Are we going to have a fast paced offense?

Nash has been accustomed to leading fast paced offenses, I wonder how much this team will run n gun. I would love to see it especially since we have a combination of different lineups we can run using Meeks, Jamison, and Ebanks. We will stlil be good offensively, Dwight can run the floor.

I hope potato head doesnt screw this up.

starters no. bench maybe. there will be fast breaks, pushing the tempo, and leak outs for both units...but we will not be a fast run and gun team.

If we trade Pau for J-Smoove then yes. I still can't get rid of the idea to see Nash throwing lobs to Howard and Smith...

A much more athletic version of Matrix and Amare with defense.

KB24 wrote:If we trade Pau for J-Smoove then yes. I still can't get rid of the idea to see Nash throwing lobs to Howard and Smith...

A much more athletic version of Matrix and Amare with defense.

I would worry about half court offense ... Dwight and Smith are probably the worst half court offense combo you can put together ... If smith had decent jumper I would be for it ... but he doesn't

Part of our "defense" for our team is playing half court offense. On some instances, if we have the opportunity to run, of course. But there are a lot of younger, more athletic teams out there that would love to run and gun with us.

Slow the game down, and run our offense. We execute, it'll take those run teams of the their game.

lakerfan2 wrote:Part of our "defense" for our team is playing half court offense. On some instances, if we have the opportunity to run, of course. But there are a lot of younger, more athletic teams out there that would love to run and gun with us.

Slow the game down, and run our offense. We execute, it'll take those run teams of the their game.

Thank god there will be something outstanding to actually "execute" as devised by Nash, Kobe and Eddie Jordan this year. Compared to the bull bleep offense stinking up the floor last year. Hey Dwight you run out to between the 3 point and half court lines....and soon as Steve crosses the latter he's going to give the ball to you out there. That's how we intend to start our sets. Or with Pau out there. We feel if we can burn 10 seconds off the clock every time down before someone gets near a position to score.....we can totally confuse the rest of the league's defenses......

alot Suns fan say they haven't ran fast pace O for some time now and Nash has operated more in half court these last couple of yrs. I think we can run more in spots, Metta looks in shape, Kobe lost all that weight, only sloth we have now is Pau.

Pau's a lot less "sloth-like" than Bynum....come on now. Not a race horse but "sloth" is unfair considering he's 7 feet with skills.

lakerswiz wrote:We shouldn't talk about this team as if we have a set culture of play for this upcoming season. Just because our half court offense was in a way part of our defense last season, it doesn't mean it will be this season. This season is going to be vastly different.

I say we up the tempo.

IMO we just got better defensively by a big margin and it won't be necessarily visible, but will be known. It may not be blocks into the 5th row. But being in the right spot. Committing to help side. I think it all got better by an amount we are not quite expecting.

And I'm also going to say that Nash's defense won't be as big of an issue as it's being made out to be or as much as it was for Fisher.

Dwight and Pau are two big dudes and I feel that the rest of the league knowing that Dwight is under there is going to change a few things. He can jump. He'll embarrass you. Bynum never was really able to do that. He can't get off the ground that quick.

It shall be fun.

I say we run. Use what we have to our advantage.

The bench I don't mind running, but guys like Pau, Kobe, and in some ways Nash will probably prefer a slow(er) paced game to conserve energy and their body. Like I said, when the opportunity to leak out, outlet, or run a fast break, do so by all means.

But our strengths still lie in our half court offense and keeping the younger, athletic teams from putting points on the board quickly as well. Your theory of a better defense with Howard won't be effective if we aren't going to be able to set our defense in a quick paced game, we don't want Dwight and Pau running up and down the court chasing the guards around to block shots.

LTLakerFan wrote:Pau's a lot less "sloth-like" than Bynum....come on now. Not a race horse but "sloth" is unfair considering he's 7 feet with skills.

he gets beat by his man too on transition D, yes not sloth like as Bynum but still Sloth none the less.

Not a chance. But, it will be faster than it was just by having Nash and Howard. If you compare our pace to Denver or Miami it won't seem fast though.

I wouldn't say we are faster paced but we will run if there is a chance for fastbreak. Howard, Kobe, Nash running the transition? Good luck with that.

While this team won't "run and gun," the Lakers will get opportunities for early offense (which they most definitely did NOT get last year). once receiving the ball, Nash will look up and advance it quickly. Meanwhile, Dwight's speed will allow him to get up the court faster than Drew.

As flawed as Mike Brown's offense was last year, much of it was predicated on the bigs getting beating players down the floor, and getting early post-position (as David Robinson would on the Spurs). Now that we have an athletic big, and a point guard capable of pushing the pace, we will get into our offense much quicker (it often took 8+ seconds for the Lakers' point guards to make the first pass beyond halfcourt last year).

Dwight + Nash are probably good for 6-8 easy points a game, which should increase our scoring by quite a bit, and make the offense flow and look better overall.

Like many posters here have already said: no, but it will be faster than last season. I think we follow a trend closer to what we were in the 2007-2009 years.

Part of what will make our starting unit so dangerous is their half court offense/defense. We should honestly not be stoppable in the half court sets. Our starting five is too deft at moving the ball and they fit too well together. We honestly should never have to take a bad shot, we will but we shouldn't have to. By slowing the game down and making our offense run efficiently and limiting turnovers, we keep teams like Miami and OKC from simply running us into the ground. We make our shot, we get back on defense and play the ridiculous half court defense we're capable of playing.

Now with the second unit, we'll likely pick up the pace. We have some young athletes now and some shooters. We should be able to push the tempo with those guys since they won't be able to be as efficient offensively. They won't be able to score at will like our starting five should be capable of.


So no, we won't have a fast paced team, just a team that is more fast paced than our teams of the last two years.

Man fans give Brown way to much hate.

The most interesting lineup configuration for me is

Dwight/Jamison/Kobe/Meeks/Nash

or

Pau/Jamison/Kobe/Meeks/Nash

Kobe at the 3 next to 2 back court shooters = 2008 level of efficiency

Hopefully we'll see more point-forward Pau

The Rock wrote:The most interesting lineup configuration for me is

Dwight/Jamison/Kobe/Meeks/Nash

or

Pau/Jamison/Kobe/Meeks/Nash

Kobe at the 3 next to 2 back court shooters = 2008 level of efficiency

I want to see a lineup of Nash/Meeks/Ebanks/Jamison/Dwight and I want to see that team pick up the pace. Those guys on the break? Sounds awesome to me.

We'll be a semi transition team IMO.

Compared to what we're used to from the Lakers, yes. Compared to the actual run-and-gun teams in the league, no...not by a mile.

Dwight's going to want to get out and stretch those legs though. I think most of our fast breaks will be created on the defensive end as opposed to just pushing the ball up the court and trying to beat their man. With Dwight's volley ball spikes for blocks, I think he'll knock it away, Kobe or Nash will corral it and throw it ahead while Dwight gets off to the races all by his lonesome. Kobe's going to be gambling and playing the passing lanes more, so that will result in fast break opportunities. And let's not forget about MWP who has some of the strongest hands in the league, he can just rip the ball out of his opponent's hands if he wants.