Wayne, it's going to be the same thing. I think the Lakers are a special case because they're the No. 1 team that's on ESPN. You just do the best job you can do and go on. If you get caught up in what they're saying, you can't do your job."
Then he mentioned his peers in what was a surprisingly cranky, impatient off-season.
"Look at what happened to coaches this year. Eleven get let go. And three or four of them had the best years the franchise has ever had," D'Antoni said. "So who am I to say they're treating me bad? What about all those other guys?"
D'Antoni never feared for his job security despite the first-round playoff flameout.
"No, because Mitch [Kupchak] and Jim Buss were really supportive and great," he said of the team's front-office executives. "I couldn't ask for anything better from the staff and franchise. I don't want to be flippant, but you also have to have an attitude of, 'To hell with everything. Concentrate. Go forward.' You can't get distracted by the noise."
The Lakers finished seventh in the Western Conference last season and then lost Dwight Howard's 17 points and 12 rebounds a game to the "little town" of Houston, to steal Shaquille O'Neal's assessment.
They also lost veteran free agent Antawn Jamison, who publicly criticized D'Antoni and has yet to sign with another team.
Addition by subtraction? The Lakers can only hope, despite their very public courting of Howard that started a mere eight weeks ago and crashed and burned barely a week later.
"We've definitely improved our shooting and I think the chemistry will be better just because the uncertainty has gone away," D'Antoni said. "A lot of people will know their roles better and what's going on on the floor better. Dealing with free agency day to day, we won't have those problems."
The Lakers added Nick Young, Jordan Farmar, Wesley Johnson and veteran center Chris Kaman.
"We're real excited about some of the possibilities and trying to develop some guys that will turn into good players," D'Antoni said. "It'll be good for them, good for the Lakers. It's always exciting to have young guys like that who are willing to learn, willing to work hard."
The important players, though, are the obvious ones, and they'll arrive at training camp in six weeks with question marks and asterisks.
Bryant, who turns 35 on Friday, claims to be ahead of schedule in recovering from a torn Achilles' tendon but hasn't started playing yet. Nash, 39, still isn't at full strength after sustaining a broken bone in his leg last season, along with a complicated hip and hamstring injury that required numerous epidural shots. Pau Gasol, 33, recently began non-basketball activities after undergoing a procedure three months ago to try to prevent further soreness in his knee tendons.
"I think Pau and Nash will be 100% before the season starts," D'Antoni said. "We'll try to go slow with them during preseason and make sure they're OK. We'll see how the season goes but maybe work with them to keep their minutes down to where it's manageable and keep them OK."
Possible playing-time restrictions for Gasol and Nash? Uh-oh.
Meanwhile, the Lakers can only hope Bryant returns for the season opener Oct. 29 against the Clippers.
"I think Kobe's still a question mark in the sense that nobody knows for sure," D'Antoni said. "You have to look at his track record and what he's done and how he's battled through things and it's like, 'Oh, wow.' But until the doctors can tell you, and that's another month away that they'll be able to give a timetable, we'll see what happens."
D'Antoni added that Bryant would "definitely win the battle. He always does."
Few basketball experts think the Lakers will win enough games to make the playoffs. Three teams that finished below them last season — Portland, Minnesota and New Orleans — have improved already-young rosters.
Yet D'Antoni thinks the Lakers can improve upon last season's 45-37 record ... if they stay healthy.
"I don't see why not," he said. "I think we can be better because I don't think we reached our potential last year. Our lack of defense came mostly from lack of energy from guys that didn't feel right in their place on the team. Defense is energy, concentration and the desire to do it.
"If something is sapping that energy — distractions, injuries, not feeling good about the team — then you're not going to put your heart and soul into it and it comes out on the defensive end. They just didn't feel each other."
D'Antoni will go to Wake Forest for a week with his son, Michael Jr., who will be a freshman.
But before the elder D'Antoni heads east, he has kind words for everyone who doesn't think so kindly of him.
"Everything's been good," he said. "It's surprising how many fans there are. It's even more than what I thought. Everything's been real good."
mike.bresnahan@latimes.com
Twitter: @Mike_Bresnahan
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