Coach Brown's Approach on Offense/Defense

b shaw20 · Post #1 » by **b shaw20** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 3:17 pm

I like the guy. He is loyal and most of his basketball principles are spot on. But when he says this regarding Kobe's as it relates to how the Lakers will compete -- I take huge issue and frankly, I believe this will not get us very far in the playoffs:

"He and I actually talked about that," Brown said. "Right after the first few games, we were floundering about .500 and we had a stretch of games at home we might be able to get some wins and I just told him, 'Let it go [offensively.]

"'We're going to have to rely on our defense. I'm going to let you go on offense quite a bit, you're going to have to carry us offensively because there's a stretch of games that we can win, try to get us over .500, start us heading in the right direction. It was, 'Go get it, I'll take care of the defense and we'll go from there.'

Kobe is more of a volume shooter and is too inefficient. The truth is, although he may win some games for us. In the long run, he hurts the team by taking too many low percentage shots (fade aways). At the beginning of the season Brown stated we would force feed our bigs and take advantage of our size. IMO, he was unaware of the "Kobe factor" and now that he understands that no one can challenge him - he has tucked his tail between his legs and chosen to support Kobe instead of challenging him and risk getting on his bad side.

Its a tough situation for a coach to be in, but Kobe is just not capable of carrying the team offensively at this stage of his career. He is playing too many minutes and one can expect his legs to wear down even more during the playoffs (which affect the jumpshot more than anything). Additionally, Kobe fails to buy in into being a defensive minded player. As a leader, he sets the tone and until he does, no one else will either.

Post #2 » by **snaquille oatmeal** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 4:44 pm

you may be taken some of that out of context.

Mr 24 eight · Post #3 » by **Mr 24 eight** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 5:14 pm

Kobe Bryant hurts the team in the long run?

Kobe fails to buy into being a defensive minded player?

Good Lord dude - get a clue.

b shaw20 · Post #4 » by **b shaw20** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 5:18 pm

snaquille oatmeal wrote:you may be taken some of that out of context.

How so? I read it as him saying "be aggressive as you want on offense, shoot at will and we will focus on defense to keep us in the game".

His support of Bryant as MVP is nice, but this team should not be concerned with that at all. The fact is, we got our ass swept last year primarily because we played stupid and chose to try and outshoot a shooting team. Bryant's chucking is not going to get us anywhere and Brown seemingly is supportive of that.

A least PJax acknowledged that it was not going to work for us. But even Pjax failed to get Kobe to buy into it. Live and die with Bryant I guess.

Gek · Post #5 » by **Gek** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 5:20 pm

Do you remember when we tried running a set offense earlier in the season? I do. Also Brown explicitly stated we'll have to rely on our defense to win, so I'm really confused what you're trying to argue for here.

The team does live and die offensively with Kobe Bryant because he is the only playmaker on the team.

b shaw20 · Post #6 » by **b shaw20** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 7:36 pm

Gek wrote:Do you remember when we tried running a set offense earlier in the season? I do. Also Brown explicitly stated we'll have to rely on our defense to win, so I'm really confused what you're trying to argue for here.

The team does live and die offensively with Kobe Bryant because he is the only playmaker on the team.

I will give you that he is the only player that is capable of creating his own shot, but calling him a "playmaker" is a stretch. There is no other player in the NBA who gets the ball as much as he does. His assist average should easily be at 6-7 per given this. Yes, I do remember when we tried a set offense, but even then Bryant was taking the majority of the shots.

My point is that we have not been patient enough in trying to assert our bigs and try and inside out game. And although I agree in a defensive mind set and that we statistically (ranked 2nd) are sound, there are only 2 signature wins that I can recall this year. We got spanked by most of the teams with winning records we have played. Our offense is not good enough primarily because we under utilize our bigs in my opinion. Having said this, I know that Fish and Ron are dead weight and are a HUGE reason as to why we can't score. Not to mention an inconsistent bench....

I guess what I am trying to say is that, as constructed now and how we attack, this team will not get very far in the playoffs. A puncher's chance is not typically good enough.

Gek · Post #7 » by **Gek** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 8:03 pm

I agree that it'll be a long playoff run without any more scorers, but we don't have them on the team and there's nothing Brown can do about that. We have Kobe and Pau offensively. Bynum has shown flashes, but is certainly guardable and not a primary offensive threat yet. For example, he played a great game last night against the Pistons, but half the time down the court he still couldn't get positioning on offense. I also don't think Bynum has matured enough mentally to be an offensive power house down low. He's tends to let his emotions get the best of him.

It's also difficult to consistently pound the ball inside, especially with the starting line-up, because it's easy to double a big and we don't have any legit three point threats with the starting squad or at SF for that matter (other than Kapono, but he doesn't play).

I do agree that we need to run more through our bigs though, but at the moment, I'm not sure if that would improve our offensive woes or help us get signature wins, especially when it is our bench that needs the offensive boost the most.

stunnar0b · Post #8 » by **stunnar0b** » Wed Mar 7, 2012 8:30 pm

I agree with you b shaw

Today they had micheal thompson on 710 and they asked why doesnt kobe pass more when the big guys are going, and he basically said kobes too proud and doeant want to admit that he doesnt have it that day.

Ill say this if kobe doesnt play last night we win by 10+. now dont get me **** up we aint winning **** without kobe. He just needs to follow his own saying by being an in-side out team and not shhoting jump shots with a hand in ur face.. if thats our gameplan moving forward we might as well call it a season

Doormatt · Post #9 » by **Doormatt** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 1:13 am

not gonna touch on anything else, but kobe this year is clearly giving more effort on defense than he has in awhile, definitely over last year. you really could not be more wrong about that.

Imadogg · Post #10 » by **Imadogg** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 1:58 am

I agree about his offense.. sure he's always been a volume shooter, but these days it seems like he's on a mission. I honestly think he's just trying to score as much as possible to climb the scoring charts. Also he wants another scoring title to add to his legacy.. I truly believe that. How the **** does Kobe has 150 more FGA than 2nd place Durant??? Wtf?

Also he's passing a lot less this year overall, and for a guy who has the ball as much as he does (3rd highest usage rate ALL TIME, behind 06 Kobe and 87 MJ.. both guys who were the entire offense on the team).. how does he only average 5 assists? He averaged 6 in 04-05 for his career high and I always told people that a big reason Lebron gets crazy assist numbers was that in MB's system, he does everything, and a reason Kobe gets only around 5 was due to the triangle (04-05 was no triangle)... but this year he just would rather pass as little as possible, even when ice cold and hurting the team.

And as I type this, yet another cold 2nd half from Kobe and the Lakers gave up another lead. Let's get em

Sedale Threatt · Post #11 » by **Sedale Threatt** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:12 am

One thing that drives me insane about Kobe is how he seems to shoot more when he's shooting poorly instead of recognizing that he's off and changing gears. He just keeps ramming his head against the wall, over and over and over. John Starksitis to the extreme.

b shaw20 · Post #12 » by **b shaw20** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:25 am

stats don't lie fellas, they are not pretty.

We lose to the Pistons and now the Wiz, really?

Sedale Threatt · Post #13 » by **Sedale Threatt** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:30 am

You've got to be f'ing kidding me...seriously? (Not in front of the TV.)

Gek · Post #14 » by **Gek** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:34 am

I take back everything I said in this thread.

b shaw20 · Post #15 » by **b shaw20** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:35 am

Sedale Threatt wrote:You've got to be f'ing kidding me...seriously? (Not in front of the TV.)

No joke son, after we were up by 19 or so.....

kobe got his 30 though, shooting 9-31.... 4 dimes. MVP my ass.

Doormatt · Post #16 » by **Doormatt** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:37 am

i dont think anybody would seriously suggest kobe has been an MVP candidate this season. hes played like it sometimes, but he goes into chuck mode way too often..

b shaw20 · Post #17 » by **b shaw20** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:52 am

Sedale Threatt wrote:One thing that drives me insane about Kobe is how he seems to shoot more when he's shooting poorly instead of recognizing that he's off and changing gears. He just keeps ramming his head against the wall, over and over and over. John Starksitis to the extreme.

this^^^

Which says alot about him as a competitor. Sure he wants to win, but he HAS to win his way. He does not hate to lose a la MJ or Magic. Instead, he continue to work hard in his game so that next time the shots he missed will go in.

Starksitis you call it, I refer to it as Bizarro Kobe. And I think Bizarro Kobe has good Kobe tied up in a dungeon somewhere in the jungles of Colombia.

b shaw20 · Post #18 » by **b shaw20** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:57 am

Doormatt wrote:i dont think anybody would seriously suggest kobe has been an MVP candidate this season. hes played like it sometimes, but he goes into chuck mode way too often..

After our win vs the Heat several of the so called analysts were quick to throw him into the discussion. I laughed....

doesn't MVP go to the best player on the best team?

Mr 24 eight · Post #19 » by **Mr 24 eight** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 2:58 am

Lakers were +5 with Kobe in the game tonight.

b shaw20 · Post #20 » by **b shaw20** » Thu Mar 8, 2012 3:19 am

Mr 24 eight wrote:Lakers were +5 with Kobe in the game tonight.

Based on your nickname, guessing you really believe Kobe played well right?