When Mike Brown got hired as the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, the decision left a few people scratching their heads.  While coach Brown has a reputation as a defensive coach, his reputation on the offensive end is quite the opposite.  In my opinion, that isn’t really fair to Mike Brown.  While he is deserving of criticism at times, in actuality, coach Brown’s offense is better than the general public’s perception of it.  In fact, during coach Brown’s final two seasons, the Cavaliers had the 4th best offense in terms of offensive efficiency (points scored per 100 possessions).  Now, the response to that statistic is that Brown had LeBron James.  Well, that’s true, but in Los Angeles, you have a player just as good (or better, depending on who you ask), and I think that is where you need to start when looking at coach Brown and how his offense will translate to the Lakers.

One of the biggest advantages of the Triangle Offense was that it created terrific spacing, giving Kobe Bryant opportunities to catch the ball with a lot of room to operate.  How will Bryant get his opportunities under Mike Brown?  I think looking at how Brown set up LeBron James in Cleveland could help us determine what sets Brown will use – and have success with – in Los Angeles.

For the most part, I am going to be looking at Brown’s offense during the 08-09 season, the last season John Kuester was on Cleveland’s staff.  Kuester was the de facto offensive coordinator of those Cleveland teams and with rumors that he will be fired by Detroit and that Mike Brown wants to add him to his staff, it makes sense to focus on this season.

Post Up Opportunities

Outside of isolations (which were 30.3% of Kobe Bryant’s possessions), highest percentage of possessions used by Kobe Bryant (14.8%) came in post up situations.  While LeBron didn’t have a reputation for having a strong post up game, he did post up 113 times in the 08-09 season, with Mike Brown running a few different, yet simplet, sets to get him the basketball on the block.

Post off of a Downscreen

Aside from a straight post up, this might be the simplest post set that Brown ran for LeBron James.  As you can probably guess, it involves LeBron James posting after coming off of a downscreen:

Nothing to really explain here, the set starts with James bringing the basketball up, kicking it out to the wing, and getting a downscreen from a big.  Right after coming off of the downscreen, James seals his man and looks for the basketball.

Post Entry From Big

Much like the post entry coming off of a downscreen, this is another simple/quick hitting post up play, and one that fits Los Angeles perfectly in my opinion.  In it, they use a big to throw the entry pass to LeBron James.  The reason why I think this is a fit for the Lakers is because they have a pretty skilled passing big man in Pau Gasol:

On this play, it is a simple 1-4 high set.  The ball goes to the big on James’ side (who flashes from the elbow) and when he makes the catch, James heads down to the block and posts up.  Again, nothing too fancy, but it does a good job of creating space for James to work on the block.

Weakside To Post

Another way that coach Brown liked to post up LeBron James was bring him across to the ballside block from the weakside, usually getting a screen from the highpost:

This was more of an action rather than set roles, but the reason why it works is because this naturally sets up an isolation on the block.  In each of the three plays above, LeBron makes the catch on the block with 3 of his teammates on the weakside (the man making the entry pass clears out as well).  This makes it extremely tough to send a double team, and when you have a guy like Kobe Bryant, who can do a lot of things on the block, this preventing doubles is key.

Cross Screen

Finally, Mike Brown’s most used post up play for LeBron James was again simple, yet effective. Here, coach Brown had LeBron James coming from the weakside again, this time along the baseline with the help of a cross screen on the weakside block.

Here, James moves with the basketball as it goes from one side to the other, timing his cut off of the cross screen to match up with the man making the entry pass catching the basketball from a pass at the top of the key.  Like the play where James dives from the weakside through the high post, this cross screen set has a built in isolation after James makes the catch on the block.

Off The Ball

Much like how coach Brown set up LeBron James on the post, he liked to use simple sets for James when working him off of the basketball.  Again, a lot of it was predicated on spacing and getting James the ball in spots where he can be effective.

Stagger Away

One of the actions that Mike Brown liked to use for LeBron James was run a staggered screen on the opposite side of James, essentially using this option as a decoy, with or without the basketball:

On this particular play, the Cavs are running a staggered pindown for Delonte West as LeBron James is involved in a pick and pop on the opposite side of the court.  What the staggered pindown does here is occupy three Spurs’ defenders as the pick and pop action takes place on the other side.  James is actually open on the catch (and I expect this would be when Bryant would take his shot in this action), but he waits a little while then knocks down the jumper.

In this particular case, the Cavs run a staggered screen that involves a dribble handoff by Zydrunas Ilgauskas as the second screener.  Once again, the purpose is to occupy the defense as LeBron James works on the opposite side of the court, this time, to set up James coming off of a pindown screen away from the basketball.  Again, James holds onto the basketball in a situation where Kobe Bryant would shoot right off of the catch, but the set is an effective one.

SLOB Lob

The next set where Mike Brown used LeBron James on the move came off of a SLOB play where the Cavs seemingly scored at will.  Much like everything else we looked at today, it was a simple, quick hitting, and effective play:

Here, LeBron James is the inbounder and he gets it to a big flashing from the elbow to the wing.  After making the inbounds pass, James cuts to the rim, coming off of a backscreen set by Mo Williams.  They key here is the man setting the screen.  Because Mo Williams is a guy who can knock down a three point shot, his man isn’t going to leave him to hedge, and by the time James’ man recognizes the backscreen, it is too late.

Once again, the reason I think this set can work for the Lakers is because of the passing ability of Los Angeles’ big men.  Both Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol can feasibly make this pass when required, allowing Brown the flexibility to run this type of action.

The Kraken

The final set that we are going to look at today is probably my favorite one out of Mike Brown’s playbook, and a play affectionally named by John Krolik of Cavs The Blog as The Kraken, a play where Mike Brown uses a pick and roll as a decoy, allowing LeBron James to dive to the rim:

Here, you have pick and roll action taking place on the wing as LeBron James stands on watches, standing 30 or so feet away from the rim on the opposite wing.  As Mo Williams comes off of the screen set for him, James takes off, flashing to the rim hard, looking for the pass, one he usually gets and finishes with a strong dunk.  The reason why this play works is because the pick and roll tends to draw the attention of the defense, and with James looking as if he is disinterested in the play, the defense takes their eyes off of him.  As soon as that happens, James makes his dive to the rim.

The original play was just a dive to the rim by LeBron James, taking advantage of his athletic ability.  The next year, Brown added another wrinkle, setting a backscreen for James, instead of just relying on a flash to the rim:

This was a counter to the defense expecting the play coming.  You will notice in the above video, James’ man is face guarding him even though he is standing 30 or so feet away from the rim.  This allows the backscreen to get set without being seen, setting up James’ defender perfectly for the screen and allowing James to get to the paint for the pass and the finish.

I do expect Brown to bring this play over (it works almost every single time) and use it with Kobe Bryant, and I do expect it to be the latter option with the backscreen being set for Bryant.  The reason why is because Bryant is getting up there in age, and he can’t really rely on a straight dive like James could a few years ago.

Late Game Situations

If there is one situation where Kobe Bryant will have similar options, it will be late game situations. As we know, Bryant likes to get the ball up top and work one on one in isolation in late game situations.  When he was with Cleveland, Mike Brown liked to do the same type of thing with LeBron James:

These aren’t the greatest late game sets (as you know, I am more of a fan of team oriented sets late rather than just give it to your best player and watch him work), but it shows Brown’s philosophy in late game situations.  He is going to try to find a way to put it in his superstar’s hands and let him win or lose the game with a buzzer beater.  If Kobe Bryant is uneasy about the Mike Brown hire, it isn’t because of Brown’s late game playcalling, in this sense, the hire is perfect fit.

Random Bullets

• Expect Kobe Bryant to handle the basketball a little bit more this upcoming season.  Something you may have noticed in this clips is LeBron James bringing the basketball up as the point guard sets up on the wing.  This worked in Cleveland because Mo Williams was a guy who could handle the basketball, but he wasn’t a point guard who needs to have the ball in his hands at all times.  When you look at the Lakers’ point guards (Steve Blake and Derek Fisher), they fit the a similar mold, meaning Brown will feel confident leaving one of those two off of the ball as Bryant brings it up.
• In a similar sense, also expect Bryant to be involved in pick and roll sets as a ball handler more often this season.  In 08-09, LeBron James was the ball handler in a pick and roll 21.6% of his total possessions (last year, Bryant was the ball handler in PNRs 14.6% of his possessions).  A Kobe Bryant/Pau Gasol (or Andrew Bynum) pick and roll and a Bryant/Odom pick and pop?  Those two sets could be deadly.
• Mike Brown gets a lot of grief for running isolations for LeBron James every trip down the court, but some of the blame needs to go to LeBron James as well.  In a few plays that we have shown above, Mike Brown is running a set that requires a quick catch and shoot, but instead of doing that, the LeBron James of old (and you can argue that he still does this now) would catch and hold the ball, basically turning the possession into an isolation.  With Kobe Bryant, who is more experienced and more likely to catch and shoot instead of holding it, you will probably see more sets being run (and completed).
• A lot of what Mike Brown did in Cleveland in regard to getting LeBron James the basketball is simple, but it doesn’t mean it is ineffective.  This isn’t the triangle offense, but in terms of relying on spacing, Brown’s offense is somewhat similar.
• These are just ways I expect Mike Brown to incorporate Kobe Bryant next season.  After the NBA Finals finish up, I will complete a second post on Mike Brown, looking at how Brown will plan on incorporating the other Lakers’ and sets that achieve that goal.