Lakers Film Room - Videos On "New Offense"

"FiendishOC from LG" with some thoughts on X's and O's after the first game.

Some thoughts on the Kings game:

WHAT I LIKED:

Movement - The players and the ball were constantly in motion. It didn't always lead to something good, but there were very few times where we had the ball stick.

Even in the simple offensive structure that they've put in, they have secondary sets after the initial action and even after that, encouraged the players to continue to cut and set screens indefinitely, giving plenty of passing options. This is in contrast to last season, where everyone would freeze in place after the initial pass.

Defensive switching - The Lakers actually switched a lot on defense quite a bit last season, but it was poorly executed. It seemed to be done to avoid exerting effort, rather than to nullify an advantage, and resulted in giving up wide open jumpers.

Already in game one of this preseason the defensive switches make sense and were passed on smoothly. I don't recall seeing any clear breakdowns.


(note the stiff-arms on the screeners)

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE:

Lou on Afflalo - Lou started at SG but didn't cross match with DLO on defense. That left a PG sized player on someone who often plays at the SF position. Maybe they were concerned about getting mixed up in transition defense, but Afflalo definitely capitalized on his size advantage tonight.

Lack of automatic counters
This one is understandable given how little time they've devoted on offense so far. Their offense was basically the Motion Weak and Horns Elbow sets that we saw in training camp. Although the shooting was off, it was fluid and resulted in some open looks in the first half. In the second half, the Kings adjusted by denying the return pass to the PG in Motion Weak more aggressively, which resulted in some clock time and catches further away from the paint.

As GT mentioned in his video, as a counter the guard should be back cutting as soon as he sees the denial pressure. I'm pretty sure that they will implement this or another counter soon though.


Overall, despite the general sloppiness in this game, there was a lot to be encouraged by. The ball movement and the togetherness on defense is already better than what we had last season. The open shots should start falling and I think the coaching staff will eventually find lineups that work for both the 1st and second units. Also, getting away from that ice rink floor should help as well.

 

Can't wait to see this offense once the real season begins and during the course of the pre-season they've at least began that process a bit. You have multiple playmakers. You have some quality shooters. Russell will be deadly in this motion offense. The screen and rolls will be fun to watch. Look forward to horns, pin downs, curls, split post action, secondary action, just seeing guys move around a lot more and attacking different spots on the court. I liken it to the NFL and you move receivers around and you get different mis matches. Same thing in basketball. When players move around and the ball moves with them makes it tough for the defense to set themselves and keen in on spot on the floor, they get worn out, guys will get open looks and be able to get their feet set, everyone touches the basketball and feels apart of the action. It's just beautiful to watch and at some point we will see that albeit will take some time.

 

http://lakerfilmroom.com/long-road-toward-respectable-lakers-defense/

Fantastic piece. I'd encourage everybody to read it.

 

really good. interesting that a couple core lineups aren't as bad as i thought, statistically.

and i do think that roster is only so much of it--the bobcats example there is important, as would be the spurs from recent years. you can build a good defensive team without crazy athletes, but everyone has to be committed, consistently.

 

Some of those clips with Randle wandering around ineffectively, standing upright and hands not raised while there's penetration happening right next to him or a guy shooting right in front of him make you shake your head.

 

Great to have guys like this only focusing on the Lakers

 

of course he also helps opposing scouts prepare for the Lakers