How does the Princeton Offense look so far?

[Jordan-esque]

A lot of media reporters seem to have differences of opinion regarding the Princeton:

- James Worthy said that the Princeton has been holding Steve Nash back.

- Sir Charles Barkley says he likes his accountants from Princeton, but not the offense.

- Coach Dave Miller says Nash should sometimes just play his game and Mike Brown should trust him.

- Kamenzky Brothers at ESPN questioned why Metta World Peace handles the ball more than Nash in the offense.

- Even the Clippers announcers chimed in last night saying Nash is too good to be held back and should run the Princeton only 30% of the time, and 70% just let Nash do what he does best with the ball.

But what do Lakers fans think of it thus far?

[Kobean]

I want to see MWP handling the ball as little as possible and I want to see lots of pick n roll when Nash and Howard are on the floor.

[MistyMountain20]

I trust Nash on offense far more than I do Mike Brown. Even last year Nash led the Suns to one of the best offenses in the league. THAT Phoenix Suns team which didn't exactly have much offensive firepower.

Problem with Brown is that he can become far too stingy with staying the course; he hasn't shown in his career to be the flexible type. When Nash is out there he should be orchestrating the offense; when he isn't let's run the Princeton offense.

[diplan]

Let Steve do his thing .. is one of the best in the league let him to make the decisions.!

[Kilroy]

The whole point of the Princeton offense is that it doesn't have plays and is a read/react offense...
So as such, Nash IS free to do whatever he feels best with the ball or off the ball...

The problem is, it will take some time for Nash to find his role and place in such an offense.

It's not Mike Brown's insistence on a particular set of plays that keeping Nash out of his element, it's Nash's learning curve.

It's also the rest of the team's learning curve too... Including MWP. Who should be told to pass the damned ball as soon as he gets it unless he's going to take a wide open shot or drive for an uncontested lay-up.

Expectations should be set... We all saw that it took new players a while to learn the Triangle... Sometimes a couple seasons. The Princeton offense is the same in all critical ways.

That transition is going to be toughest for Nash. The pressure is going to be very high on him. We'll see how it goes.

But the thing is, with an offense like the Triangle or the Princeton, you can't just drop it in the middle of implementation, anymore than you can just turn it on... Once you commit to it, you kinda have to stay with it.

[supaflash]

It's training camp/preseason with a new offense. Brown announced before it would be more of a hybrid offense and he would give Nash first choice and responsibility often. Right now though they are still learning the offense so I would think they are getting pressed to run it as much as possible. Nash has barely looked to shoot the ball much less diverge outside the offense. I can see once they establish the sets and rhythm of it Nash will get much more freedom, especially with Dwight on the floor. They are 0-7 for a reason because they are in learning mode. Overreaction.

[Kilroy]

Let Steve do his thing .. is one of the best in the league let him to make the decisions.!

Not to single this out because I hear it from everyone...

We can't just let Steve do his thing. He's been on a team that was basically built around his skill-set...
We don't have the personnel to fast-break like he's used to.

It's going to have to be an adjustment for him no matter what... And we should all expect it to be ugly at times...

Don't take the preseason games too lightly... The losses were real.

But the takeaway should be, that they represented a classroom for Nash and the rest of the team as far as what we're trying to do with the offense and defense. So there may have been more 'purity' to the Princeton that what we'll see as the season progresses. Things might relax a little when the season gets going.

So hopefully we'll see more of a comfort zone from everyone.

Personally, I'm excited to watch our team develop under the new system, because I think championships are won when the decisions are made on the court rather than on the sidelines. So I hope they stick with it.

[Slava]

Nash needs to take more shots. The defenses are playing him for the pass and 4 FGAs a game will not make that change.

[supaflash]

Well one point about preseason that most people overlook is the team preparation. I doubt much scouting and game planning goes into preseason opponents, especially when you don't know the lineups or minute rotations to be faced. Most of the game planning is focused on our guys and system.

For example, the pre-game to the Clips last night was probably like, OK here is who is playing tonight, lets focus on running this and this, lets focus defensively on this and this, when these guys are in the game we want to see this and this.

Where as a normal pre-game is probably more like - OK, Clips tonight, they like to run this, do this, defend like this, Paul wants to do this.. So we are going to run this if they are in this scheme otherwise lets run this through Dwight/Kobe. Defensively we are going to try and push Paul here, do this once Blake catches the ball, etc etc.

it makes a huge difference.

[leeprettyp]

Eh the offense seems to benefit Gasol, Kobe and Dwight but is taking away from Nash ability. But that could also be because Nash isnt being agressive out there so far. We got time here guys they'll get it together

[LAKESHOW]

screw nash. follow the gameplan and kick it inside. hes been doin it his way for years, what has that gotten him by way of championships? Thats why hes here, to play with better talent. and hes got that!

[Kobean]

screw nash. follow the gameplan and kick it inside. hes been doin it his way for years, what has that gotten him by way of championships? Thats why hes here, to play with better talent. and hes got that!

No he's never won a ring with the way he plays but he's never had this kind of talent to play with, If the suns had Dwight, Pau and Kobe I'm pretty sure he would have at least 1 ring....

[crazyeights]

The Suns didn't have talent??

Nash, Shawn Marion, Amare, Diaw, Barbosa, Tim Thomas, Eddie House, Kurt Thomas....idk they were only one of the great offenses of all time.

Pretty much all of those guys were in some of their best years. The Suns didn't lack talent, they lacked a playing style that matched up well in the playoffs.

[Kobean]

I didn't say they didn't have talent I said they didn't have THIS KIND of talent, we have 6 players that have been the man on a team and quite possibly 4 hall of famers. please read what I say before you get all mad like that

[Imadogg]

Less Metta ballhandling sounds good to me

[crazyeights]

I didn't say they didn't have talent I said they didn't have THIS KIND of talent, we have 6 players that have been the man on a team and quite possibly 4 hall of famers. please read what I say before you get all mad like that

I said talent wasn't their problem: their style of play was.

[Slava]

The Suns didn't have talent??

Nash, Shawn Marion, Amare, Diaw, Barbosa, Tim Thomas, Eddie House, Kurt Thomas....idk they were only one of the great offenses of all time.

Pretty much all of those guys were in some of their best years. The Suns didn't lack talent, they lacked a playing style that matched up well in the playoffs.

They had a rather short peak, mainly due to Amare's health and if not for Rob Horry's cheap shot and the bogus suspensions that came with it, they should have comfortably beaten the Spurs and scared Lebron James forever in 2007 playoffs.

[Sedale Threatt]

We can't just let Steve do his thing. He's been on a team that was basically built around his skill-set...We don't have the personnel to fast-break like he's used to.

That's a huge misnomer, though. The Suns didn't even run that much over the past couple of years. They ranked 18th in fastbreak points last year and 14th the year before that. It's pick/roll, pick/roll, pick/roll. Which I will take all day, every day over Ron Artest doing anything but standing in the corner and waiting for open 3s.

I've only seen one game -- you can see the potential, but unless you're going to put the ball in Steve's hands and let him actually run the offense, what was the point of signing him?

[Sedale Threatt]

screw nash.

Really???

[Kilroy]

We can't just let Steve do his thing. He's been on a team that was basically built around his skill-set...We don't have the personnel to fast-break like he's used to.

That's a huge misnomer, though. The Suns didn't even run that much over the past couple of years. They ranked 18th in fastbreak points last year and 14th the year before that. It's pick/roll, pick/roll, pick/roll. Which I will take all day, every day over Ron Artest doing anything but standing in the corner and waiting for open 3s.

I've only seen one game -- you can see the potential, but unless you're going to put the ball in Steve's hands and let him actually run the offense, what was the point of signing him?

Phoenix running is historically how the team worked and was built for Nash... Maybe that evolved as their talent changed, but we can't play the way they did no matter what talent they had. We've got 3 other all-stars in the starting 5 that all have their preferred places in a half-court set to work from, and need to be fed accordingly. It's not a get open and Nash will find you kind of situation.

The ball almost always starts in his hands, it's Steve Nash that passes the ball away. It isn't just a matter of telling Nash to hold it more, it's a matter of the offense finding their rhythm and everyone working the way they should.

Let's face it, with our talent, Nash's first pass is going to be the last time he touches the ball a lot of the time. This offense isn't set up to have the ball ping back and forth to the PG until something opens up. It starts at the 1 but then the whole team facilitates it. Kobe will be feeding the post, so will Pau, etc... Nash will get it back but just not as often as he used to.

The beauty of the system is that it takes advantage of the fact that we have at least 3 world class distributors in Kobe/Pau/Nash... The trade-off is that we won't get as much of a show from Nash.

But with Dwight blocking shots, maybe we'll get out on transition a lot more so Nash can run the break with Kobe...

Metta is the only place where I see the need for a significant change... I think he's a little TOO comfortable in the Princeton... He needs to play a sort of modified Ray Allen role for us... He needs to move WITHOUT the ball and find his spots, occasionally posting someone up... But with Dwight, Pau and Kobe, he really should only be in the paint when the offense starts to break down.