Old Offense Works for New Squad

LA Times: The triangle offense, or the “overload,” as the current coaching staff prefers to call it, is back in the Laker playbook, marking a successful, if not unexpected, season debut Friday.

The Lakers ran the scheme that Tex Winter originally built, this time it was Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom combining for 47 points and 14 assists in a bounce-back game that was important enough for Coach Rudy Tomjanovich to label beforehand a “playoff” game.

The results are what they are: The triangle wasn’t the foundation for every offensive set in the Lakers’ 111-104 victory over the Houston Rockets, but with it in the armory, the Lakers won for the first time this season when allowing an opponent 100 or more points. The Lakers and the triangle have reunited. Or, as one Laker said while exiting the locker room that night, “It’s a beautiful thing, ain’t it?”

It started when Bryant went to Tomjanovich before Thursday’s practice and asked whether there was a way to deal with the defenses that had ensnared them. “Teams have been sitting back and sagging on us,” Bryant said.

Bryant and Tomjanovich have chalk-talked often since Tomjanovich was hired in July, and this was no different. “I asked him about the Princeton offense, and he said, ‘How about one better — the triangle?’ ” Bryant said. “He said he liked it because he ran something similar to it as a player.”

Bryant often said the triangle was boring but acknowledged that it won championships. He responded to questions about it after Friday’s game with a touch of excitement, calling its possibilities boundless because there were more “fluid” athletes now on the Lakers. “It wasn’t bad for our first game,” Bryant said. “It paid off with just one day of practice. Now defenses can’t sag. We’re moving the ball. Guys are cutting. Lamar and I are in the ‘pinch’ posts.”

What are your feelings about Rudy and the Lakers using the triangle? What type of success do you think this Lakers team will have with it? Will all of the players be able to pick up on Rudy’s version of the triangle, or will it be to detailed and complex for them, like Phil’s triangle was for some of his players? Discuss in the Forums!
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Lakers give Tierre and Bobbitt guaranteed contracts
LA Times: The contracts of Tierre Brown and Tony Bobbitt have been guaranteed. The deadline is Monday for teams to sign non-guaranteed players.

Brown is averaging four points and 2.2 assists in 13.7 minutes as the backup point guard. Bobbitt has been on the injured list since being signed last month after Kareem Rush was traded.

Do you think that these two should have been signed for the remainder of the year? Will this mean that we will finally get to see Bobbitt come off the IR? Does this mean that Tierre will see consistent playing time, since he is now our backup PG for the remainer of the season, barring a trade? Discuss in the Forums!

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