4 Signs That Los Angeles Lakers Coach Mike Brown Was the Wrong Hire

What's going on with the Lakers?

The team has split their last 10 games.  They've started three different players at small forward. They're second place in their own division.  And they aren't even the best team in Los Angeles anymore.

In their first year removed from Phil Jackson, the Lakers have looked so stagnant on offense that head coach, Mike Brown, has been forced to inquire about Gilbert Arenas' availability.

If these signs aren't ominous enough, maybe these four will be.

Increased Minutes

The wear and tear of a condensed 66-game NBA season is more substantial than a normal 82-game one.

The Lakers’ schedule features 15 sets of back-to-back games—including four sets in each of the remaining months of the regular season.

Under Coach Brown, the Lakers trio of Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol have all seen an increase in playing time.

Although Gasol’s 37.4 minute average is only slightly higher than last season’s 37.0, playing in consecutive games has hurt his overall production and efficiency.

Bynum has been playing at an All-Star level this season.  A large part of that can be attributed to his development, or his increase in playing time.

His season average of 34.3 minutes is significantly higher than his 24.8 career average.  Given his history as the victim of some unfortunate injuries, Coach Brown may be wise to lighten the young center’s load.

Playing in his 16^th season, Bryant finds himself on the court for an average of 38 minutes per game (fourth highest in the league).  The last time he saw this much action was in the 2007-2008 season.

Even though his knee no longer appears to be bothering him, Kobe still has a collection of hand injuries that continue to affect him—evident in the way he contorts his body after shooting free throws.

Although the Lakers’ “Big Three” have been logging more minutes, it hasn’t transitioned into more victories.

As of February 2^nd, the Lakers currently sit at the eighth seed in the Western conference playoff standings.

For a veteran team, this wouldn’t be a huge issue if it weren’t for…

Two Road Victories

It’s no secret that the Lakers have become accustomed to having home court advantage during their playoff runs.

This season may prove to be different.

Out of their 13 total victories, only two have come away from Staples Center.

At home, the Lakers average over 95 points per game on 47.3 percent shooting.  On the road, the same team averages 91.4 points while shooting 43.4 percent.

The trend is undeniable.  On the road, the Lakers have proven to be unfocused and lackadaisical.  Their 2-7 record proves it.

With their current playoff seeding and road win percentage of 22.2; the Lakers would be forced to win every single home game for a shot to advance in a seven-game series.

Poor Defensive Rebounding

The Lakers surrender an average of 90.6 points per game and allow an opponent shooting percentage of 41.4­—good enough to rank fourth and first in each category.

But with the good news, comes the bad.

By giving up 12.1 offensive rebounds per game (23^rd worst), this veteran team is punishing themselves by playing extended defensive sequences.

These extended possessions result in an average of 84 opponent field goal attempts per game—which ranks fourth most.

The extra time spent on defense is directly linked to the team’s inability to track down defensive rebounds.

This negates some of the minutes that Kobe, Gasol, and Bynum log and explains why the Lakers average the sixth least amount of field goal attempts (78.5).

Poor Offense

What’s wrong with Mike Brown’s offense?

For starters, the Lakers have scored 100 points or more three times all season.  

The team doesn’t score many fast-break points.  They can’t shoot the three.  And they’ve become heavily reliant on pick-and-roll sets with Kobe—which makes them extremely isometric and predictable.

The Lakers average 16.2 three-point shots per game, which makes up over 20 percent of their total field goal attempts. 

This wouldn’t be such a terrible thing if they were converting them at a rate higher than 29.4 percent (26^th best in the league).

Kobe is the main culprit and attempts just below five treys per game.  While that number is a bit high for someone shooting it at a 28 percent clip, his shot selection is a byproduct of Brown’s offense.

While in Cleveland, Brown never had skilled post players like Gasol and Bynum (Shaq was well in his decline). 

Whenever the Cavaliers needed a basket, they would simply set a screen for LeBron at the top of the three-point line and let him decide what to do from there.

The Lakers have adopted this strategy for extended periods and would explain why Kobe leads the league in scoring (30.0) and usage percentage (38.6).

At the age of 33, Kobe has a commanding lead in shot attempts with 534 (LaMarcus Aldridge is second with 386). 

For a team that concerns themselves with playing deep into the postseason, Coach Brown is deploying his best weapon at an alarming rate.