RealGM

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8844744/kobe-bryant-los-angeles-lakers-take-mroe-important-defensive-role-mike-dantoni-says

"I think that really helped us," D'Antoni said. "It helped us against the Clippers with Chris Paul. (Bryant) wants to take the challenge, and it really helps us."

"He disrupts the whole offense on the ball," said D'Antoni, who added that Bryant will draw either Brandon Jennings or Monta Ellis when the Lakers host the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday. "He's done that a couple games, so we'll continue to milk that one."

Kobe's a guy that likes a challenge, so to give him a challenge I think sometimes is best for us," Nash said. "Sometimes when he maybe is guarding someone who isn't going to demand his interest, he can wane a little bit. But when we put him in a position where he's challenged, he can be phenomenal.

We all agree that Kobe is probably still our best on-ball defender (Ron Artest while physical lacks the foot speed) and for this team to succeed he will need to focus more on defending these speedy starting PG's so we can hide Nash on that end of the court. I do agree at this stage of his career Kobe gambles to much while playing off-ball defense on players he doesnt truly respect (ego thing..but hey thats Kobe) which leads to wide open shooters. Kobe on-ball defense is still good.

This can work for this team if he allows Nash to control the offensive side of the ball and Dwight to control the interior on offense and defense. The Cavs game can be an example of what we need in regards to roles on this team. We all know Kobe can avg 25ppg in his sleep but for this team to succeed and be clicking on all cylinders we need Bryant IMO to accept the role of defending the other teams speedy PG's from getting into the lane. While not all of the defensive issues should be blamed on Kobe, this could be something that shows the other players that a commitment to playing hard on that end of the court can help turn things around.

The Combo at the PF position of Earl Clark and Jamison and the Center combo of Howard and Gasol should be ok for now (to be honest I think we should move Pau for role players that fit the system better and also solid wing defenders). Also sux Jordan Hill got hurt because both he and Earl Clark would've made it easier to move Pau. At this point both players are better Pick n roll defenders and are just better athletes. It doesn't take Einstein to see Pau has not lost 1 but 2 steps and cant play the PF position at all in todays league. He is a Center and he aint playing over Dwight.

While I'm not totally sold on this Mike D. fast pace chuck a quick shot and 3 offense. We can at least fix things on the defensive side of the ball. Also I hope Nash gets a little aggressive on offense while running the pick n roll to keep the defense more honest. He needs to shoot more if this is gonna work because more than likely Kobe's offensive productivity is gonna suffer at this stage of his career

Thoughts fellas?

It's a smart move. Kobe's far more attentive when he's on a ball-handler than he is on guys that work more off the ball, so this improves our defense simply because he'll be more focused. Nash is always out there trying so even if he's on bigger 2 guards it's better than what Kobe's been doing, which is essentially nothing.

semi-sentient wrote:It's a smart move. Kobe's far more attentive when he's on a ball-handler than he is on guys that work more off the ball, so this improves our defense simply because he'll be more focused. Nash is always out there trying so even if he's on bigger 2 guards it's better than what Kobe's been doing, which is essentially nothing.

100% agree with this assessment

Some good news coming out of LA the past couple days.

Whatever it takes to get him more involved defensively is a positive thing. Even if he is being forced to play hard. Teammates need to help out on the offensive end and pick up their scoring now that Kobe will be putting more energy on defense.

helps cover up kobe's weak off the ball defense and nash's on the ball defense. i like.

If they can get a scorer off the bench I'm fine with this as it'll help give Kobe extra energy.

lets just hope kobe doesn't think he's expected to give the same amount of effort on the offensive end

playing 40 minutes a night with that sort of effort on both ends of the floor would wear kobe down to the bone

we lose they blame his defense now his defense is called upon to win games. ya hes been lazy off ball but really...we just got one win off a losing streak now his defense is praised lol. at least wait til a streak of 5+ wins lol

hes goona be on the first all team defense again this year

semi-sentient wrote:It's a smart move. Kobe's far more attentive when he's on a ball-handler than he is on guys that work more off the ball, so this improves our defense simply because he'll be more focused. Nash is always out there trying so even if he's on bigger 2 guards it's better than what Kobe's been doing, which is essentially nothing.

My thoughts exactly

Dantoni and Nash need accountability

Nash needs to score more and shoot the ball to make up for him being hid on D and save Kobe's legs. No mor 2-6 shot nights can be acceptable

Pringles needs to be smart and limit the minutes of Kobe as no one, not even Bron or KD plays 40mpg, let alone 40mpg and two sides of the ball. And the closest guys to Kobe's miles in KG and Tm barely play 30. He needs to keep Kobe at 34 minutes nightly regardless of score or game to make this work, as he would just prove himself to be stupid to play Kobe how he has played pretty much in Dec/Jan while asking him to protect Nsh from PGs as well

Phil did this everytime we played the Celtics or Thunder to hide Fisher and to Fish's credit he always did a committed job on Ray Allen.

Tee212 wrote:we lose they blame his defense now his defense is called upon to win games. ya hes been lazy off ball but really...we just got one win off a losing streak now his defense is praised lol. at least wait til a streak of 5+ wins lol

hes goona be on the first all team defense again this year

Some truth there (doubt he'd get 1st team all defense honors again tho) but if this is truly Kobe's team (which at this time it is) He needs to step up the effort on that end of the court. We have enough offensive weapons at this point to compensate for the 5ppg that he will probably lose because of this. Its all about winning IMO and turning this season around. It doesn't take a hoop guru to notice these PG's are torching us to much. If Nash is given full control of the offense and is a little more aggressive (its not in his nature he is a team first type of guy) on the pic n roll then we can still score. Also Dwight and Pau have sucked at setting Nash solid picks so he can get a step on his man. Its gonna take Kobe sucking up his ego a bit here (and I dont totally blame only him for the horrible team defense)

ROballer wrote:

TARIQ wrote:Off Ball he's been sucking so bad, however, he's been doing a good job 1 on 1

Agreed

D'Antoni should assign him to guard the PG's every game.....he can't sag off of them and let them blow by him everytime,out of sheer competitiveness or even embarassment,I think he'll at least show some effort and try to stay in front of his man

Nash can guard the opposing SG's....there are A LOT of better quality PG's than SG's,so we won't have many matchup problems throughout the season

Called it 3 days ago bitches

nash gota wave off kobe when hes demanding the ball unless its some pg mismatch in the post with him. He plays well off ball with nash. he should chill out a bit more on offense and use that energy disrupting the opposing teams offensive scheme. These lil things adds up and helps throughout the whole game.

nash should just fing shoot alot more, for the first time we have someone automatic at the line and its such a relief!

You're not going to be able to make it through an entire season by waving off Bryant a couple of times a game.

damn, Kobe's going to be gassed out. I like it though. can't believe I'm comparing him to these guys but we got ourselves our Bruce Bowen, Tony Allen, Shane Battier, etc. but is 100000000000x more superior offensively.

imagine him locking down the opposing team's dominant ball handler, not thinking of trying too hard on offense and get opportunities whenever he's free (spot ups, cuts, leaks) just like the elite defenders of the league. though unlike those guys, he'll have better chances since Nash is doing the facilitating and, well, he's Kobe **** Bryant.

more efficient and lock down Kobe and ball dominant Nash

Regardless if Nash is ball dominant, Kobe will still get his looks just because he's playing with Nash. I just dont want us to focus to much on iso Kobe in the regular season at this time. Preserve that energy for the defensive side of the ball for Kobe

It's a good plan if you manage minutes like a Nazi... And if you make some other adjustments so that you aren't relying too much on Kobe to be your perimeter stopper come playoff time...
On the bright side, we have Meeks, who's one of the better backup 2s we've had in the Kobe era. So hopefully if we get stops earlier in the game, we won't need as much Kobe in the 4th.

It's an adjustment... It could work... But it won't mean a lot unless the rest of the team focuses more on D too... So we'll have to see what happens over the next couple games.

One thing I'm concerned about is I think this team needs to get into a rhythm, and while I know all the adjustments and rotation changes have been necessary because we've been sucking, I have a feeling this team is never going to get into true form until the rotations are set in stone, roles clearly defined, playing style nailed down, and all that. So along with winning some games, times running out for us to get all that sorted too...
For the record, that's as much the players responsibility too, because these guys aren't playing the same way from one game to the next.

Finally, MDA and Nash got together and are figuring out how to manage an ego like Kobe's.

Make a news story that seems paints Kobe as a savior and get him to focus again on defense. It'll cause him to shoot less, pass more, and make this team more balanced.

Now it's a matter of correctly utilizing Pau and we're heading in the right direction.