Triangle offense is pretty much out of the equation for Lakers

[Lkr]

It took Tex Winter 320 pages to detail the intricacies of the triangle offense in a book.

 

It took Mike Brown four seconds to say there would be little to no more of it for the Lakers.

 

"We are not going to run the triangle offense, but we will have bits and pieces that will be incorporated," the Lakers coach said Tuesday at his introductory news conference. "A lot of what I'm going to take offensively will stem from the time that I was in San Antonio."

 

Brown was an assistant coach for three seasons with the Spurs when they had seven-footers David Robinson and Tim Duncan. There will be more activity in the high post in the Lakers' new offense, and also more pick-and-rolls instead of a heavy emphasis on spacing.

 

Goodbye to the triangle, which helped Phil Jackson win 11 championships as a coach.

 

Brown, however, couldn't quite say so long to the Lakers' playoff failure of a few weeks ago. Without giving specifics of his present-day weight, he found a heavy analogy to describe their collapse against Dallas.

 

"I'm a big guy and I like to eat," he said. "It makes me hungry. What happened to them has made them hungry. Hopefully when we start training camp, we have 15 angry men that I have to work with."

 

Thanks to the ever-increasing chances of a lockout, nobody knows when training camp will commence, but Brown got his point across numerous times. He likes the makeup of the Lakers' roster.

 

He'd better have faith in it. Not much can be done in free agency because of numerous weighty long-term contracts that extend the Lakers well over the salary cap until 2014. In addition, Lakers owner Jerry Buss and team executive Jim Buss said in the past week they foresee only minor tinkering with the roster between now and next season.

 

So Brown chose to cheer on the existing players of his new team.

 

"I'm excited about this roster," he said. "I still believe this core group of guys can go get it done. Now it's up to us to go do it."

 

Matt Barnes was the only player to attend Tuesday's news conference, stopping by after getting some work done on his sore right knee at a nearby medical facility.

 

When Barnes was a free agent two years ago, he spoke with Brown about joining the Cleveland Cavaliers, so the Lakers' forward had some familiarity with the new coach.

 

"We just have to buy in," Barnes said. "We have the greatest player in the world [Kobe Bryant]. The coach is the leader, and like he said, we need to buy in to what he's bringing to the table. If we do that, we should be a really good team."

 

Barnes also said he would pick up his $1.9-million option to remain with the Lakers next season.

 

Meanwhile, Brown is moving quickly to form his coaching staff. He will interview Chuck Person on Wednesday, The Times has learned, perhaps retaining one of the four assistants under Jackson last season.

 

Brown has already received permission to talk to Michael Malone, the top assistant for the New Orleans Hornets. John Kuester might also receive an interview with the Lakers if he is fired by the Detroit Pistons.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakers-mike-brown-20110601,0,382834.story

[?QuestionMark?]

If it means less Fish, that could be a good thing.

 

I don't know that you can run with this team. LA is a power team and are probably the slowest team in the league. Who is gonna run a break? Fish has the worst point skills of any starting guard in the league. Ron is terrible on the break. And Pau and Drew don't always run either.

 

I do like the idea of Pau and Drew getting more touches. I get tired of seeing 3-4-5 minutes going by without them getting a touch.