Magic Johnson says Laker fans should support Mike D’Antoni

A day after expressing disappointment over the Lakers’ decision to hire Mike D’Antoni as head coach, Magic Johnson changed his tune.

“The decision’s been made that D’Antoni is the coach so we must support him. I appreciate him reaching out to me & look forward to speaking,” Johnson tweeted Thursday.

“We also have to remember that not everything is up to the coach, the players also must do their part.”

Johnson had been feeling much more negative the day before.

“The reason I haven’t tweeted in 2 days is because I’ve been mourning Phil Jackson not being hired as the Lakers head coach,” he tweeted.

“My mother always taught me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

At D’Antoni’s introductory news conference Thursday, the coach claimed he hadn’t seen Johnson’s tweets.

However, he said that had already reached out to Johnson, though for another reason.

D’Antoni wants to emulate the offense that Johnson made click during what was called the Showtime era, an up-tempo, high-octane style.

“I’ve reached out to him and I will reach out to him,” D’Antoni said.”No better person to talk to and pick his brain and see where we’re going than him.”

Though D’Antoni claimed he wasn’t aware of Johnson’s disapproving tweets, he knows he was not the popular choice to succeed Mike Brown.

D’Antoni joked that even some of his close friends who are Laker fans were disappointed that he was hired over Phil Jackson, who has won 11 championships with the Lakers and the Bulls.

“Phil was a great coach, is a great coach, will be a great coach with all he’s done, but the reality today is that I have a great group of guys,” D’Antoni said. “I’m looking forward to it. I’m excited.”

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