6 Issues Los Angeles Lakers Must Address for 2011-12 NBA Season

Ready. Set. Go.

With the saved season set to start on Christmas Day, NBA teams have a little less than 30 days to work out their issues through an expedited training camp and free agency period. 

The Los Angeles Lakers hope to address some of their own issues early on and start their championship quest off on the right foot.

Here are six issues staring at the Lakers as they enter the 2011-12 season.

6. Trust Issues

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"It's deeply rooted at this point.. It's obvious we have trust issues. Unless we come out and discuss it, then nothing is going to really change"

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Those words courtesy of Lakers center Andrew Bynum, candidly expressing frustration in his team's chemistry after dropping their second game at home to fall behind 0-2 versus Dallas.

Bynum was literally referring to the team's failure to communicate and rotate on defense. Drew was helping his teammates defensively but no one was helping Drew. Help the helper, as they say.

But was it more than that? 

Were Bynum's off-the-cuff remarks an indication of internal fracturing within the team? Was the Lakers locker room falling apart?

We'll never know. But last season is last season.

Christmas Day brings a new opportunity for this tried and tested group to prove once again why they can win it all by trusting in each other as a team.

5. The Decline of Metta World Peace

The Lakers have a very tricky issue with one Metta World Peace.

Coming off career lows in scoring, field goal percentage and inconsistent defensive performances last year, Metta World Peace needs to prove why he still deserves a starting role.

The Lakers have plenty of options with Artest: amnesty cut, trade, sign mid-level veteran at $3 million a year, demote to bench with Matt Barnes assuming starting role or simply get Artest back to his dominant ways.

With Mike Brown coming into L.A. and possibly installing a more customary dribble-drive motion offense, Ron Ron doesn't have to think about the triangle anymore. And Mike Brown's defensive philosophies could be just what Artest needs to recapture his Defensive Player of the Year form.

We'll give World Peace a chance. But he'll be on a short leash once the season is off and running.

4. Three-Point Shooting

In 2010-11, the Lakers ranked 12th during the regular season in three-point shooting as a team. Not bad. Not great, either.

But it became quite clear in the Dallas series that the Lakers were seriously outmatched from three-point land.

Outside of Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher, the rest of the team's shooters were wildly inconsistent from downtown. These three-point issues can be addressed through free agency, coaching or both.

The Lakers already have an immediate answer in assistant coach Chuck "The Rifleman" Person. One of the games deadliest shooters, Chuck can help improve the team's three-point shooting by adding a Craig Hodges-type shooting role to his coaching responsibilities.

3. Life After the Triangle

When Phil Jackson retired from coaching last season, the triangle offense in L.A. followed.

The Lakers will have a two-week training camp and early months of the season to overhaul their existing offensive framework and install something entirely new.

Reports of the new Lakers offense suggest elements of a San Antonio Spurs era twin tower scheme, a dribble-drive motion offense, corner spacing with a splash of triangle and a push-the-floor, beat-the-shot clock mentality.

Sound complex?

Given the on-court chemistry between the Lakers' veterans, implementing a new offensive scheme should not be difficult. After all, it's just basketball. 

But the offensive system moving forward is an issue the Lakers would like to wrap their heads around sooner rather than later.

2. Point Guard Position

It's no secret that 37-year-old, 15-year NBA veteran Derek Fisher has lost a step or two.

The Lakers have long known about this issue and last year attempted to remedy the situation by bringing in back-up and would-be successor Steve Blake.

Blake left a lot to be desired in his first year with the Purple and Gold and has put this same issue back on the shoulders of Lakers management and GM Mitch Kupchak through his poor play.

Do the Lakers make a trade for an every-day starting PG? Do they sign a free agent? Can Blake turn it around and be a PG defensive stopper?

The Lakers must shore up their point-guard defenses and add quickness to the position, otherwise Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Ty Lawson and the rest of the West's speedsters will run roughshod over the Lakers backcourt next season.

1. Player Relationships with Mike Brown

The biggest issue hanging over the Lakers and most critical to the team's success in 2011-12 is the integration of new Lakers head coach Mike Brown into the team's architecture.

Thus far, the reception has been mixed.

Kobe Bryant was mostly cold before opening up with a halfway approval of Brown, Pau Gasol and Derek Fisher tweeted words of support and the rest of the team has remained largely silent on the issue.

But with a shortened season, whirlwind training camp and complete overhauls to the team's offensive and defensive schemes, the Lakers don't have time to "warm up" to Brown.

The Lakers need to adjust quickly and willingly to their new head coach and fully embrace him. Otherwise, this veteran team may see their championship window shut with little to show before Lakers management is forced to disband the current group in an effort to manage the team's bloated payroll and avoid the significantly more punitive salary cap penalties under the new labor agreement.