Wednesday, January 25th, 2012 at 10:20 am  |  104 responses

Pau Gasol: Lakers Need to Feed the Post More


Pau Gasol, in case you were wondering, hasn’t changed his mind from earlier this week about wanting more touches for himself and Andrew Bynum near the basket. He continues to publicly voice his displeasure with the Lakers’ offense. Reports the OC Register: “Pau Gasol continued to express his frustration over a lack of touches near the basket Tuesday, suggesting the Lakers don’t utilize their interior players fully. Coach Mike Brown has Gasol, a better passer with a steady jump shot, working the high post and Andrew Bynum often the focus down low. It doesn’t always work out as evidenced by the Lakers’ 10-8 record, a fact that has prompted the 7-foot Spaniard to speak out. ‘I think we can use it a little more,’ Gasol told reporters before the team’s first contact practice of the season. ‘We have to make sure we use our interior game. Other teams do. As I mentioned the last game, Orlando goes to their interior game and I don’t think Dwight Howard is that much (more) talented than me and Andrew in the post. Indiana used their post game with (Roy) Hibbert and (David) West. I don’t think they’re much more talented than we are. Why don’t we? I think it’s always an effective way to play the game.’ Brown said Gasol’s ability to facilitate plays and score from mid-range is a key reason why he finds himself near the perimeter. He pointed to Gasol’s 10 assists in the Lakers’ loss to Indiana on Sunday for proof. ‘He had 10 assists and zero turnovers, which to me equates to a lot of points,’ Brown said.”

  • Add a Comment
  • Share
  • RSS

Tags: , , ,

Newer Comments →
  • http://www.optimabbc.be Max

    No sh*t?

  • kobesBESTfriend

    I haven’t seen pau in the post all season…get ur 7ft Spanish as$ in the paint and not out on the perimeter and maybe if Kobe feels like it he will pass 2 u

  • Pais

    Yeah well, he’s probably right. I figure LA should be scoring +100pts every night, with at about half of those points coming from the post, a hefty chunk from Kobe (not sure why but that sounds kinda wrong) and the rest from everyone else. A proper PG and a real coach would go a long way to facilitating that. A bench would be nice too I suppose. LA just doesn’t have what it takes to be a serious contender this year I’m afraid.

  • http://slamonline.com YKnot

    Black Swan to Black Mamba connection not working! Sounds like a disgruntled employee. Maybe they should trade hi….oh wait we tried that already.

  • http://staticseth.blogspot.com/ Seth

    Kobe only feeds himself, as recently seen with the oop off the backboard.

  • RunNGun

    Someone remind Pau that they’re not playing the Triangle anymore in LA. He should lobby hard to get Rambis in at head coach.

  • Yesse

    I agree, but that also means Pau shouldn’t hang around the 3 point line and try to shoot those 3′s even though he might make some of them.

  • jay

    Kobe’s response: ” YOU’RE WELCOME!!!”

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Brown has to be the stupidest coach of all-time. He thinks that having such a skilled 7 footer 15 feet away from the basket is a good thing and points to him having 10 assists as “scoring a lot of points”. Going from PJax to Mike Brown has to be the biggest downgrade in history.

  • anynomous

    I don`t watch the lakers but if gasol is hanging around the 3-point line and even worst shooting behind the arc, it`s not because he wants to but because mike brown`s new offense forces him to do so. Throughout his entire career, Gasol has been most comfortable and effective in the post and on the block facing up. Now all of a sudden he WANTS to be 24 feet away from the basket which lessens his chances of getting offensive rebounds thereby lessening la`s second chance opportunities. I don`t think so. This has mike brown written all over it. Go back to the triangle and feed not one but your 2 7-footers. LA has a clear cut advantage over every team – Bynum & Gasol. What other team has 2 7-foot players who can put up 20-and-10 (pts & rbs) every night? brown and kobe are negating their own advantage. the lakers are not a championship contending team but they`re somewhat better than what they have shown this season.

  • anynomous

    the lakers arguably have the most skilled post players in the league and yet they`re not using them.

  • anynomous

    “not using them properly”

  • http://espn.com PapaDuck

    I gave Mike Brown the benefit of the doubt, but I lost all confidence in him now. If the Lakers are not at the top of the western conference by allstar weekend; I say fire him. How does an offense that features two of the best skilled 7 footers in the league and the leagues leading scorers can’t score over 100 points? We can’t blame Kobe for this because he is not in control of the system they run. When the play breaks down, Kobe has no choice but to shoot the ball. I could do a better job of drawing up offensive plays for the Lakers. If Brown doesn’t have a offensive system in place; why don’t he just keep the triangle? All the players already know it and for the ones that don’t, the old players can teach it to them….

  • http://www.twitter.com/_dfrance DFrance21

    Its been said but I’ll say it again, Gasol needs to stop prancing around the perimeter and get in the post if that’s where he wants the ball. He never sprints the floor and tries to get an early post of, he jus trots and stops at the top of the key shooting elbow jumpers all game. Maybe thats what the offense is designed for him to do, but I’m sure Mike Brown wouldn’t be mad if he broke the play and ducked into the post every now and then.

  • http://thetroyblog.com Teddy-the-Bear

    So the best post player and post-scorer in the game should be playing on the PERIMETER, making plays for the guards? Pau probably wishes he was in Houston right now…
    This is as much Kobe’s fault as it is Mike Brown’s. It seems like Kobe is deliberately gunning for the scoring title.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    what else is he gonna do? win a title with that roster and coach lol. I don’t blame Kobe at all anymore for how selfish he has been this season. That is a piss poor excuse for a roster.

  • anynomous

    @dfrance21 You`re right but brown`s O isn`t the only issue. Without the triangle, will gasol & bynum even get post touches if and when they do post up with kobe taking more shots than both of them combined? Something tells me that the answer would be “NO”.

  • Brion

    Not sure whos “fault” it is. but the Lakers should be getting alot more production out of their post players.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    Exactly nbk. Kobe has been selfish as ever, but you just can’t blame him for the coach not setting the team up to be successful. Brown needs to have a half triangle offense, in that, they have the guys rotating in and out of the low post instead of just having Bynum be the low post guy and Pau be the elbow extended guy. That’s stupid basketball. I only have so much patience… but for now I am still going to give Brown the benefit of the doubt. 2 more weeks is all i’m giving him though lol. Too talented a roster to not be playing great basketball.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    Teddy, I really really disagree (shocker I know). I do not think that winning a scoring title is on KB’s mind right now. I’m sure he doesn’t mind leading the L in scoring, but he wants to win games first and foremost. If you don’t see that…. your not watching. Kobe doesn’t need a coach to make him successful. So he goes out and just does Kobe. Pau needs a coach to set him up for success. Pau and Kobe deserve no blame in comparison to Brown right now.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    DFrance….. exactly. It is probably Browns dumb offense, but Gasol needs to break the offense if that’s the case. I know that’s no the preferred thing to do. Your always suppose to do exactly what the coach wants. BUT, many, many, greats have broken the coaches rules to help their team be successful.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Lakeshow, you can’t just try and run the triangle because it works. You have to understand it, how know how to coach it. Which he has no idea how to do. He should be doing what he said he was goin to do, and run the high-lo that the Spurs used to run with Robinson and Duncan. it’s baffling that they don’t do that.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Come on NBK, let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. LA still has a pretty good roster compared to the collection of bums on other teams. Bynum/Gasol are still the best frontcourt in the L, Barnes/Artest still make up a formidable defensive combo at the 3 and Kobe retains the 2guard throne with Wade sidelined. At the end of the day, it all comes back to Brown’s lack of offensive ingenuity.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    nbk, “Half-triangle”… Meaning not the triangle at all. Essentially the high-low your talking about. I’m just saying get Pau’s ass more touches in the post….. no homo.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    No it comes down to a lack of depth. Bynum and Gasol is fun, but what are you going to do, play them 34+ minutes a game each all the way through the season and playoffs and really expect them to do something significant? What if Bynum gets hurt, like he does every year. How good does a bigman rotation of Gasol, McBob, & Murphy really look? pretty horrible if you ask me. And MWP and Barnes is a good defensive rotation at the 3, it’s quite horrible on the other end. And they have the worst PG rotation in the entire NBA. With no back-up bigmen for when they’re complete inability to keep PG’s out of the paint starts to cause heaps of foul trouble, wtf are they going to do? If this team were playing last year’s Hornets in the playoffs I would bet on the Hornets winning the series, and I wouldn’t even be nervous about it. That should say something for the situation the Lakers are currently in. To go from Title favorites just last season, to a lock to be out of the playoffs by the 2nd round in under a year, is pretty alarming.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    a high-lo and triangle are not related. The “triangle” part of a high-lo happens in the middle of the court. While the actual triangle happens on the strong side. I get what your saying, but it wouldn’t be a variation of the triangle at all.

  • http://www.yahoo.com The Fury

    Pau doesn’t need the triangle, he can always score even when he’s with Memphis. Hubie Brown honed Pau’s potential and right now Larry tries to bring it back down.

  • http://www.yahoo.com The Fury

    ***oh I mean Mike Brown not Larry..lol

  • shutup

    It doesnt take much to run a set for a post up and with two big guys they could just run baseline screens for each other but none of that matters if Kobe wont dump it down and lets stop acting like Kobe dumped it down in the triangle because I could remember this plea from Pau for like 3-4 straight years even when they were winning championships and I think Shaq had a gripe about this too if I’m not mistaken. Kobe is probably the greatest player of this era but he is def back on his bs , and as of right now I could swear the Lakers are out of the playoffs, arent they like 10 in the west?

  • anynomous

    @shutup cosign

  • robb

    Seriously Pau, you need to stop being so nice. Tell that @sshole Brown you don’t wanna be out there shooting threes. Go near the basket and do what you do best.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    I know it’s not triangle at all nbk. I still don’t see this team ever not being in the playoffs. That’s ridiculous imo. They will always be in the playoffs on talent alone. They just are not a team let alone an effective, smooth, team at all right now. Kobe and other players will go at Mike Brown if things persist this way. He will not keep the ship sailing this way. If he does, he’ll be gone. Quick.

  • shutup

    Oh and once again nbk displays his expertise on everything, even the intricacies of a coaching system only one or two pro coaches can teach. and the high-low fits in the triangle just depends where the ball is dumped in ala rodman in the high post, but im an idiot and I dont know sh!t about basketball so dont mind me

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Give up LO for free will do that to your depth. The Lakers have never been a deep team but losing LO compounded that problem. If anything the front office is to blame for hiring Mike Brown and getting nothing in return for LO.

  • robb

    @ Teddy-the-Bear like I said before, Kobe couldn’t care less about the league’s scoring title, he cares about passing MJ and dropping him to the 4th.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    I didn’t say they won’t make the playoffs.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Shutup, the high-lo is an offensive set. It’s not just a description of where the ball goes to the post from. I didn’t say I understand how to run or coach the triangle. I just know the difference between the triangle and the high-lo. But then again, I did run a high-lo offense as a player for 6 years. It’s not an NBA high-lo, but the concept and structure are the same. And I have actually watched and read about the triangle enough to understand its structure. But what do I know, I’m just an idiot that loves to spread faulty information, just to get feedback from a self proclaimed idiot like yourself.

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    sorry misread you on that nbk.

  • bike

    LA right now looks like Cleveland did with Brown and LeBron. Kobe = Lebron, Pau = Z, and Bynum = Varejao. Basically, it’s let Kobe do whatever he wants just like LeBron did in Cleveland.
    Brown is probably saying to himself “As long as Kobe is here, I should be able to get 2 or 3 seasons outta this before they figure out I really don’t know jack about coaching”.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Yeah, that botched trade killed them. And then just dumping LO instead of massaging his ego was really, really dumb
    this team would be fine with him
    hell, dallas would welcome a do over.

  • shutup

    the high low isnt the offensive set just the position of two players most of the time the teams bigs so yes, maybe your coach called the set a high low my coach called it Oklahoma zone but once again you know it all

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    lol just because you don’t know about it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Are you stupid? You can’t tell me I don’t know what I’m talking about, while calling me a know-it-all. That’s the most hypocritical thing you could possibly do in this situation.

  • shutup

    Do i have a phd in the triangle offense? no, but I have seen the bulls and the lakers for that matter dump the ball in the high post and then in turn from the free throw extended dump the ball in a baseline post position or a slashing player thus the use of the high-lo in the triangle. Thats like saying you cant use a post-up in the triangle because my high-school coach used to call one of his sets the post-up.

  • shutup

    and to answer your question obv i’m stupid if my basketball experience leads me to disagree with one of your end-all, be-all proclamations

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Is there a high-lo pass in the triangle? is that what your arguing? Ofcourse there is. There is a high-lo pass in almost every offensive set in basketball. A high-lo offense is a set of plays, that are literally structured around a high-lo post set up. Not a flex, not a triangle (which is basically very complicated Motion/Flex hybrid) Not a motion system, not a 1-4 or a 1-2-2 or 4-1 Down, it’s its own set. The high-lo can have many different names, obviously your coach used in against Zone defenses, and named it for that. which from what I was taught, is the initial reason the offense was created. But it is an offensive system. Whether you have experienced it or not.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Did someone just compare Bynum/Gasol to Ilgauskas/Varejao? Oh lawd…

  • http://slamonline.com LakeShow

    It would be hilarious to see Dal. just give back LO. I miss the dude. And he is stinking on the Mavs and the Lakers are stinking with out him. Win-Win…

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    And I just did some research. The offense LA is running early in the shotclock is a 4-1, Mike Brown calls it “strong corner” – After that initial phase of the offense I have no idea what the Lakers are trying to do. It seems that they get stuck in their early shot-clock offense for entire possessions the majority of the time.

  • http://www.fullc0urtpress.com K.Holiday

    Guess Pau is not a fan of the Kobe System!

  • shutup

    The set you referring to is based on the pass from the high-post to low post thus the name high-lo. You admitted you can use the high-lo in the triangle so you contradicted yourself, your words-”a high-lo and triangle are not related” many sets include the high-lo in them its position of the two players and where the ball enters the post, like i said earlier. This is the statement I’m arguing against “Shutup, the high-lo is an offensive set. It’s not just a description of where the ball goes to the post from.”

Newer Comments →
Advertisement