Nov 23, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach Byron Scott talks with Los Angeles Lakers guard Ronnie Price (9) and center Jordan Hill (27) in the second half of the game against the Denver Nuggets at Staples Center. Nuggets won 101-94. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Byron Scott‘s strengths are as a leader and player’s coach.
Strategy isn’t his strong suit, so borrowing some tactics from opposing coaches/teams would be wise in order to upgrade their offensive and defensive schemes.
In this article, here are the changes I would make both on offense and defense (regardless of the personnel):
Offense
In most cases, defense triggers your offense, but with the Lakers it’s their offense that rides the ship.
I’d like to see a variation of San Antonio’s Motion Offense and parts of the Triangle Offense used in half-court sets. Both are interchangeable and based on passing, spacing and movement by all players on the court.
In the Motion Offense, the point guard dribbles to one side, the opposite-side forward sets a high screen down the middle and now the ball-handler has several options: penetrate, hit the roller, pass to the corner 3, etc.
The Triangle Offense focuses on floor spacing, off-the-ball movement and running to “spots” on the floor. The Lakers have too many isolation plays and long contested shots which result in a low shooting percentage and long rebounds that lead to opposing fast breaks. The beauty of both the Motion and Triangle Offense is all players are threats to score on the floor because of spacing.
Kobe Bryant needs to be off-the-ball more and in the pinch post where he can take advantage of smaller guards. Jeremy Lin, Ronnie Price and Jordan Clarkson need to handle and distribute the ball. Wayne Ellington and Nick Young should be spotting up near the 3-point line. Carlos Boozer, Ed Davis and Jordan Hill should be near the low block posting up and/or rebounding.
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Defense
In case you haven’t noticed, the Lakers are not a good defensive team. They don’t have good perimeter defenders or rim protectors, so their only hope is to alter the strategy.
Man-to-man defense is self-explanatory, but how you play help defense and pick and rolls matter.
Pick and roll defense: take a page out of Karl Malone‘s book. When the on-the-ball defender gets screened, the help-side defender must “hedge” by jumping out and forcing the ball handler to go back to where he came. For some reason most NBA players either go under the screen (jump shot in the face) or over it (drive to the lane). Hedging thwarts the attack.
Help defense: keep offensive players out of the center and baseline while pushing them to help defenders. Every time the Lakers “open-up” to the baseline, bad things happen. Instead cut off the baseline and force your opponent to a help defender. When the opposing point guard is at the top of the key, protect the middle of the key and push him to one side of the court. These are small changes that make a big difference.
The Lakers lack of talent is what it is, but Byron can make tactical changes that would result in more wins.