Lakers Struggle Early Due to Princeton Offense

By Ryan Raigrodski

As the season began, most every fan of the National Basketball Association (NBA) thought that the Los Angeles Lakers would stand atop the West, if not the entire league. It appeared that a team that has four star players in Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard could lose very few games. And yet somehow, they begin the season with a 0-2 record.

"I've won so I can (tell people to shut up)," Bryant said to the media yesterday about the team’s early season performance. "For Mike it might be a little tough to say that so I'll say it for him: 'Everybody shut up. Let us work. At the end of the day, you'll be happy with the result as you normally are.'”

AP Photo/ Mark J. Terrill

While Bryant may feel the criticism of the team is too early or unjust, watching the games forces you to disagree. Whether it is game one or game 82, it doesn’t feel like the style of many of the Lakers’ play fits this offense.  

What the Lakers are running right now is known as the Princeton offense. The Princeton offense emphasizes a half-court offense, in which the ball is moved around the court many times until a player can find an opening. The offense is slow and involves many passes, which is why many college teams use it, as college athletes do not have the athleticism that professional players do, particularly the Lakers.

In Phoenix, Steve Nash thrived running the pick and roll offense. He even had a rule for the offense: shoot and score in seven seconds or less. With this new Lakers offense, they barely get the ball across midcourt in seven seconds. The quick offense Nash ran in Phoenix would also suit Howard’s game, as Nash could throw him lead passes off of picks and Howard would be open to dunk the ball.  

While this offense may be a worse fit for Steve Nash then anyone, he, like Kobe, tried saying all the right things to the media yesterday to quiet the criticism.

"It is dramatically different from what I've done the last eight years," Nash said. "But I still think there's a lot of room to find a comfort in the offense. It's not all about how I can be the centerpiece. It's about how can we all collectively make each other better, and I think this offense provides us with an opportunity to do that, albeit, in time."

On paper, the Lakers may have a great roster. But fans have forgotten the key element, which is the head coach. Mike Brown still has yet to win a championship in his career, even with opportunity after opportunity in Cleveland. The question is, can Brown make the right decisions and utilize the stars he has to their full potential so the Lakers can win a championship? Right now, with the decision to run the Princeton offense, he is not doing that.