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What on earth is Rudy Tomjanovich doing? As one of the most overrated coaches ever to win a championship, Coach Rody T was so stumped by the Lakers' failure to execute any resemblance of an offense this season that he asked his team for suggestions. In a conversation with Kobe Bryant, Tomjanovich suggested the Lakers switch to the triangle (out of freakin' nowhere) after Rudy wasn't down with Kobe's suggestion of the Princeton offense (thank goodness).
The Lakers used the triangle in a 111-104 win over the struggling Rockets, and suddenly they're a triangle team again.
Is this the answer to the Lakers problems? LAist thinks not. Switching to the triangle out of nowhere is a total gimmick, and the win over Houston probably had more to do with catching the Rockets off-guard than because it is the right system for LA. Sure, having players cut and move is a vast improvement over "chuck up threes" non-offense the Lakers had been using before, but you cannot institute a drastically new system overnight and expect your whole team to be effective right away. Now that teams are expecting the triangle, they will adjust against it, and watch as Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and co. fumble with it for at least a month or so.
With the horses the Lakers have, they really should be running an up-tempo offense, utilizing Odom and Butler more, and finding a point guard who's interested in passing and being a floor general more than Chucky Atkins. Kobe Bryant can't be your lead defender, point guard, and leading scorer all in one. The fact that Tomjanovich could not figure out any offensive system of his own is almost embarrassing. Although, we guess we can give him points for shocking us, and being a "player's coach" at the same time.
LAist admits that the triangle is somewhat intriguing with this team, if Kobe really is Jordan, Odom really is Pippen, Atkins magically becomes Ron Harper, and Chris Mihm sort of acts a cross between Luc Longley and Dennis Rodman. But no one besides Phil Jackson and Tex Winter has ever successfully coached that system. Sure, it worked as a gimmick for one night. But let's see if it can stand the test of time. We're skeptical.
