Kurt Rambis believes Lakers still arent a running team

[leeprettyp]

Eric Pincus had a interview with Rambis

http://www.latimes.com/sports/lakersnow/la-sp-ln-kurt-rambis-lakers-offense-20130804,0,225349.story?track=rss#axzz2b7FCvhnd

"The [Lakers] still have big people and I think you have to take advantage of the big people," said Rambis in a phone interview with The Times on Thursday. "You can't ignore them because they are an asset to your offense."

"In order to run, you need a push guard. That's Steve Nash," said Rambis. "It remains to be seen whether he's coming back from his injuries, and continues to [push] at an elite fast-break pace."

We know Dantoni tweaked the offense last season to try accommodate our big men in the paint. While Jordan Hill is more of an athlete at the PF position than we've had in some time, he still isnt a respectable shooter off of the pick an pop we'll be running this year with him and Nash or even Kobe. Mike D. was recently on the radio with Mark Willard and Mychal Thompson (forget the exact day) saying he plans for us to pick up the pace alot more this season. But he also hinted at going with an 11 deep rotation ( I just dont see how thats possible with Kobe and Pau on the team soaking up +33mpg) Maybe we can expect Wes Johnson or Elias Harris spending some minutes at the PF position to help stretch the court. That is unless we do bring Odom back ( i doubt we do). I'm more inclined to agree with Rambis if you have a talented big in Pau and also a SG/SF in Kobe who're both elite post players it doesn't hurt to slow the game down and pound the ball inside. Especially with having Kaman on the roster also.

This season should be interesting to say the least. This team will probably be somewhere in the top 7 in the NBA in offense and 3 point attempts this season. I personally don't believe our core has the horses to play at a fast pace like that. While Kurt Rambis defensive schemes could and should help us on that end of the court also. This team depending on health can overachieve and surprise some people or underachieve and never get over the hump of the injury big.

[Slava]

We're not slowing down the game for Chris Kaman as much as we did for Dwight Howard and Bynum. We should play 1 in, 4 out offense like envisioned with this roster. Even if we establish Kobe in the post, we can still set a pick to free him up and get into an offensive sequence from there with three other shooters on the floor.

[Tiesto_Lakers]

I'm not worried about us not being a running team, because the offense will be fine regardless. The spacing will be GREAT with Nash, Kobe, and Gasol as the core group. All 3 of these guys have great chemistry and putting wing shooters around them will be a bonus.

I'm more worried about us not getting back on defense, which was a huge problem last year.

[BEazy]

Glad Rambis is going to have some input on our inside outside game. Should be refreshing to see rather than dribble it for 20 seconds and shoot a 3 with 4 seconds left on the clock.

[leeprettyp]

Man I just think Earl Clark was what we exactly need in the starting lineup at the PF position right now. Long athletic and looked really good that Brooklyn Nets game on the road when DH12 was out. Nash and Earl had a nice pick n pop game working

[Tiesto_Lakers]

Clark was in a contract year, which basically means his best year was last year.

Lakers have learnt their lesson with Sasha, Luke, and Turiaf. Contract years are misleading.

[leeprettyp]

Clark was in a contract year, which basically means his best year was last year.

Lakers have learnt their lesson with Sasha, Luke, and Turiaf. Contract years are misleading.

4mill this season and a team option next season for that kind of talent isnt alot of money. Btw we didnt resign Ronny Turiaf we let him go to G.S.

And lets not act like Luke was ever the kind of player that Clark was for us that season. Even in Lukes contract season all he did was stand in the corner and shoot open 3's and make a couple passes. He could never defend at the level Clark was at. And also Clark has better handle and better midrange shooter

[crazyeights]

Clark was in a contract year, which basically means his best year was last year.

Lakers have learnt their lesson with Sasha, Luke, and Turiaf. Contract years are misleading.

4mill this season and a team option next season for that kind of talent isnt alot of money. Btw we didnt resign Ronny Turiaf we let him go to G.S.

And lets not act like Luke was ever the kind of player that Clark was for us that season. Even in Lukes contract season all he did was stand in the corner and shoot open 3's and make a couple passes. He could never defend at the level Clark was at. And also Clark has better handle and better midrange shooter

Bear in mind Luke's contract was during a time Phil Jackson compared his play to "yeast in bread."

Really the length of the contract is what was absurd....Oh Mitch, you big softie.

Agree on Clark, though. Thought a rotation of Clark/Hill was good enough to hold down the PF spot.

[dockingsched]

Clark was in a contract year, which basically means his best year was last year.

Lakers have learnt their lesson with Sasha, Luke, and Turiaf. Contract years are misleading.

4mill this season and a team option next season for that kind of talent isnt alot of money. Btw we didnt resign Ronny Turiaf we let him go to G.S.

And lets not act like Luke was ever the kind of player that Clark was for us that season. Even in Lukes contract season all he did was stand in the corner and shoot open 3's and make a couple passes. He could never defend at the level Clark was at. And also Clark has better handle and better midrange shooter

luke walton's performance when he earned his contract is something that clark has yet to accomplish in his career. luke was very vital to that team reaching the playoffs. 11/5/4 on 47%, aside from the 5 rpg which he should be better at than luke, clark has never come close to those type of numbers

[Kilroy]

The triangle offense never flowed better or was more effective than when Luke was helping facilitate it... Nor was it ever as fun to watch. It's just a shame he didn't have the athleticism to handle the other end of the court.

[leeprettyp]

lol I watched every game that season also. During Luke's contract year (the guy literately stood in the corner spoting up for 3's). We played a non defensive oriented Suns team that played small ball, so Luke and Lamar just posted those lil guys up in that playoff series. Another case of stats not telling the full story in my opinion . That team we surrounded Kobe with was bad. Clark was a much better defender than Luke ever was and twice the athlete but yet we had no problem locking Luke into a 6mill per season deal. We're just gonna have to disagree on this one, Earl Clark was an ascending player that really wasn't asking for a lot of money to stay around. No matter how you put it there a lot easier to find Luke Walton's than a diamond in the rough guy like Earl Clark. In my opinion it had less to do with it being Earl contract year compared to it being him getting his chance to shine with the right team and right stars. He's a solid role player who can play multiple positions on a championship contending team and a glue guy who doesn't whine and pout about shot attempts... So we payed Luke 6mill a season and all we had to do for Clark was raise him 5mill and he and his agent were even open to giving us a team option the very next season smh.

[dockingsched]

we'll just have to disagree with your assessment of luke and clark's season.

anywhoo, the fact you even brought luke's contract up as if its comparable to clark's situation so misses the point though. who cares what the lakers were willing to pay luke or vladrad or anyone else back then. its a different time now. there's a new CBA and the team is a different situation. if you can't see how that makes luke's signing irrelevant than i don't know what to tell you.

[myersia]

You know who would be a nice starting pf....Draymond Green. Listen I am a Michigander and a MSU fan. But if somehow he becomes a free agent next year or if he was ever available would you say no?

[Durins Baynes]

Rambis was a terrible coach in Minny, but he's not wrong on this. The Lakers are poorly suited to running ball. If they're trying to win games this year, I'd suggest a modified triangle of Kobe, Nash and Pau. It won't be ideal, but it's not like the have better options given the teams obvious limitations. Put 2 shooters next to those 3 and call it a day. This is where a stretch 4 would help a lot, since Kaman obviously can't shoot. Pity they let Clark go.

[dockingsched]

kaman doesn't have 3pt range, but his mid range is very good. he shot 51% from 16-23 ft last yr, which is elite for a big man. look up any big man who u think is a good shooter and see how that compares, not many shot better.

hoopdata.com

[Durins Baynes]

1) Kaman didn't exactly shoot a whole lot last year, so the sample size comes into play (and only about a quarter of Kaman's shots come from that range- the dude only takes a shot from that distance when he is really open). He shot only 470 from that distance the previous season, 451 the year before, and 465 the year before that. So last season (where he had a career low in mpg, and one of his lowest ppg outings in years) is not really the one you should be going off.
2) Kaman is really slow, he can't run up and down a court, which was the initial point, and
3) Kaman only played 20mpg last year on a team who moved a lot slower than Mike D will expect the Lakers to. I can't imagine his body will hold up if asked to move faster.
4) Kaman acting as one of the shooters who operates around an (improvised) triangle of Nash, Kobe and Pau would mean that Kaman was on the court at the same time as Pau, which does not work at all. That's the very problem Pau had last year with Dwight, and Kaman makes Pau/Dwight look like Speedy Gonzales on the court. He certainly can't defend PF's for Pau. Terrible idea.

[TyCobb]

This should be interesting between Rambis and D'Antoni. But I agree with Rambis on this one. Our best players are Kobe and Gasol and they should not being running a fast paced offense.

[Slava]

1) Kaman didn't exactly shoot a whole lot last year, so the sample size comes into play (and only about a quarter of Kaman's shots come from that range- the dude only takes a shot from that distance when he is really open). He shot only 470 from that distance the previous season, 451 the year before, and 465 the year before that. So last season (where he had a career low in mpg, and one of his lowest ppg outings in years) is not really the one you should be going off.

Well.. until the season before, he was likely being force fed on some horrible Clipper teams and last season he played next to the greatest shooting big man of all time, so obviously his perimeter shots are going to be much less.

[denimourson]

Here should be our game plan

Post up the bigs, and Kobe,
2ndly shoot 3s if you get a steal or rebound push the pace a bit.

[dAdo dA dEvil]

... i think it's obvious that we will be a running team that's why we signed young and athletic guys ... but i believe we should NOT run all the time ...

... i would like to see Pau and Kobe operate on the post ... run if there is a chance ...