Blog: Defensive Guru Mike Brown Needs a PLAN Offensively

by Rahshaun Haylock

I'm sure the Defenders aren't too thrilled about having to share their new digs with the Lakers, now that this whole lockout thing is done.

For goodness sake, the Toyota Center is the home court of the Defenders. All the Lakers use is for is a training ground.

We're talking about practice! El Segundo High School isn't available for the Lakers to go through their shooting and calisthenics?

Sorry Defenders. It's now time to take a backseat. The band is back together, although this time around, the band will look a little different.

There's a new leader of the group, Mike Brown. He brings a toughness, enthusiasm, intensity and will pace the sidelines longer and harder on Christmas Day than Phil Jackson ever did during his entire tenure as the Lakers head coach.

His specialty is defense, which is well chronicled from his five seasons as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers. But the question is what is he going to do offensively?

The offense ran in Cleveland was a lot of LeBron dribbling and everybody spreading out. That's not going to fly here. This is the land of Showtime and while the flash and dash isn't always necessary, winning certainly is. The team in place is a system team and not one formulated to run a number of ISOs. The triangle offense ran by Brown's predecessor wasn't all that exciting to watch for most fringe basketball fans but it got results.

Kobe is not at the point in his career where he can do a ton a dribbling and take guys off of the bounce like he once did. He now uses a more methodical approach, like that of a fine surgeon --one incision at a time. Brown is known for running a lot of sets, and there's also been talk of him being able to do a lot of hi-low stuff with the bigs, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol, similar to what was done with the Spurs when Tim Duncan and David Robinson shared the floor.

It will be interesting to see what this newest version of the Lake Show will look like. One thing that is for sure, is, the talent is still there. But with that talent comes a ton of egos. More than Brown had to deal with in Cleveland. X's and O's is one thing. Managing personalities is another. That's an area, I believe, Phil Jackson will be missed the most. What other coach could lead a team to three straight championships with his two best players feuding like siblings?

Although the Lakers have the winning pedigree, the transition doesn't appear to be the smoothest. Playing 3-4 times a week for an aging team is not the most fortunate of outcomes. Brown has said he will certainly have to limit the amount of physical practices with the club during the season.

All the while, the Lakers will have a new way of doing things. A new system to learn on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball and not much time to do it. No small task, but, hey, it's working out pretty well right now for the Niners!