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A Lot of Patience Is Required for the Lakers
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Much has been made of the Lakers hiring Eddie Jordan as an assistant coach and installing the Princeton offense. The results throughout the 0-8 preseason looked rather lackluster and continued into the regular season opener as the Lakers fell to the Dallas Mavericks 99-91.
As ugly as it looked, it's still too early to demand heads on silver platters.
Sebastian Pruiti of Grantland did a good breakdown of what the Eddie Jordan version of the Princeton offense will mean to the Lakers this season. But what the hell is this offense?
There are no set plays in the Princeton offense. All five players are spaced on the floor to allow the offense to have a flow. Not only do all five players have to be good passers, all five players have to constant move without the ball to try and create a mismatch. Once that happens, the player will cut to the basket unguarded, receive a back-door pass and hit the layup unguarded. If no mismatches occur, then the offense has to settle for a perimeter shot.
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Let's have Jordan explain it somewhat more clearly.
And when it's executed to perfection, this is about how it's supposed to look.
The Lakers aren't running the pure Princeton offense, mixing in some of last year's tried and true plays to fully compliment the athletes they have. You remember the plays that had them scoring 97.3 points per game, 15th best of the 30 teams in the NBA and their worst scoring offense since they scored 95.6 points per game in the 1954-55 season in Minneapolis?
As the Mavs were having their way with the Lakers defense in the third quarter, the supposed strong point of head coach Mike Brown, when the Lakers were in their half-court offense, they acted like they had their feet stuck in mud. I'm no expert in basketball, but I'm sure that's not what you're supposed to do when you run an offense that dictates off-ball movement.
The Lakers abandoned the Princeton to revert to some plays that had them score a whopping 45 points in the second half. Pau Gasol led the Lakers with 23 points while also nabbing 13 rebounds and dishing six assists. Kobe Bryant had 22 points while Dwight Howard had 19 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out with 2:32 left in the game.
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But we all know the offense will be a work in progress. They look shitty, but the offense right now isn't anything to get worked up over yet.
Let's take a look at the defense. Six Mavs scored in double-figures: Darren Collison (17), Brendan Wright (14), O.J. Mayo (12), Shawn Marion (11), Rodrigue Beaubois (11), Vince Carter (11). A team without Dirk Nowitski just got one over the Lakers at the STAPLES Center. Let that one sink in there for a little bit.
The Lakers now travel up to Portland for a game at the Rose Garden Wednesday night giving them little turnaround to get things fixed. It's probably not going to be pretty up there either.
But it's an 82-game season, and the Lakers have plenty of time to get their act together. Everyone in Lakerland expecgts with Kobe, with Dwight, with Nash and Pau everything is supposed to click and the rings are supposed to fall upon STAPLES Center like manna from the sky.
It doesn't work like that. Mike Brown is not getting fired. Eddie Jordan is not getting fired.
If you have to look at any team, look at the Miami Heat two years ago. After a very rocky start, they go to the NBA Finals and in the next season win it all.
Speaking of impatience, when does the NHL start?
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