According to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, Kobe Bryant and the rest of the purple-and-gold-clad Lakers could be running the Princeton offense.
If this is the case, it's a move that will tear the team apart at the seams and cause too much internal strife to possibly be successful.
I'm not going to talk about the nuts and bolts of the movement-based offensive system and why it's not a great system for the team here, just why it's a bad idea from a mental perspective.
It's time to play psychiatrist.
Kobe Bryant
Let's start with the preeminent superstar of the Lakers: Kobe Bryant.
Throughout his NBA career, the Black Mamba has been able to dominate the ball. In recent years, he's had complete control of the offense and operated as the de facto point guard.
Kobe has been given the green light on offense and is allowed to play isolation basketball and take his man one-on-one whenever he wants. If he feels that the time is right to attempt an insanely difficult turnaround, fading jumper, that's what he's going to do.
In the Princeton offense, that's exactly what he can't do.
Because the offense is predicated on ball movement and eating up the shot-clock with intelligent passing and cutting, one player can't dribble out the 24-second allotment without involving his teammates.
Not only will Bryant's effectiveness go down, but his satisfaction with the team will as well. Kobe holds his teammates to an incredibly high standard, and the results won't be pretty if they're even more involved than normal.
Pau Gasol
The Princeton offense would also force Pau Gasol to shoulder an incredibly large burden.
Whether he...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
