One of the reasons the triangle offense worked for the Lakers is that Pau Gasol can pass or knock down the jumper from the elbow. He has a polished set of skills on the low block, too.
In the Lakers new offense Gasol gets a lot more touches at the elbow or in the midrange, with Andrew Bynum often being the focus on the low block. It makes some sense, Bynum is a load on the block and Gasol has a steady jumper and is a better passer and facilitator of the offense. Except that it hasn’t really worked smoothly at all.
Plus, Gasol wants some shots closer to the basket, too. As he told the Orange County Register.“I would like to get a little more inside, myself,” Gasol told reporters after the game. “‘I always like to have different looks and be able to attack from different angles. The second half, I didn’t have one chance to attack from the post, so I was more of a facilitator.
“I got two jumpers, open, that I missed, and that was all the opportunities that I had.”
There are flashes of the Lakers offense working well, and often it is off of Gasol or Kobe passes. Despite the struggles, the Lakers offense shows moments of great ball movement and creativity — they have multiple players who draw the double team and that opens up the floor — but the problem is the Lakers don’t make other teams pay for that.
The problem is the Lakers are not good outside shooters, so other teams sag off and pack in near the paint. The Lakers are shooting 25.6 percent from three, last in the league. When the Lakers draw a double and make the extra pass the shot to make the defense does not fall. They have guys like Jason Kapono and Steve Blake who can hit the three, but right now everyone is struggling. With that the offense stalls out.
And has always been the case, when things stall out Kobe will take it upon himself to push it forward. He will take on more of the offense.
The biggest problem with getting Gasol or good looks in the post is that lack of shooters to space the floor — teams are going to make it hard on the Lakers talented bigs to beat them. Even if Gasol gets his post touches the looks won’t be good until someone makes the help defenders stay home. It’s what Orlando does so well — if you help off Ryan Anderson to deal with the Dwight Howard rolling to the basket you pay a price. The Lakers are not making anyone pay right now.
Gasol should get more post touches, but it is just a part of the problem.