The Lakers played pretty fast last season — they averaged the fifth most possessions per game in the league. (Houston was the fastest, have fun with that Dwight Howard.)
Of course, Mike D’Antoni would like the Lakers to play faster. But Kurt Rambis doesn’t sound optimistic the Lakers can do that with the roster as constructed, at least he sounded that way speaking to Eric Pincus of the Los Angeles Times.
Rambis sounded more like the ESPN analyst he was last season, when he ripped how D’Antoni was using the Lakers personnel.“The [Lakers] still have big people and I think you have to take advantage of the big people,” said Rambis in a phone interview with The Times on Thursday. “You can’t ignore them because they are an asset to your offense….
“In order to run, you need a push guard. That’s Steve Nash,” said Rambis. “It remains to be seen whether he’s coming back from his injuries, and continues to [push] at an elite fast-break pace….
“You need guys that can really get out and fill the wings because that pushes the defense down,” said Rambis. “That’s not necessarily the way that you would look at this team and describe them. You might say that with Nick Young, but it’s not necessarily Kobe’s forte nor was it Metta World Peace’s forte last year.”
The Lakers have some guys who can run — Jordan Farmar pushing the ball with the second unit and having Wesley Johnson and Young on the floor, you can see some of that working. You can also see D’Antoni getting better ball movement in the halfcourt with Pau Gasol in the post and Kobe working to his spots.
But the Lakers remain what they were last year — not a great roster fit for what D’Antoni prefers to do. And as happened last year, it will be D’Antoni that needs to adjust.
