Asked afterward what would have happened if Rudy Tomjanovich hadn't resigned as coach Feb.2 and been replaced by Frank Hamblen, Atkins said: "We'd be a playoff team, without question."
Although Atkins took exception to Hamblen's assessment that the Lakers "quit" in this loss to Denver - "I don't know nothing about that. ... I don't give up," Atkins said - he didn't criticize Hamblen as much as Hamblen installing the triangle offense. Atkins said changing the offense has kept the Lakers from playing as a unit on both ends.
"We played a lot more together (under Tomjanovich)," Atkins said. "The game was a lot easier. Right now, we're in the triangle offense, and people are not really familiar with it. Spacing's bad. You have no place to attack and drive. A lot of time we settle for outside shots. We're in Game 67, and guys' legs are tired and the shots are coming up short.
"Look at the amount of jump shots and the amount of bad shots we shoot and the amount of bad shots we shoot fighting the shot clock - then look at how we played when we ran pick-and-roll plays and were putting guys in spots where they were able to attack. We played a lot better. We're struggling to score 100 points now."
Atkins (10 points) shot 4 of 15 from the field Thursday and committed four turnovers. Hamblen benched Atkins time after time for Tierre Brown and finally for good with 5:42 left for rookie Sasha Vujacic. But Brown, who shot 1 for 10, was worse than Atkins.
Asked afterward what would have happened if Rudy Tomjanovich hadn't
resigned> as coach Feb.2 and been replaced by Frank Hamblen, Atkins said: "We'd be a> playoff team, without question.">
Although Atkins took exception to Hamblen's assessment that the Lakers> "quit" in this loss to Denver - "I don't know nothing about that. ... I> don't give up," Atkins said - he didn't criticize Hamblen as much as
Hamblen> installing the triangle offense. Atkins said changing the offense has kept> the Lakers from playing as a unit on both ends.>
"We played a lot more together (under Tomjanovich)," Atkins said. "The
game> was a lot easier. Right now, we're in the triangle offense, and people are> not really familiar with it. Spacing's bad. You have no place to attack
drive. A lot of time we settle for outside shots. We're in Game 67, and> guys' legs are tired and the shots are coming up short.>
"Look at the amount of jump shots and the amount of bad shots we shoot and> the amount of bad shots we shoot fighting the shot clock - then look at
we played when we ran pick-and-roll plays and were putting guys in spots> where they were able to attack. We played a lot better. We're struggling
score 100 points now.">
Atkins (10 points) shot 4 of 15 from the field Thursday and committed four> turnovers. Hamblen benched Atkins time after time for Tierre Brown and> finally for good with 5:42 left for rookie Sasha Vujacic. But Brown, who> shot 1 for 10, was worse than Atkins.
Offense, atack, points... So I guess defense is not a problem... Right, mr. Kenneth "Chucky" Atkins?
Asked afterward what would have happened if Rudy Tomjanovich hadn't resigned>as coach Feb.2 and been replaced by Frank Hamblen, Atkins said: "We'd be a>playoff team, without question."
Nonsense.
It was just a matter of time before Rudy's damage can come out.
"We played a lot more together (under Tomjanovich)," Atkins said. "The game>was a lot easier. Right now, we're in the triangle offense, and people are>not really familiar with it. Spacing's bad. You have no place to attack and>drive. A lot of time we settle for outside shots. We're in Game 67, and>guys' legs are tired and the shots are coming up short.
Offense is not the problem, dummy, it is defense.
"Look at the amount of jump shots and the amount of bad shots we shoot and>the amount of bad shots we shoot fighting the shot clock - then look at how>we played when we ran pick-and-roll plays and were putting guys in spots>where they were able to attack. We played a lot better. We're struggling to>score 100 points now."
If you attack the basket instead of settling for 2 or 3 consecutive ill advised three point shots, you'd get more points, higher percentage, and wouldn't need to fight the shot clock.
Atkins (10 points) shot 4 of 15 from the field Thursday and committed four>turnovers. Hamblen benched Atkins time after time for Tierre Brown and>finally for good with 5:42 left for rookie Sasha Vujacic. But Brown, who>shot 1 for 10, was worse than Atkins.
Brown is not even qualified to be on the floor on any NBA team.
On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 22:57:06 +0000 (UTC), dim@soda.csua.berkeley.edu (D. Gerasimatos) wrote:
I hope everyone not named Kobe Bryant is on the trading block.
I'd like them to keep Kobe, Lamar, and work on Butler to be more aggressive./consistent, Shasha has potential, but everyone else is useless as far as I can see.
Asked afterward what would have happened if Rudy Tomjanovich hadn't resigned> as coach Feb.2 and been replaced by Frank Hamblen, Atkins said: "We'd be a> playoff team, without question.">
Although Atkins took exception to Hamblen's assessment that the Lakers> "quit" in this loss to Denver - "I don't know nothing about that. ... I> don't give up," Atkins said - he didn't criticize Hamblen as much as Hamblen> installing the triangle offense. Atkins said changing the offense has kept> the Lakers from playing as a unit on both ends.>
"We played a lot more together (under Tomjanovich)," Atkins said. "The game> was a lot easier. Right now, we're in the triangle offense, and people are> not really familiar with it. Spacing's bad. You have no place to attack and> drive. A lot of time we settle for outside shots. We're in Game 67, and> guys' legs are tired and the shots are coming up short.>
"Look at the amount of jump shots and the amount of bad shots we shoot and> the amount of bad shots we shoot fighting the shot clock - then look at how> we played when we ran pick-and-roll plays and were putting guys in spots> where they were able to attack. We played a lot better. We're struggling to> score 100 points now.">
Atkins (10 points) shot 4 of 15 from the field Thursday and committed four> turnovers. Hamblen benched Atkins time after time for Tierre Brown and> finally for good with 5:42 left for rookie Sasha Vujacic. But Brown, who> shot 1 for 10, was worse than Atkins.>
Point guards all HATE the Triangle. They want the ball in their hands> all the time not pass it constantly as required by the Triangle. So> Chucky hating the triangle is very predictable (I'd bet Steve Nash> would hate it also).>
I agree that trying to implement the Triangle mid-season was a huge> error. The interesting part of this was Hamblen deriding Rudys offense> ("you don't win shooting 3 point shots"). If your top assistant doesn'> t buy into what you are doing (the dive and kick offense of Rudy) then> you have real trouble in the coaching staff - really points up that> Rudy was not a good head coach since he obviously didn't listen to> feedback from the assistant coaches (or the assistants didn't want to> give feedback to him).>
That is one thing you have to give PJ. My brother pointed it out to me> but during every timeout, PJ would go to each assistant coach and ask> him if he had any thoughts about the game or wanted to say anything to> the players - really involves the assistants in the game. Now maybe he> ignored his assistants outside of game time but I really doubt it.
Jackson would also wait and watch and listen to his players talk for a few moments in a timeout before making his comments.
