The Regime Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 LONDON – Kobe Bryant has been searching for spacing and freedom and flow on offense, for a way to counter defenses bent on sagging and suffocating him on the floor. Even before the Los Angeles Lakers delivered him point guard Steve Nash, Bryant had raised an idea with coach Mike Brown about the possibility of employing a distant cousin to the triangle – the Princeton offense. So there was Brown and Bryant in a side room in a Las Vegas gymnasium during Team USA's training camp in early July, listening to Eddie Jordan detail the offense's intricacies, laying out how Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum would benefit with and without the basketball. Here was an old-school Ivy League blueprint daring to be a solution for the Showtime Lakers' issues. Jordan happens to be the foremost Princeton authority in the NBA, the heir to architect Pete Carril, and that's an immense part of why the Lakers are moving toward an agreement to hire Jordan as an assistant coach. Jordan sold his vision of the offense to a most willing subject, and ultimately Bryant departed for these Olympics convinced that the Lakers have a sound plan of action for the 2012-13 season. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba--kobe-bryant-goes-back-to-school--lakers-switching-to-princeton-offense.html;_ylt=AqCmo3i_PoGnK7p5i6CXe3K8vLYF;_ylu=X3oDMTRrcDByaGV1BG1pdANMSVNUUyBNaXhlZCBMaXN0IE5CQSBFeHBlcnRzBHBrZwM1ZDk2YWYwNC00MmZkLTM5ZDEtOTYzNy01ZTJkZmE5NjhlMTEEcG9zAzEEc2VjA01lZGlhQkxpc3RNaXhlZExQQ0FUZW1wBHZlcgM2MmZiZWRlMy1kYTk3LTExZTEtYmZjZi0yZjhjYjRkNzk4NmU-;_ylg=X3oDMTFoNjVvZWVyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdANuYmEEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnM-;_ylv=3 Something was bound to happen after watching the offense struggle last season. We have high IQ guys on the team so the concept shouldn't be too hard to adopt and I can see some success coming out of it. I'm pretty excited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemon Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 should've just went with adelman then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AboveLegit Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 Could work in small spurts, but I hate the idea of taking the ball out of Nash's hands. This philosophy would have been better off last year, not this year when you finally have a great PG. A two man game of Pau and anyone in this offense would be very effective, but I'm skeptical as to how Bynum and his decision making fits into this offense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
His Greatness Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 Sounds promising; Eddie Jordan's ideas have been successful before. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lkr Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 should've just went with adelman thenhe's locked up with Minny though makes me wonder why we didn't just keep Shaw as an offensive coordinator Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JYD Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 they won't run the princeton offense with nash and kobe bryant. neither of them are going to move without the ball and thats what it is predicated on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 The Princeton offense is very similar to the triangle, with little differences here and there. Should be effective and something most of the players adapt to pretty quickly. I understand ABL's concerns with taking the ball out of Nash's hands and also relying on Bynum's decision-making if he is one of the 1st options. I think this team has too many good one-on-one players to let Nash play the way he did in Phoenix...that doesn't mean he shouldn't have the ball in his hands a lot or should be relegated to spot-up shooter, but you can't sacrifice Kobe/Pau/Bynum's strongest abilities to let a 38 year old PG run wild like he did in Phoenix. I think you'd see more succss having Nash sacrifice some and have more spot-up opportunites than vice-versa. As for Bynum, the only touches he should get are from easy touches off ball movement, or iso situations where he's got some kind of distinct advantage. If he is limited in that regard, this offense could become really dangerous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNotoriousBANG Posted July 31, 2012 Report Share Posted July 31, 2012 they should just get rid of mike brownand eddie jordan isn't that good of a coach eitherhated him in washington based on what i saw from the wizards when EJ was coachingpriceton offense was gilbert chucking mad shotsno wonder kobe would recommend it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JYD Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 (edited) The Princeton offense is very similar to the triangle, with little differences here and there. Should be effective and something most of the players adapt to pretty quickly. I understand ABL's concerns with taking the ball out of Nash's hands and also relying on Bynum's decision-making if he is one of the 1st options. I think this team has too many good one-on-one players to let Nash play the way he did in Phoenix...that doesn't mean he shouldn't have the ball in his hands a lot or should be relegated to spot-up shooter, but you can't sacrifice Kobe/Pau/Bynum's strongest abilities to let a 38 year old PG run wild like he did in Phoenix. I think you'd see more succss having Nash sacrifice some and have more spot-up opportunites than vice-versa. As for Bynum, the only touches he should get are from easy touches off ball movement, or iso situations where he's got some kind of distinct advantage. If he is limited in that regard, this offense could become really dangerous.isn't the princeton offense based on movement without the ball/backdoor cuts? it's a great way to play when your undersized/not that athletic. maybe my knowledge/thought of what the 'princeton offense' is is wrong? b/c i played the 'princeton offense' in high school and all it was as explained to me was movement without the ball and a lot of backdoor cuts. we were pretty undersized without much of a big man so it was a good way to play and get high percentage looks Edited August 1, 2012 by JYD Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 isn't the princeton offense based on movement without the ball/backdoor cuts? it's a great way to play when your undersized/not that athletic. maybe my knowledge/thought of what the 'princeton offense' is is wrong? b/c i played the 'princeton offense' in high school and all it was as explained to me was movement without the ball and a lot of backdoor cuts. we were pretty undersized without much of a big man so it was a good way to play and get high percentage looks The triangle is predicated off the same principles, and Kobe and Shaq won 3 titles in that offense with both guys scoring like crazy off iso plays. There is no team in the NBA that runs a true Princeton offense...but the idea is to have those principles, and some set plays out of it. Kobe, Nash, Pau and Bynum will be able to freestyle away from it at times, though, and they should as they all can do some very unique things on their own. Why I think this offense will work well is three of those guys (Bynum excluded) no how to pass the ball and make extremely smart decisions, so I think a team with all these guys who flourish in one-on-one/PnR situation can still run an effective Princeton offense. FWIW, the only team I've ever seen run a true Princeton offense to near perfection was the early '00's Kings. They were really incredible due to their big men's passing ability. I think with Pau these Lakers will have a high effectiveness if they commit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AboveLegit Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 (edited) I have no problem with LA running the Princeton, but it's all about how often they do so. If we're talking about incorporating it heavily in their offensive philosophy, then I'm completely against it. The Princeton has as much to do with personnel than anything else. But with Eddie Jordan, we're probably going to see the offense run Pau, Jamison, and maybe even Bynum on the elbows, freeing up perimeter iso's for Kobe and Nash. And contrary to popular belief, Eddie Jordan has never ran a traditional Princeton offense. He's all about dribble hand offs, I've rarely seen his teams run pick and rolls, and it's why I'm so skeptical as to how this fits LA's new direction with Nash. It's why Gilbert Arenas' assist numbers were always so low despite all the dribble penetrations, Eddie never asked his PG's to play the role of a PG in the conventional sense. And I hate to use that example because Gil had the scorers mindset, but it didn't help that he was essentially asked to go back and forth as a distributor and a scorer. Edited August 1, 2012 by AboveLegit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JYD Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 The triangle is predicated off the same principles, and Kobe and Shaq won 3 titles in that offense with both guys scoring like crazy off iso plays. There is no team in the NBA that runs a true Princeton offense...but the idea is to have those principles, and some set plays out of it. Kobe, Nash, Pau and Bynum will be able to freestyle away from it at times, though, and they should as they all can do some very unique things on their own. Why I think this offense will work well is three of those guys (Bynum excluded) no how to pass the ball and make extremely smart decisions, so I think a team with all these guys who flourish in one-on-one/PnR situation can still run an effective Princeton offense. FWIW, the only team I've ever seen run a true Princeton offense to near perfection was the early '00's Kings. They were really incredible due to their big men's passing ability. I think with Pau these Lakers will have a high effectiveness if they commit.Ah I gotcha. Yeah, I've never really seen a true Princeton offense in the NBA...for more reasons then one. It'd be cool to see one. You really don't see much of it in college basketball, either really... In high school there's a decent amount of it. At least when I played. We played 4 guards and 1 forward so we really had to play that style to compete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AboveLegit Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 (edited) You really don't see much of it in college basketball, either really...Yeah, mainly because the talent isn't there for most teams, a lot of athletes are under developed and can't match the skill set needed. But schools like Georgetown and even Wisconsin use it. Edited August 1, 2012 by AboveLegit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JYD Posted August 1, 2012 Report Share Posted August 1, 2012 Yeah, mainly because the talent isn't there for most teams, a lot of athletes are under developed and can't match the skill set needed. But schools like Georgetown and even Wisconsin use it.yup. all about fundamentals man. all 5 guys need to be able to shoot and pass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.