Lakers’ New Offense to Focus on Gasol/Bynum, Not Kobe Bryant?

Based on what took place with the LeBron James-centric offense he ran in Cleveland, many people assumed Mike Brown would implement a similar system for Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles. Not so much, according to Kevin Ding of the OC Register, who recently had lunch with the Lakers’ new head coach and read the tea leaves from their chat: “For all who’ve wondered if Brown catered too much to LeBron James in Cleveland, some within the Lakers’ organization wondered if Shaw would’ve catered too much to Bryant here in a system Bryant actually understood even better than Shaw did. And whether you want to read a lot or a little into it, note this: When talking about the contrasting offensive styles Brown will show from Cleveland to here, the new Lakers’ coach summarized the coming Lakers offense as feeding [Pau] Gasol and [Andrew] Bynum inside, not being the Kobe show. ‘This team is completely different from what I had in Cleveland,’ Brown said. ‘In Cleveland, I had a guy who liked to come off the top of the floor, liked to play in space and play pick-and-roll and make plays for others. Here, I’ve got two guys similar to what we had in San Antonio; you’re able to throw them the ball on the block.’ It’s impossible to imagine Bryant not getting his, however, and if the baseline for Brown’s Lakers basketball is going to be the passion and work ethic, though, Brown and Bryant will get along just fine. Keeping up with him in drive time, after all, is what Bryant has always wanted from and for his teammates. Brown’s specialty is getting it.”