Brown after OKC loss: "Sessions is still in Search Mode"

[0HeadAche0]

clearly need to get sessions back on the bench.

makes no sense to me to have him out there with the first unit, when he can run and be aggressive off the bench and also make the bench players play a lot better by giving them better scoring opportunities than steve blake can get them.

you obviously want sessions finishing games but he needs to log the majority of time with the weaker players and making them better, which he can do

[VIPER8382]

clearly need to get sessions back on the bench.

makes no sense to me to have him out there with the first unit, when he can run and be aggressive off the bench and also make the bench players play a lot better by giving them better scoring opportunities than steve blake can get them.

you obviously want sessions finishing games but he needs to log the majority of time with the weaker players and making them better, which he can do

Yes, this really isn't rocket science, it is sad that our coach can't figure this out. On the surface the 2 following statements seem like they can't co-exist, but they can:

Sessions should start and finish games.

Sessions must be in the game for every meaningful second that the bench + Bynum (or occasionally Gasol instead) lineup is on the court.

The solution really isn't that difficult. We just need to start Sessions, but then give him a short breather during the middle of the 1st quarter. Take him out at the first dead ball that occurs with under 6 minutes to go in the quarter, then put him back in at the first dead ball with under 3 to go. Then also give him a 2 minute or so rest while the big 3 are all on the court somewhere in the middle of the 2nd quarter. Then repeat in the second half. In the end Sessions starts and plays around 36-39 minutes (depending on when the dead balls happen, he is young, can handle it, and is just that important), yet he logs all of the available "2nd unit" minutes. In the end we have our optimal starting and closing lineups, and the illusion of a great bench. Sessions' points won't actually count as bench points, but he will help their production some, and make it so that we never have a bad lineup on the court, even with 3 of our bench guys on the court together.

Why can't our head coach figure this out, he basically does this with Bynum already? If he did this one simple thing he could mask his stupidity as a coach and probably keep his job for a while Then if he hired an offensive coach to install an offense built around our current talent, he could retire as a Laker (on his own terms).

[desertlakerfan]

His comments are way off. Sessions is in search mode because he leaves him out so long he can catch a rhythm. Blake should never surpasses him in minutes played unless he's in foul trouble. Against OKC he sat Sessions with about 3 minutes left to go in the 1st quarter & didn't put him back in until 4:30 of the 2nd quarter. So in effect Blake played a whole quarter straight through.

That portion of time with Blake on the court also coincided with the momentum shifting towards OKC, which we never recovered from.

Sheer idiocy by Brown. Im starting to think he's the kind of guy that got far in his career by being a "Yes" man, the kind that mainly advanced in their career by sucking up to bosses and never challenging their opinions. Makes more sense that Jim would hire him, since that's exactly what a owner trying to make his mark on a organization would hire. It's obvious at this point that if Brown was advancing on coaching ability alone, he wouldn't last in this league.

Sessions doesn't need to come off the bench, he needs the coaches to give him starter minutes(35-38, not 30) and more importantly he needs them to go back to running the P&R sets that uses his playmaking abilities to get open looks for his teammates. You know, what every other coach with any semblance of intelligence does, work with your teams strengths not ignore them.

Here's some great info the OP broke down from the OKC game on another Laker site.

Note these are just stats from last night's game vs OKC.

Number of possessions Lakers played and efficiency of those possessions:

Picks / Screens (aka rolls, pops, give and go, etc.):

Number of Times = 26
Shots Made = 16
Shooting Percentage = 72.7%
Assisted = 12
Turnovers = 4

Isolations / Posts (aka corner elbow, mid & high post, etc.):

Number of Times = 31
Shots Made = 8
Shooting Percentage = 29.6%
Assisted = 0
Turnovers = 4

Miscellaneous (aka fast break, tip-ins, World Peace dribbling, etc.):

Number of Times = 39
Shots Made = 11
Shooting Percentage = 31.4%
Assisted = 3
Turnovers = 4

As you can clearly see playing variations of Picks and Screens yield a greater efficiency by far.

It's obvious we really do well as a Pick and Roll type of team with a PG like Sessions here (even Jerry Sloan would think so).

So you would think it's a no brainer to keep running it last night, because if it ain't broke, don't fix it, right?

Check this out!

Number of possessions used by quarter:

1st Quarter:

Picks / Screens = 11
Isolations / Posts = 8
Miscellaneous = 10
(Picks / Screens used % = 37.9%)
(Lakers up 12)

====

2nd Quarter:

Picks / Screens = 7
Isolations / Posts = 8
Miscellaneous = 8
(Picks / Screens used % = 30.4%)
(Lakers up 5)

====

3rd Quarter:

Picks / Screens = 4
Isolations / Posts = 8
Miscellaneous = 7
(Picks / Screens used % = 21.1%)
(Lakers down 10)

====

4th Quarter:

Picks / Screens = 4
Isolations / Posts = 7
Miscellaneous = 14
(Picks / Screens used % = 16.0%)
(Lakers down 9)

Lakers ran the picks and the screens predominantly in the 1st half, in fact 18 of 26 all came before halftime. In the 1st quarter alone, the Lakers already had 9 of their 15 assists; Sessions even got 4 of his 5 assists just in the 1st quarter as he ran the offense.

But by the 2nd half, they completely went to posts and iso plays. Sessions became a none factor, and basically became a stand-by spot-up guy.

By the 4th quarter it seemed like the Lakers just winged the offense.

If anything, Mike Brown should use more Picks and Screens in his offensive playbook. More PNR... aka Pick N' Rolls aka... Pau N' Ramon!


P.S.

Don't automatically presume isolations means "Kobe Ball" in fact, Kobe only had 12 post/iso plays last night scoring 7 points and 0 turnovers when placed in that position. It was actually a combination of Bynum/Gasol (and 1 from World Peace) who had 19 post/iso plays and only scoring 10 points (Bynum with 8 and Gasol with 2) and committing 4 turnovers (Bynum with all 4) in those possessions.

[Anklebreaker702]

Yeah, i don't understand why guys keep calling for Sessions to go back to the bench. It's not going to happen. If Brown would play him starters minutes he'd be in with both units for good stretches which would help him play towards both aspects of his game.

[DEEP3CL]

Why does this damn Jordan dude keep making threads on our board ?

[snaquille oatmeal]

Why does this damn Jordan dude keep making threads on our board ?

why not? he is not trolling.

[dockingsched]

jordan-esque is a lakers fan, always has been.