Sooner or later, the Los Angeles Lakers are going to reach a breaking point. In an early-season matchup with middling Houston Tuesday night, we saw Kobe Bryant completely take control of a non-functional offense and revert to Black Mamba, circa 2006. While LA (now 4-3) won the game 108-99 and Kobe got his points -- 37 to be exact -- a much larger problem is lurking in Lakerland.
Entering this season, the main question around this team was how newly minted head coach Mike Brown would implement his offense and phase out the triangle. Seven games in, the answer is: not very well. Phil Jackson's triangle may have been boring and at times painfully basic, but the one thing it always did was maintain floor balance and spacing. It used the superb passing of Pau Gasol from the high post and forced Kobe into less over-dribbling and more team basketball.
As he did during his tenure in Cleveland, Brown's offense is rather predictable and reliant on a single star. For all the great that he's done in his career, Bryant still reverts to a brutally selfish isolation style when things aren't going well. In the first quarter against the Rockets, things were definitely not going well.
The Lakers had a slim lead, but looked terrible on offense with no balance and little flow. About the only thing working was Andrew Bynum. Bryant -- either out of pure frustration or sheer selfishness -- missed three consecutive errant shots on as many possessions. By game's end, he had settled down and finished 14-29 from the floor with 37 points -- a good night for sure. However, Kobe taking 30 shots per night has never been the blueprint for Laker championships. When this team went back-to-back in 2009 and 2010, we praised Bryant for finally figuring out how to trust his teammates. Michael Jordan learned the same valuable lesson with Steve Kerr and John Paxson, and for a three-year stretch it seemed like Bryant had as well.
The absence of Lamar Odom -- whom Mitch Kupchak merely gave away for cash purposes -- has undoubtedly hurt this team. Odom's overall versatility as a scorer, passer, ball handler and rebounder was lethal. That said, his departure has given more room for Bynum to assume the dominant role that we've been expecting since he entered the league seven years ago.
A big man with his set of skills is remarkably rare in a day and age when most guys want to play away from the basket. The fully healthy Bynum is averaging a robust 22 points and league-leading 17 rebounds per game right now since returning from his four-game suspension. He is demanding the ball, he is running the floor and he is finishing everything at the rim.
Bryant has the basketball acumen to understand the incredible gift he has been given. A 7-footer with Bynum's talent can not only extend Kobe's career, but can help him reach another championship, and consequently tie Jordan for six total. Yet he continues to look away from the post, brush off screen-and-rolls and instead isolate even when it's not there. In the final four minutes Tuesday night, with Bynum just three points away from the first 20-point, 20-rebound performance of his career, Kobe took seven shots in three minutes. On at least three of those possessions, he should have found Bynum on the block in quality post position. This was the case during much of the game as well, when the 24-year-old continually beat the Houston bigs down the floor and put himself in prime position for a layup or dunk reward, only to wait in vain for the necessary pass. By night's end, Bynum had attempted 15 shots, many off of his six offensive rebounds. Pau Gasol -- who himself should never take less than 15 -- took only 11 shots.
In many respects, the Lakers won this game the same way that they made two straight first-round playoff exits in 2006 and 2007: by living and dying with Kobe. Elite players have these types of nights, when their talent simply eclipses the defense. With Bynum playing at this level however, Bryant should not be hoisting 25 to 30 shots per game. Pound the ball to the block and play inside-out basketball; that is what Mike Brown should be preaching right now, but clearly isn't.
"He's a great player," Brown said after the game. "And you've got to give great players, in my opinion, some freedom. Kobe's a superstar. He's been there, done that. He can score. You've got to give him more freedom than I give Darius Morris."
Less than two weeks into his tenure with the Lakers, Brown is once again trapped by an uber-talented player who wants the offense to run entirely through him, with the "freedom" to do as he pleases. That system didn't win Brown a title in Cleveland, and it certainly never won Bryant a title with LA.
Why would it work now?
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It's easy for many to think that a guy is simply gets selfish because he shoots. Kobe has shown throughout his career that he is willing to do whatever it takes to win an NBA Championship. Kobe took a back seat to a dominant Shaq through their 5 year run a decade ago. It resulted in 3 rings. It was Kobe's turn to shine and shine he did winning 2 more championships with a lesser star by his side in Gasol. The gap between championship runs was not created because of Kobe's shooting. It was a complete lack of talent outside of Kobe. Anyone with a minimal knowledge of basketball would acknowledge this.
Kobe currently has a torn ligament and it's clearly hampering his shot, but he plays through pain and he's definitely looking for a comfort zone. His poor shooting against Denver was cause for alarm for pundits like Jordan Shultz who now have to conjure up "another" flaw: too many shots even though he's making half of them on the way to another Laker victory.
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Truth: Their teammates in non-postseason years were simply awful, many of which would have been bench players on the majority of playoff teams.
Myth: Jordan took less shots when he won championships.
Truth: With the exception of 1986-87 season when Jordan hoisted 27.8 shots per game, Jordan pretty much shot the same throughout his career, with peaks and valleys equally distributed throughout his career. See stats below
Field Goals Attempted Per Game
Year - Regular - Playoffs
1985-86 (19.8)
1986-87 (18.2)
1986-87 (27.8)
1987-88 (24.4)
1988-89 (22.2)
1989-90 (24.0)
1990-91 (22.4)*
1991-92 (22.7)*
1992-93 (25.7)*
1993-94 retired
1994-95 (23.8) returned from retirement and played in 17 games
1995-96 (22.6)*
1996-97 (23.1)*
1997-98 (23.1)*
*denotes NBA Championships
Another interesting fact is that throughout the Chicago Bulls run of 6 championships (90-98) Jordan took 30 or more shots 11% of the time. He took 27 or more shots, 28% of the time. In fact, his shots per game actually rose in the playoffs when the games counted the most.
Playoffs
1991: 22.1 (-0.3)
1992: 26.4 (+3.7)
1993: 27.8 (+2.1)
1996: 22.6 (no change)
1997: 26.2 (+3.1)
1998: 25.0 (+1.9)
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poor excuse to write an article. you should be praising bynum for finaly showing what hes capable of. with bynum healthy a 6th ring is coming for the black mamba.
In fact, I think it's worse for Brown because Kobe's older legs can't carry
a team for the entire season and still have any juice left for the playoffs.
Losing Odom made a non- championship team even worse.
You make it sound like Kobe doesn't get it. He's there to win and he scores at will, injury or no injury. Bynum can score, but this depends on his legs. His scoring average over three games is not much of an indicator.
Look at the bright side with Kobe and Bynum out there. You're looking at a high percentage of your possessions converted to baskets each time.
1. Kobe scores
or
2. Kobe misses, Bynum cleans up
3. Bynum gets it low and scores
4. The other possibilities are the other 50% of your possessions and you've got to have your bench convert some points, cuz it counts!