Winter Ecstatic About Gasol, But He Wants Odom To Play Better

The triangle offense has long been known as a difficult adjustment for players coming to the Los Angeles Lakers. But Tex Winter, the guru of that offense, says that post players have the easiest time adjusting. It stands to reason. Post players don’t have to do all the passing and cutting and reading that forwards and guards do in the triangle. Post players merely have to get in position to get the ball in the right position, which is often point-blank range.”Our offense is predicated on someone scoring inside, on our getting the ball inside,” Winter explained in a phone interview. “It’s a center-in, post-up offense.”

That’s why Kwame Brown, for all of his defensive quickness, wasn’t much help. That’s why Winter didn’t like the idea of getting a Ben Wallace from Chicago to bolster the Lakers frontcourt. Neither offered someone for guard Kobe Bryant to play off of.

It’s easy, then, to understand why Winter’s elated at the trade for center/forward Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies. “Gasol’s a real player, particularly offensively,” Winter confirmed. “He knows how to score. He’s got great hands, and he’ll fit in nicely too. We can get him the ball in position where he has the opportunity.” With the development of center Andrew Bynum before his recent knee injury, Kobe Bryant reminded Lakers fans that he knows well how to play off a big man who can catch and score.

“Kobe’s always looking for somebody who can score the basket,” Winter said. “I hope Kobe learns how to use Gasol the right way. I think he will. He’s really shown how well he can do that.” Winter, who recently spent five weeks with the Lakers despite battling a painful case of the shingles, said he has visited with Kobe Bryant often in recent weeks and has really been pleased with his growth in leadership. It is definitely one phase of Bryant’s game that is not Like Mike.

“Something I see Kobe doing is really energizing those young guys,” Winter said. “Kobe likes working with them and being positive, instead of being critical.”

Winter coached Jordan in Chicago and observed his very powerful leadership style. “Michael was very critical, which is OK sometimes when team members have the confidence to accept it. Some people couldn’t handle that from Michael. We ended up with only the people who could take it. Kobe has taken a different approach in his leadership. That’s good. Because guys like Lamar Odom and Luke Walton are already so low in their confidence, you’ve got to build them up. And I think Kobe has tried to do that.”

Bryant seems to have save his harshest criticism for himself, particularly after his recent 11 turnover game, Winter said. In case people get the idea that Winter has softened as he nears his 86th birthday, think again. He has fussed all season that the Lakers need to change the way they play the screen and roll, especially how they choose to bring help from the wings, where opponents have their three-point shooters waiting. He says the Los Angeles Lakers too readily leave shooters open, and he favors getting the help on penetrating guards from the big man in the post.

That would mean the Lakers would have to help the helper, the common basketball phrase, but that would force the extra pass from the offense. He was fussing in particular about Odom helping and leaving his man open late in the loss to Detroit. ”I’ve made a lot of suggestions,” Winter grumbled. “I don’t know if I’m being listened to. There are a lot of coaches on that staff, a lot of voices. I don’t know who has Phil’s ear.”

Winter’s basic suggestion is that the team focus harder on fundamentals so that players “basically execute their skills better. Passing, cutting, screening, ballhandling, we don’t do those things well. We’re haphazard about them in our execution.” Meanwhile, the longtime coach says he stays out of team personnel issues other than to point out that Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has done a remarkable job of building the team through draft picks and personnel moves.

Winter does fear that Odom may be the next on the trading block if he doesn’t begin to play up to his vast potential on a consistent basis. “Odom, I don’t know what’s wrong withhim,” Winter said. “He can’t seem to find his way. He’s been with us a long time. He’s been awfully good at times. It’s really hard to figure out why he hasn’t played better this season.”

In some ways, Odom may benefit most from Gasol’s presence. With less of a scoring burden on him, Odom may be able to focus better on rebounding and pushing the ball on the break. That stands to reason, although Winter wouldn’t confirm such a notion, saying instead that Jackson will have to wait and see how the team grows with the move. Winter did guess that Jackson would miss Brown. “Phil sort of liked the challenge of seeing what he could do to help Kwame be effective,” Winter observed, adding that God had played a cruel trick on Brown, giving him an impressive body but withholding key elements that would make the former number 1 overall pick an NBA star.

With the Lakers needing scoring in the post so badly, Kupchak had long been looking for a quality big man to help the team. There was once hope that big man would be Kevin Garnett, who went to Boston instead. But with Gasol, the Lakers have scored nicely, Winter said.

To get Gasol, Los Angeles traded promising rookie Javaris Crittenton to Memphis, plus two first round draft picks and the rights to Gasol’s brother, Marc Gasol. “Crittenton’s gonna be pretty good. He’s a player,” Winter said. “But he won’t be ready for another year.”

The Lakers, meanwhile, have shown they’re much about right now.

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