2026-27 The Coach's Corner: A Place To Discuss Concepts, Rotations And Tactics

In the past we've had great threads that I've enjoyed from poster's like @Panko breaking down rotations and minutes, or @trodgers bringing proprietary analytics to assess players - not to mention the countless great conversations with everyone else. Since we're getting to the end of Free Agency and getting closer to a locked roster for this upcoming season, I thought it would be nice to have a thread where we can talk about how we're going to play and who's going to play.

In particular the overall offensive and defensive concepts our roster is capable of and going to play with, the rotations & minute break downs for our guys and micro tactics we're going to employ on a game to game basis.

Who plays? How many minutes? How do we play? How do we offend? What our strengths and weaknesses? How do we exploit other teams and not be exploited?

Would be great to have a place to post analytics, stats, rotations, concepts etc - hope you all will join me in continuing to make this the best place to talk lakers on the internet.

 

This video inspired me to create this thread. It goes into our new roster construction and what our front office is trying to achieve with the revamp of our team.

Long story short, it looks at net rating and the 6 factors on both sides of the ball important to modern basketball that are divided across three areas; shooting efficiency, the possession battle and second chance opportunities. They are:

• Shooting Efficiency
  • oTS: Estimates how much a player changes his team's shooting efficiency on offense. Positive means the lineup shoots more efficiently.
  • dTS: Estimates how much a player changes opponent's shooting efficiency. Positive means the lineup suppresses opponent shooting better.
• Possession Battle
  • oTOV: Estimates how much a player changes his team's offensive turnover game. Positive means the lineup gives the ball away less.
  • dTOV: Estimates how much a player changes his team's defensive turnover creation. Positive means the lineup forces more turnovers.
• Second Chance Opportunities
  • oREB: Estimates how much a player changes his team's offensive rebounding and second-chance creation. Positive means the lineup creates more extra possessions.
  • dREB: Estimates how much a player changes his team's defensive rebounding and ability to finish possessions. Positive means the lineup finishes more possessions with the rebound.

These are the 6 factors that make up the net rating of a team and can be found here: https://databallr.com/teams

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The video goes into how we've improved with our roster construction and should have a considerably better net rating next year.

Last year we were elite in Offensive True Shooting and half court offense. Luka has been a one man wrecking crew across his whole career on this stat, his team's constantly shoot better than league average efficiency. Part of this is in how he plays the game, the pressure he puts on opposition's defences is special. If you don't guard him at the 3 point line, he is just going to bomb away, if you do, he gets into the paint and scores at high efficiency and if you stop him scoring he picks you apart with his passing.

Reaves, I believe, can take another step up in this metric next year. I expect him to play even more like a mini Luka hitting more 3's from the perimeter off the dribble and controlling the tempo better. We should have 48 mins of high quality offensive play from our top two guys, alongside some on ball creation from Sexton and Grimes.

I really like how many options we have in how we can play offensively; we can play with an effective pick and roll big in Kessler, or Kessler as an offensive rebounder with guard pick and roll play, a pick and pop big in Mamu, a 5 out offense with Mamu or wings, a defensive minded roster that gets out into transition from creating turnovers.

We should be a top 5 offense with our oTS and also partly because we're going to improve greatly on the possession battle side. Kessler and Looney are elite offensive rebounders in the top 10 of the league at 5+ per 75 possessions. On top of that we've got a bunch of defensive playmakers that are going to force turnovers with Ziaire and Thybulle being absolute menaces at this - Adou also has great promise on this side of the ball.

I have some questions defensively with the starting wing, but if we can solve that, we're going to be a very good regular season team.

 

Nice thread!

I think defensively we are going to be quite interesting. As pointed out in some other thread, the way media people are portraying as worse defensively seems so wrong. I guess time will tell.

JJ has been quite creative with defensive schemes. And he just got a top 5 defensive big. I think it's getting underrated that Kessler is on par with Chet on many defensive metrics, only behind Wemby. All in a terrible team. I'm quite eager to see what he does in a winning team.

It seems clear we didn't go with 1-on-1 defense but rather accept we will get blown by often. Something we did last year was using a collective approach where you defend by guiding the offensive player to a certain space on the floor, while the rest of the team already knew and could get some steals, stops or just deny the next action.

That's where it gets interesting. Because not only you have an elite big, you got steal specialists like Thybulle and Ziaire, Luka is good at it too. So imagine channeling the dribbler towards Kessler and then they are stuck with 2 options: attack Kessler on the paint (which is not a good idea) or kick it to the outside where Thybulle/Ziaire/Luka are ready to steal the ball or deflect it. You can't win.

I'm really excited by the vision of the team and I think we will see a blueprint of what's to come in the next years. When we get a couple upgrades via FA/trade or development of our young guys, we will probably be a top contender.

 

It’s my first thread hehe!

I don’t get the whole we’ll be worse defensively talk from media guys… we got rid of Rui, Kennard, Ayton and Hayes and replaced them with Mamu, Sexton, Kessler and Looney. Who are all better defensively than their previous counter parts.

We did lose Lebron, but to be honest, he gave maximum effort mainly in the playoff and key matchups only. If we can get a starting 4, that should be a net positive defensively in comparison. Smart’s a big loss, but Grimes is no slouch and will provide a good amount of what smart did on the perimeter.

On top of that we added Ziaire and Thybulle who are better than anyone we had last year out of the rotation that left (outside of smart). We should be considerably better defensively out the gate from a personnel only point of view.

I’m curious to see how JJ plays it, I assume like you do, that he is going to have us really aggressive on the perimeter and funnelling into Kessler. I’m unsure of the details - does Kessler show up high or does he play drop big only? Are we going to employ also a switching defense when Kessler is off the floor? What about zone?

JJ to me is a top defensive coach so far, so I’m really excited for that end of the floor.

 

Kessler is more drop coverage. He tends to lose a step when he shows up high but from time to time he is able to hold his ground and move well. We probably try to reduce the amount he is exposed though.
I think we'll have less switching, certainly not with Kessler. Maybe we switch 1-4 though

We should use some zone too, mostly with Mamu I'd guess. Ziaire and Thybulle excel on those as there's more off ball reading and anticipating passing lanes with their length.

There's definitely a number of ways we can approach it and the best defenses are the ones that are able to be versatile and show different things to the offense. I think JJ will play a lot with that. Absolutely agree he and the staff are quite resourceful and if he did what he did with so many flawed defensive players, there's certainly an excitement when we had 2 elite and 2 very good defenders to the roster

 

What's interesting is that the Jazz started playing Kessler as a level big more often, and he wasn't bad there, better than we'd think based off his reputation as a slow big. I do think we'll end up funnelling players to him, but JJ always surprises me with the details he adds. I think the fact we have players like Carr and Adou coming through, they could provide some rim protection even if Kessler gets beat.

I think we're going to play quite a bit of zone, and switching 1-5 when mamu is on the court.

Defensively, we have Sexton who can handle the small 1's, he isn't a good defender by any means, but he gets a lot of steals and that's useful if you have a strong defense behind him.

Grimes is going to be our primary starting POA that takes 1's and 2's, we desperately need that wing that can guard 3's and 4's next to Luka.

Off the bench, Ziaire is another very credible POA guy that can handle 1-3. Jake is extremely versatile and will guard anything from 2-4. Thybulle will just be a menace wherever you play him creating turnovers. I'm liking what we have, we may not be a classically strong defense in that we hold teams to low scoring averages, but we may be a high turnover generation team with a good net rating. I'm happy with that.

 

We will generate a lot of turnovers but just as important, are the type of turnovers. They will lead to easy points making our offense even more deadly. You are spot on about Carr and Adou, if we are not using them for exactly that and other things of course, we have gone astray.

 

If you have wings that help that can protect the rim a bit, you can afford to have Kessler meet the pick and roll up high. I noticed in the small sample size last year he got quite a lot of steals from pushing up - even if a speedy guard gets past him, having two guys with 7'2 wingspans and elite athleticism is going to be really helpful.

I'm actually really excited for that part of Adou and Carr's game, I think it's going to be hugely impactful on our team in a few years. We could have 3 elite defenders with Carr, Adou & Kessler and Luka being a very good steal/deflector of the ball, all surrounding Reaves.

I'm also keen to bring Christie back next year with the MLE, I think adding another 3&D piece as a POA defender with some size would be very helpful. If we could add Kuminga or PJ this offseason, we would have a really solid core moving forward that would let us play alot of different ways. Luka, Reaves, Kessler, Kuminga, Carr, Adou, Christie, Mamu, Ziaire & Grimes.

Luka / Grimes
Reaves / Carr
Christie / Ziaire
Kuminga / Adou
Kessler / Mamu

 

Great post, I think Adou and Carr will be impactful this year. Carr is going to be a special player. Trevor put out some good stuff on Walker recently as well. I want to see our defense pushing the offenses into places they don't want to be. I don't like always reacting, I prefer to dictate. We have the pieces to apply intense ball pressure when we want. Pick and choose the times to attack the offense. We have the makings of a good defensive team. Luka watches passing lanes and AR is much better than given credit for. It comes down to rotation training and keeping your eyes up and on passing lanes. Basic fundamental defense, but it has to be drilled in to every player.

 

Another thing I think is important for us to think about during during training camp and practices. I push my players to their limits during practice and want them to make mistakes as that is how they learn. Practice is not the time to play it safe. The players can look rough in these situations but they are the ones doing the best. Naturally, there are times you want perfect execution and pull them back a bit. If I have a player looking too good in practice I will tell them to pick it up. As fans we expect the players to always look 100% and they don't learn that way. A cutter isn't in the right spot and people say where the heck was he throwing it or a POA defender looks foolish bc the help wasn't there. Lots of reasons the players in practice looking sharp aren't necessarily the ones doing the best.

 

I think there's a natural inclination in society to look for value in the things around us, being able to find parts that fit to make up a sum that's greater than the whole is really rewarding. I know life takes us in other directions, but if you do bring any of your statistical knowledge back to basketball, I'll be reading!

 

So this is the rotation I'd do if we don't make another move and cut Hardy/Knecht:

Luka (35) | Sexton (20) | Bronny
AR (35) | Carr (12) | Hardy/Knecht
Grimes (28) | Ziaire (18) | Thiero
Thybulle (18) | Jake (20) | Vando
Kessler (30) | Mamu (24) | Looney

I tried to divide per position but it gets too confusing to read. But we'll have Grimes playing some 2, Carr some 3, Ziaire/Jake 3/4 and Mamu 4/5. Made sure the total is the 48min x 5.

I think Thiero/Looney can break the rotation for a few spot minutes here and there.
Thiero will play every time there's an injury. The whole bench also bumps up by committee in such cases.
Grimes and Sexton may play more than shared here, at the expense of Carr and Ziaire/Jake.

 

Solid starting line up and rotations. I like our roster as there so many options. Much of it will depend upon how players perform in camp. I like this thread in that it makes you actually think before posting.

 

I’ve been thinking that if we don’t sign anyone, we should give Ziaire a shot to see if he can be our DJJ. He’s shown to have the defensive side, maybe Luka can get him a higher quality of shot. So offensively:

Luka (32) / Sexton (16)
Reaves (32) / Sexton (8) / Carr (8)
Grimes (28) / Thybulle (16) / Adou (4)
Ziaire (24) / Jake (16) / Adou (4) / Mamu (4)
Kessler (28) / Mamu (20)

Defensively it would look more like:

Grimes (24) / Sexton (24)
Reaves (32) / Carr (8) / Grimes (4) / Thybulle (4)
Ziaire (24) / Thybulle (12) / Jake (12)
Luka (32) / Adou (8) / Mamu (4) / Jake (4)
Kessler (28) / Mamu (20)

I really want Carr and Adou to get some minutes, so I’m happy cutting everyone’s minutes to run 11 guys.

Luka (32)
Reaves (32)
Kessler (28)
Grimes (28)
Ziaire (24)
Sexton (24)
Mamu (24)
Thybulle (16)
Jake (16)
Carr (8)
Adou (8)

 

Lucky for me, I don't have to worry about that!!!

 

Another thing I was thinking about, I’d love to see the Adou and Luka pick and roll.

Adou needs to learn to set hard screens from Looney, because if he does, the other team is going to have to sell out to stop Luka. If they don’t, Luka will be in the paint with a defender behind him, that’s kind of the worst situation for the other team.

If they do double Luka, it’s just an automatic two points when Luka’s throw it up for Adou anywhere near the rim with no one on him. If they defend rotate to help, you’ll have shooters waiting and Kessler (the best offensive rebounder in the league) crashing the boards.

Most of this is predicated on Kessler being able to shoot the 3 to give Adou spacing to operate as the interior guy.

 

We can call this The Monster Mash.

 

Yeah I think that's a weapon in Adou-Mamu lineups. But Adou as still so much to learn. It's not a given to play P&R and be good at it. It's not just the screen. Is how you move, how you read the defense and quick decision making when you get the ball and attack basket vs pass the ball.
But I definitely see as something Adou can work on and get more playing time from it