RealGM

I'll start. The Lakers should dumb it down. Just give everybody a few roles. This is kinda what Kobe said, but he stressed the pick-and-roll. I don't think the PnR will work as well w/ a lack of shooters. Both Nash and Dwight were surrounded by shooters when they had the most PnR success with their old teams. Anyways, here are the simplified roles:

Nash - catch shooter, entry pass maker, lobber
Kobe - mid-range game, high post-ups
MWP - off-ball screen setter, baseline/backdoor cutter
Dwight - dives/flashes to the lane for dumps/lobs, offensive glass crasher
Pau - low post-ups, mid-post face-ups

The biggest obstacle is for Dwight to buy in to something where he is basically a glorified Tyson Chandler.

The benefits to this system are:

- Nash will save his legs, instead of dribbling around with the ball until somebody gets open, he'll just initiate the offense and then spread the floor with the threat of his shooting. It means more outside spot-up shooting chances for one of the best shooters in the league, for a team in desperate need of outside shooting
- Kobe won't have to create shot after shot for himself with the ball
- When Dwight gets the ball, he'll get it where he either already has a shot at the rim, or is one move away from a shot at the rim. Limit his post-ups b/c they've been horrid
- Pau can do the two things he does best: score in the low post, or pass out of the mid post

The biggest difference is in where everybody is supposed to be on the court. I'm basically flipping MWP with Nash's spot on the court. And likewise, I'm flipping Dwight and Pau's spots/

Right now: we have MWP stand outside so Nash can have more real estate to work with.
My idea: Nash stands outside more, while MWP is basically a roamer inside the arc, setting screens off-ball for Kobe, Dwight, and Pau. Sneak in behind the D for easy layup/dunk opportunities.

Right now: Dwight is being used as a back-to-the-basket C, while Pau is forced to become a pseudo stretch 4. He's not gonna launch 3's, so he settles for long 2's, which is even worse efficiency-wise.
My idea: Pau goes back to the post, where he's taken 3 trips to the Finals, won 2 titles, and 2 silver medals. Dwight moves away from the basket. Yes, he can't shoot, but he's a threat to catch a pass for a dunk if you don't put a body on him.

They need to limit Dwight's opportunities as a 1on1 post up player. He doesn't have the capabilities to excel as that, it sucks to say this but he needs to play similar to Tyson Chandler role in Knicks/Mavs. Also, Pau needs to have more consistent mid-range game to draw defenders out more to increase spacing, if he can't then it is impossible for these two to co-exist.

As far as the whole speed/athleticism thing...The whole team has been very sluggish lately, but I know it is because of the coach, and because people are very unhappy. MDA inspires no confidence, and anyone who listens to him can easily see that he doesn't know what he's talking about/doesn't know what to do & how to fix our problems. Look at some of the games we won this year - We played with very good energy. Staying with the point about coaching...With Bickerstaff, the whole team was upbeat, and played very hard/fast. Just with me, he inspires about 10 times more confidence than MDA ever could.

I just look at Bickerstaff and I see PJ Carlesimo, or Mike Woodson - It really isn't possible for Bernie to actually be worse than what our current coach has been. It's an impossibility. You really can't over-think the opponents he played against, as well, because the team just looked great.

Go back to the Princeton.

go back to old school, dump the ball to kobe in the low post.
dump the ball to gasol and dwight at the low post but only when there is mismatch
less pick n roll to save nash's legs.
let nash play with the 2nd unit and do his thing
more pick n roll with nash and gasol together with the 2nd unit

starter

dwight
clark
mwp
kobe
nash

after 6 minutes - nash out - morris in

with 3 minutes left

nash, gasol, jamison in

2nd quarter starts

nash, gasol, jamison, meeks, morris

Patman wrote:I'll start. The Lakers should dumb it down.

The players generally dumb it down anyways when a system isn't working like they're hoping it would or if they can't figure out all of the intricacies.

nashill wrote:go back to old school, dump the ball to kobe in the low post.
dump the ball to gasol and dwight at the low post but only when there is mismatch
less pick n roll to save nash's legs.
let nash play with the 2nd unit and do his thing
more pick n roll with nash and gasol together with the 2nd unit

starter

dwight
clark
mwp
kobe
nash

after 6 minutes - nash out - morris in

with 3 minutes left

nash, gasol, jamison in

2nd quarter starts

nash, gasol, jamison, meeks, morris

I completely agree with you. Nash and Gasol should play more with the 2nd unit with the exact line up you listed. I will even go more extreme to sign Delonte West and start him and have Nash coming out of bench. So

starting 5
West, Kobe, MWP, Clark, Dwight

2nd unit
Nash, Morris, Meeks, Jamison, Gasol

Starting 5 play half court inside out offense and play good defense. With only big 2 on the floor, they should both have enough touches. Dwight is like Bynum, he only plays well when he get enough touches at offense. Kobe should start the game trying to feed off Dwight. He will have enough chance to take over at the 3rd and 4th quarter. 2nd unit will play pnr offense. That line up sucks at defense but hopefully won't get burnt so much because they are facing other team 2nd unit. We should minimize the time the big 4 play together. They just don't fit. If Dwight and Gasol are both on the floor, Gasol should guard the opposition C while Dwight guard the PF. Offensively, Dwight should still play C in order for him to get enough touches. The big 4 minutes should be reduced too, Kobe should drop to 32-34 minute. Gasol 30-32. Nash around 30. Dwight 33-35. Give more minutes to the bench like Meeks and Morris.

JustAwesome wrote:

Patman wrote:I'll start. The Lakers should dumb it down.

The players generally dumb it down anyways when a system isn't working like they're hoping it would or if they can't figure out all of the intricacies.

There's a difference between half-assing a complicated system, and being proficient at a simplified system.

Triangle

How about some defensive plan?

go with some fundamentals, slow the game down, force half court games.
force opposing play makers (star players, PGs) to shoot rather than making plays.
go under screen in pnr, do not switch, force opposing pg to shoot long jump shots rather than allowing penetrations. do not leave 3 point shooters(especially when they're hot) at all costs.
Let opposing team's star players have big games, shut down everyone else. we can take Z-Bo go 20 and 10, but not Arthur.

Simple. Triangle, Phil Jackson.

Nash - Can't guard a sloth so his defense isn't really needed ala D-Fish. Spot up shooter and distributor is all he does.

Kobe, Pau, Dwight - run the offense through them. 3 low post threats compared to Antoni's no post threat.

MWP- Don't really have to say much for this guy. He's playing phenomenal. He's the only player really that has adjusted to everybody's schemes.

Jeez I miss having smart people on this team rather than idiots that force feed their dumb ideas to people...

Lakers-Texas wrote:Simple. Triangle, Phil Jackson.

Nash - Can't guard a sloth so his defense isn't really needed ala D-Fish. Spot up shooter and distributor is all he does.

Kobe, Pau, Dwight - run the offense through them. 3 low post threats compared to Antoni's no post threat.

MWP- Don't really have to say much for this guy. He's playing phenomenal. He's the only player really that has adjusted to everybody's schemes.

Jeez I miss having smart people on this team rather than idiots that force feed their dumb ideas to people...

you just won the internets

Lakers-Texas wrote:MWP- Don't really have to say much for this guy. He's playing phenomenal. He's the only player really that has adjusted to everybody's schemes.

Artest admittedly struggled to understand how the triangle offense and the Princeton offense worked.

JustAwesome wrote:

Lakers-Texas wrote:MWP- Don't really have to say much for this guy. He's playing phenomenal. He's the only player really that has adjusted to everybody's schemes.

Artest admittedly struggled to understand how the triangle offense and the Princeton offense worked.

there is no perfect system

whatever, id rather have phil jackson anyway...

Lakers-Texas wrote:Simple. Triangle, Phil Jackson.

Nash - Can't guard a sloth so his defense isn't really needed ala D-Fish. Spot up shooter and distributor is all he does.

Kobe, Pau, Dwight - run the offense through them. 3 low post threats compared to Antoni's no post threat.

MWP- Don't really have to say much for this guy. He's playing phenomenal. He's the only player really that has adjusted to everybody's schemes.

Jeez I miss having smart people on this team rather than idiots that force feed their dumb ideas to people...

Just want to add, you can take Nash out early in the 1st Q and get a legit PG defender/3pt shooter like Delonte West and then let Nash lead the 2nd unit with one of Dwight/Pau. That way we can let Nash do his thing.

Game plan? What game plan can we incorporate to prevent other teams from outrunning us down the court and dunking on our asses every time we miss a shot?

No gameplan can make up for a sheer and utter lack of athleticism. We'd have to score on every possession to have a shot to win.

AcecardZ wrote:Game plan? What game plan can we incorporate to prevent other teams from outrunning us down the court and dunking on our asses every time we miss a shot?

No gameplan can make up for a sheer and utter lack of athleticism. We'd have to score on every possession to have a shot to win.

History says there is a way to play so that a bigger team can beat a faster team.

You have to do what Boston has done the last few years and basically abandon offensive rebounding, but they also had a very precision offense.

I said this in the pick and roll thread, last year we managed to run a respectable offense with Metta shooting horribly and Blake/Sessions as our other spacer. If we are going to play Pau and Dwight at the same time, why not run the Kobe/Pau pick and roll with Steve and Metta spacing, and Dwight on the baseline ala Lamar, or deep corner post like Drew. Kobe is the only threat to penetrate and score off the pick, Pau is a better pop and passer then Dwight...

This is why I wanted Sloan though, his overall system would have been great for this team, lots of post play with big on big inside screens and better pick and roll action, then a tough physical defensive scheme good for slower teams.

We just need a defensive identity the most though. Why not a zone? It worked to hide Dallas's deficiencies. With the size down low, our length on the wings, and our inability to box out anyway....