The offense was somewhat of a mess last season because the players were not an ideal fit for the spread pick-and-roll offense. The coaching staff struggled to pair up Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol, which compromised the floor spacing.
By the time the 2013 postseason began, D’Antoni had a better grasp on how to utilize both centers together. Granted, this occurred with Kobe Bryant out of the lineup with an Achilles tear and Steve Nash sitting out because of hamstring issue.
Thus, Gasol was used as a point center. It was a great adjustment by the coaches, but Los Angeles will get away from that and go back to the "classic" version of the D’Antoni offense.
The system will rely on a steady dose of pick-and-rolls from multiple angles on the floor with Nash orchestrating things. He will be tasked with finding his rolling big man or hitting shooters who get loose because of rotating defenders.
The offense is quite simple for a great point guard, given that it requires the ball-handler to make a few reads, adjust to the defense and hit the open man.
ESPN.com’s Beckley Mason did a great job of breaking down the spread pick-and-roll offense over at HoopSpeak:
Depending on where Nash roams with his dribble, he can manipulate the defense into a few predictable responses. And because they ran the same look on possession-after-possession, game-after-game, they got really, really good at running it. Especially Nash, who got to make the same reads over-and-over. And because he happens to be a phenomenal shooter with great vision, he was able to run the best offense in the league.
Nash is terrific in this system by virtue of the fact he can make every pass in the book and is also quite content with being the se...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
