This is the primary reason the Lakers aren't better than last season. The difference in the coaching knowledge of PJ and Mike Brown is massive. Lakers aren't a "together" team and it's noticeable. Brown and Kobe have to get on the same page or they won't make it out of the 1st round. They won't luck out and get the Hornets this time. http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...lakers-players-concerns-coach-mike-brown-x-os Brown's X's and O's worry Lakers By Ramona Shelburne ESPNLosAngeles.com WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Andrew Bynum tried to take the blame for the Lakers' staggering collapse in Washington by announcing after the 106-101 loss to the lowly Wizards that "I was kind of loafing around and having a good time, and it caught up." The Lakers' problems, however, run far deeper than Bynum's effort level in the team's loss to the Wizards, according to sources close to the situation. Bynum publicly invited the bulk of the responsibility for the Lakers' second straight loss to a lottery-bound straggler from the Eastern Conference, but sources told ESPNLosAngeles.com this week that there is growing concern among some Lakers players as to whether first-year coach Mike Brown and his staff have the X-and-O wherewithal to fix a Lakers offense that is averaging its lowest per-game point total (94) since before the advent of the 24-second shot clock in 1954-55. Brown's effect on the Lakers' defense has been undeniable, but sources say the team's ongoing struggles on the road -- with L.A. dropping to 6-14 away from Staples Center following a loss in Detroit and blowing a 21-point lead to the undisciplined Wizards -- have some veterans longing for a return to the trusty Triangle offense preferred by Brown's predecessor, Phil Jackson. ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard recently reported that Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher called a players-only meeting after a win against Portland on Feb. 21 to address concerns about Brown's style, as well as persistent trade rumors involving Pau Gasol. While that meeting might have quelled some of the tension in the short term, these two latest losses have brought the issues right back to the forefront and perhaps even exacerbated the situation as the team nears the March 15 trade deadline, continuing to languish in the middle of the pack in the Western Conference. Sources told ESPNLosAngeles.com that multiple players have continued to meet privately since the initial team meeting to discuss running elements of the Triangle offense again. "The players want to unify," one source with knowledge of the situation said. "They know how to win, and they want to fix this. I don't know if they can, though. " The Lakers had gone 8-2 coming into this three-game road trip, including a win over the Miami Heat on Sunday. During that stretch, it was obvious Brown had made an effort to scale back on some of his micromanaging tendencies that have grated on players this season. He's noticeably canceled several practices and shootarounds after Bynum spoke out publicly about how the increased practice schedule, combined with an already condensed season, was affecting his play. He's settled into more consistent offensive rotations after experimenting for much of the season, and he's let the team read and react on offense instead of calling so many plays. That effort was seen by the Lakers players as a good start toward repairing what was becoming an increasingly tense first season for the former Cleveland coach. The question now, sources say, is whether Brown and his players can get past this bump, given that Brown himself expressed some frustration after the meltdown against a Wizards team that had just eight wins going into Wednesday night's game. After the loss to the Wizards (9-29), Brown attributed the second-half meltdown to poor ball movement, an over-reliance on individual play and inconsistent effort on the road -- critiques that have become familiar after L.A. losses. "It's very simple," Brown said. "In the first half, we played the right way; in the second half, we didn't. We forced shots, and forcing shots is not a good thing for us." It was easy to surmise that Brown was speaking about Bryant, who scored 30 points but did so on just 9-for-31 shooting. It was his second straight poor shooting night after making just eight of 26 shots in a loss to the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday. Asked about Bryant's shot selection -- he was 3-for-18 in the second half -- Brown said, "He was one of the guys that I did not think took great shots in the second half. I thought in the first half, our flow was there, and he got great looks and made the game easy. In the second half, our looks weren't as good." Those comments are well-founded. Bryant did take some ill-advised shots, particularly in the fourth quarter. However, they landed strangely with several players just a day after Brown said Bryant should be the MVP because of the way he's carried the team offensively this season despite battling through a serious wrist injury and a concussion. "[Bryant] and I actually talked about that," Brown said Tuesday night before the loss to the Pistons. "We talked about: 'Hey, we're going to have to rely on our defense. I'm going to let you go on offense quite a bit, you're going to have to carry us offensively because there's a stretch of games that we can win, try to get us over .500, start us heading in the right direction.' "It was, 'Go get it, I'll take care of the defense and we'll go from there.' And he went and did it." Bryant refused to comment on Brown's criticism of his shot selection, saying only "OK" and "It's fine" when pressed on the situation. When asked about how the Lakers could have lost on consecutive nights to teams with a combined record of 22-55, Bryant replied, "We've just got to play harder, with a little more energy to try and salvage this trip." After the loss to the Wizards, by far the team's lowest moment of the season, sources said Brown lit into the players, calling into question their effort and challenging them to make a choice about how committed they were to the system and to chasing another championship. Several players admitted publicly that the team had not given a consistent effort on either of the past two nights. Gasol called the loss "embarrassing with the talent that we have and the players that we have." Reserve forward Matt Barnes said the team "didn't compete." But there was a reason Bynum seemed to be laughing as he tried to shoulder the blame for the loss. The Lakers' problems clearly stretch well beyond Bynum's nightmare (seven turnovers compared to six rebounds) or Bryant's shooting percentage. "I tried tonight," Bynum said. "I went out and got a couple early dunks. But I didn't play much D, so I guess I kind of went through the motions myself. I could be that leader; I should step up and do that." In some ways, Bynum was doing just that.
Forgot to specifically mention: Some veterans longing for a return to the trusty Triangle offense preferred by Brown's predecessor, Phil Jackson. and Sources told ESPNLosAngeles.com that multiple players have continued to meet privately since the initial team meeting to discuss running elements of the Triangle offense again. Same thing happened when Rudy T was there.
Is anyone surprised by this? I still don't understand why their management decided to go for Mike Brown. Kobe should just pull a LerBon and ignore MB, then rally his team to run PJ's old offense.
This is unpossible, Mike Brown is a championship calibre coach...... At least thats what everybody said when Lebrons team couldnt win a title under him. THE LAKERS AND ALL THEY FANS KEEP b****IN AND WHININ ABOUT "WE NEED A TRADE! BRING IN D HOWARD AND RONDO SO KOBE CAN WIN ANOTHER RING! Newsflash, lakers won a champiomship with Kobe, Fisher, Artest, Bynum and Gasol. So whats da difference now?? Oh yea, NO PHIL JACKSON.
I'm sure Mike Brown is a decent guy and all, and not a bad coach, but other than allow LeBron to do exactly what he wanted (which he now does with Kobe), why did he win COY? Brown's offensive scheme is pretty much, Let your best 2/3 dominate the shots, let the bigs defend and board. (I.e., throw Kobe the ball.) And why didn't Lakers brass ask the same questions? "Wow, he won Coach of the Year. And he's young! Not old, you know, like Adelman!" "Actually, Mitch, I think Adelman might be a good---" "Ssh, ssh! Ssh! The Voice is sending me a message! 'Hire the young guy with the LeBron pedigree.'" "Actually, Mitch, that's Brown from the other room, should I call him back in, since you won't listen to reason anyway?"
They will figure out the offense. Their defense is much improved. The truth is they loafed around and thought they could beat these lottery dregs by half-a..ing it. The truth is Kobe himself allowed them to do that. He is the leader on the floor. All he's got to do is start knocking some heads and they'll change their effort.
Adelman with the Lakers would be scary. He would change that team to a great offensive team. Gasol woudl be fantastic in an Adelman offense.
Brown got them to play defense. That helped them just as much to get them to the Finals. Its not the coach, it's the players. Again the LA Drama blaming everything except themselves for their struggles.
It's all so simple to fix isn't it? Wishful thinking. Mike Brown would be unemployed if the Lakers hadn't blundered and hired him as head coach.
Once again, I'm not a fan of the Lakers at all. I do not like them. They've had untold advantages up to this point in league history. Hopefully the new CBA with the salary cap penalties combined with all the kiddos running the show now will turn them into a laughingstock for a few years. I think it's happening. As an organization, they are regressing. Now, with all that said, this is a team with the best player on the planet still, and two of the top 10 big men on the planet on it. And they are being coached by one of the top defensive coaches in the league. When the playoffs start and their defensive fury is unleashed in a controlled half-court game, they are going to be h... to deal with. They are better than last year, even without a trade, simply because their defense is so much better. They simply didn't bring it the last couple of games, neither of which was playoff atmosphere. Their on-court problems are simple to fix.
It was astonishing when they hired him that they ignored how atrocious his offense was in Cleveland. You're letting Phil walk, so why not take greater lengths to ensure high quality play on both sides of the ball? Tell Rick Adelman you want to also bring in a defensive guru to help. Tell JVG he can have the job so long as a strong offensive mind is running that side of the ball. Thank Mike Brown for his interest and wish him well in future endeavors.
Well to their credit, if Brown was the coach last season, the Lakers wouldn't have even made it to have the chance at being swept by the Mavs.
It's the coach and the players. Brown can coach defense, no question. The problem is that he doesn't coach offense. I think the brain trust in the LAL organization thought, Let's hire Brown, he'll coach defense, he had the offense running through a Top 5 player so that should take care of itself here with Kobe.... A big thing on LAL's offense, though, is obviously: After Kobe, Pau, and Bynum, they have.................er, um..............er, um..........nobody?
So where in that article are any Laker's players quoted as saying Brown's X's and O's worry Lakers and they want to return to the Triangle. All I see is a editorialized comment of some ESPN "source." [rquoter]Sources told ESPNLosAngeles.com that multiple players have continued to meet privately since the initial team meeting to discuss running elements of the Triangle offense again. "The players want to unify," one source with knowledge of the situation said. "They know how to win, and they want to fix this. I don't know if they can, though. "[/rquoter] Seems more like the media is trying to make the "return to Triangle" issue a story.
Kobe isn't the best player on the planet. His incredible burst to start the season is long gone. I guess if you repeat the same thing enough times you believe it. Your assumption they will play their very best ball of the year in the playoffs is a stretch. It never happened one time to the Cavs when Mike Brown coached there.
i thought it was widely known that his Xs and Os were questionable. In Cleveland he had nothing other than letting lebron create