Lakers used to be Showtime back with Magic and Co. Then they became the One/Two punch of Shaq and Kobe. Then Shaq left picked up another ring and Kobe showed he could win without big brother besting him with two rings. Those 2009-10 Lakers had an identity though. Everyone knew what there roles were and if they forgot they had the Zenmaster to remind them and even pull motivational jedi mindtricks on them if neccessary. Time moves on though, teams got stronger(Dallas/Oklahoma), and the Lakers got complacent and maybe even leary of Phil's motivational mindgames. Maybe quite possibly the triangle offense got easier to defend as well without a consistently dominant big as Gasol and Bynum have taken turns the past couple seasons appearing and dissappearing offensively.
Enter in Mike Brown who's had manage juggling Bryant, a consistently tempermental Bynum, and a Gasol who seems to be searching for his lost mojo. In all fairness Brown had to deal with unreal championship expectations, a condensed season, the loss of Odom, and dealing with the ego's of Bryant and Bynum. Wow! That's a lot for one season for anyone...
The funny thing is that after OKC dominantly disposed of Los Angeles Metta World Peace of all people was the voice of reason. "We lost 5 or 6 games to teams we shouldn't have lost to... that would made the difference of homecourt advantage for us". "Alot of things happened this season that we couldn't control injuries etc... I know myself that I wasn't healthy until the end of the season". While this season did have a lot of uncontrollable variables there were disconcerting things of notice in this OKC series.
One was the lack of production of the bigs. Bynum seemed to be on pace to do much damage in the post season and went out with a sulking whimper. Gasol seemed passive differing to others and really just uncomfortable offensively. Kobe showed he could engage the bigs if he wanted to in game 7 of the Dever series quite possibly playing his best allround game but all other signs point to him being uninterested in consistently being that playmaker for his team. Two was the obvious ineptitude of Browns coaching offensively. While Bynum was more a victim of his own apathetic doldrums rather than Browns questionable coaching Gasol was more a victim to this than his own lack of aggressiveness. Brown moved Gasol to the high block which he has clearly been uncomfortable since the move was made. It's not his natural position and his more productive times have been when he's been allowed to post in the low block where has a myriad of post moves. Positioning him in the low block in the OKC series could seriously changed the dynamic of the series. It would of made him a more comfortable and effective scorer which would of open things up for the Lakers scoring wise.
Browns lack of offensive adjustments in the OKC series was disturbing. It's almost hard to believe that he is a prodigy of Poppovich. Where is the adjustments? Why wasn't Matt Barnes gaurding Westbrook? While know one can completely stop him Barnes length speed and defensive prowess would of stopped Westbrook going beserk two fourth quarters in a row. Sessions could barley stay in front of him and was a liability.
Brown seems kind of lost without a playmaker like Lebron to lead his offense for him. Everyone wants to finger point to different team members it's ultimately up to the coach to keep the team engaged and motivated. If Brown is to stay and the Lakers decide to ad to what they have instead of unloading they need one thing clearly to take the pressure off of Brown and that's a playmaker.
Deron Williams will be available but someone will have to go make cap space for his salary. Steve Nash could be another possiblity if Phoenix is willing to trade him. A cheaper option might be Drazen Petrovic who played out of his mind last season who will definetly be sought after. While the big fish Howard will be out there I don't think the Lakers aquiring Howard without a serious playmaker at the point will get them over the hump against a team like OKC who mainly just stayed outside and rained jumpers.
The Lakers identity will be found when they find this play maker...
