Kurt Rambis is the defensive coach ????

[lakeshow248]

Heard this the other night in the Phoenix game, that Kurt got defensive duties for this team and then Mark Jackson said I wouldn't be bragging about that claim. It is so true the lane is a wide open layup drill, I've never seen worse--one high screen and then it's either a layup or an and-one.

Paul Pierce worked the Lakers' over last year on the same play, like play after play and from then until now it is still killing the Lakers', tonight John Salmons tommorrow who ever but man is it that difficult to stop. I know it is the inside guys rotation to the hoop but how come they never come over or are always a foot to late. You have to get their by the time the penetrated hits the semi circle and the layup is in by the time the Lakers Bigs rotate.

KG and Perkins control the Boston paint and by no means are they a dominant duo one on one, but together they shut it down. I would think Bynum and Gasol could too if they layed off their man and sunk into the paint. Like especially when someone burns you like Salmons was doing time after time. Like come on the first 3 times ok my bad, next 6 wake the **** up.

If Bynum and Gasol only decied to do the hookey pokey for 3 sec a piece and didn't guard their man then I think I'd be happy. For me it can't be that difficult to guard the paint from guys going to the lane. They don't want to pass against the Lakers they want to go down the middle because they no the Lakers bigs don't catch on. Part of that is the LAkers big men and part of that is the coaching staff. The media slash fans have to put some heat on the coaching staff, Phil included, because Boston exploited it and now most teams w/ a decent wing man are doing the same.

For me in practice I wouldn't coach offence any more until someone showed a clue how to rotate and give them examples of how to play that by watching the Celtics everyday until they had a clue.

And is anyone else sick of Kobe sagging off his man and leaving him wide open for threes or what ever he wants to do, like ok that was cool when the opposing player wasn't lighting it up--but this help D he goes for never gets a steal and always ends up in a wide open J for the person he is guarding. What a JOKE.....Phil said earlier this week he needs to do less of this, how about telling him never to do it again in his life play str8 up like a normal guard and box out the same.

[DubaLakers]

#1 This looks like a posts I would write, lol. Mine would probably have more rambling tangents in it. #2 I heard last night Kurt was the defensive coach as well, I said the same, what? Like a D coordinator in football? The C's have one, and he's some kinda guru. I wouldn't put it past Phillip to create a position just to mock the C's in some way. I don't think we give Rambis enough credit he's probably a pretty good coach now, he practically sits on Phil's lap. I just don't think the bball game is all that complex, especially on defense, to me it's effort and execution, In football it's like chess. #3 There is no question KB24 is playing off his man too much Barnes was having a party at the 3 line. But KB24 is too smart to know that's not his man and his fault. Hopefully that changes. #4 That PHX game pissed me off even Kobe was messing with an inbounder with the game on the line Lakers up by 8 with 2 minutes left, he stuck a hand laughingly in Grant Hills face or something before he passed it in. Another player was yukking it up as well, can't remember who. I'm saying to myself what are they doing? Close this shi* out! Will to kill!

[Dr Aki]

anyone listening to KLAC AM570 or their podcasts has known this for awhile...

apparently kurt has been bugging phil for 2-3 years about the new rule changes regarding zone defenses and phil finally caved in over the summer. as a result, kurt now only scouts 3 teams (while cleamons, hamblin and shaw each get 8,9 and 9 teams to scout instead)

anyway, the problem are defensive rotations, kobe sagging way too often, bynum and gasol getting burned on pick and pops

kurt talks about effort a hell of a lot when questioned about the defensive struggles. especially when he mentions that most of the time, when playing small teams, the lakers tend to get bored and careless, opposing teams get fired for the lakers since theres a target of the lakers' backs again and that if they do beat them, its a feather in their cap

kurt also mentions that vladi has shown the most improvement on the defensive end and that hes been the best to pick up the new defensive schemes which is surprising given vladi's recent demotion to bench warmer

[crazyeights]

Going along with the Vlad benching, anyone think we're showcasing Luke? I just find it odd that they go from starting to zero minutes for no reason.

[lakersfanatic]

yeah, kurt.. should he be the blame for our D?..

there are some Ds i saw that's like.. what the.. or how or why. Phil said they're playing perimeter defensive.. but the problem with they expect the bigs to guard the middle, yes but if a Guard runs pass eh hem.. fisher.. farmar.. kobe (trying to gamble too much).... they're too fast for Andrew.. thus either an easy lay up or a foul.

I go over their D, teams are seeing holes... tigthen it up... oh well, that's his job, we'll see how it goes.

[Erik Eleven]

It took the league two games to figure out that they'd have wide open weak side threes all night against our new defensive scheme. It has since taken the Lakers 21 games to figure out how to protect the weak side without creating wide open lanes for opposing guards.

I agree that Kobe's free lancing puts our defense in scramble mode more often than it gives us an advantage. I'd like to see him shutting his man down a bit more, or at least dominating him by funneling him a little tighter and more forcefully.

Like Phil explained yesterday, the nucleus of this defense is to shift from man defense to a strong-side-heavy semi-zone and back. Its success is contingent upon the players' ability to do that at the right times as a group — to shrink the floor for the opponent by expanding and contracting at the right times.

I think it was said Rambis is in charge of the defense before the season started, and then it was mentioned again in that recent game. It doesn't matter much as long as it's working.

I love when Phil opens up and actually explains in more detail what they're trying to accomplish. It takes away some of the frustration for us fans.

[Danny Darko]

Going along with the Vlad benching, anyone think we're showcasing Luke? I just find it odd that they go from starting to zero minutes for no reason.

Jeez I hope so.


I think the perimeter defenders are currently all collapsing too much to the paint. With two 7ftrs we don't need them to come in and swipe at the ball for steals at the cost of giving up 3's. Rambis needs to have a serious talk with the team, though. We haven't played real D since the first few games.

[Erik Eleven]

Going along with the Vlad benching, anyone think we're showcasing Luke? I just find it odd that they go from starting to zero minutes for no reason.

It could just be what it seems — a strong message to Radman about his lack of focus on defense. But then again, I also wouldn't completely rule out the possibility of a trade in the works. I'd be very surprised if Mitch didn't get a lot of phone calls from other GMs this past week.

[Verbal]

Wow.

Rambis is the defensive coach?

What the hell happened to the other guy?

I thought Rambis was just the guy who took care of the sub-patterns and helped the team get warmed up.

Boy have I been out of the loop.

I'll read up on a few things (I've got the ADD under control nowadays, heeh) and look to get updated.