Los Angeles Lakers: Things That Need to Change in a Hurry

It is easy to criticize Mike Brown after watching the Lakers lose three out of four home games before acting like lottery winners after the Hornets game won in the last seconds.

Once again, the Lakers looked tired, old and poorly coached.

After Thursday’s loss to the Thunder, Brown noted the Lakers were not getting to the 50-50 balls and needed more energy, which I interpret to mean hustle more. He refuses to acknowledge that younger teams like the Thunder are just quicker and faster to the ball than the social security bound Lakers.

Quinn Snyder, a Laker assistant coach, in an interview to start the fourth quarter against the Hornets, observed that the Hornets were outhustling the Lakers to loose balls and the team needed more energy.

Once again, the starters looked slow and tired while a younger, quicker team beat them to every rebound and loose ball.

In the case of Pau Gasol, teams are tiring him out with pick and rolls and pick and pops. Gasol is spending most of his time on defense at the three point line where he is slow and a liability. Point guards are driving around him and smaller power forwards are shooting mid-range jumpers over him.

Something must be done to stop the opposition from getting so many points in the paint caused by point guards getting around Gasol at the three point line on switches leading to a 5-on-4 offense leaving a player open either in the paint or at the short corner the point line.



Teams have been getting far too many lay ups and far too many short corner threes since early March. It seems like the Lakers are working too hard for their shots while their opposition is getting easy ones in the paint and around the free throw line.

Rather than harp on Brown’s poor substitution patterns, lack of offensive sets and loss of control of the team, let’s look at some simple changes that would make the Lakers a better ...

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