This, of course, runs counter to the notion that one of LA’s great problems was the hiring of coach Mike D’Antoni and his shot-happy system, which did not necessarily fit with the Lakers’ personnel—old, slow and with dunkmaster Dwight Howard in the middle.

One of the questions rattling around the Lakers’ practice court concerns D’Antoni’s approach this season, and whether he will do more to adapt what the Lakers do offensively to the players he has on hand. That’s never been a strength of D’Antoni’s—ask Carmelo Anthony about that—but maybe the more pertinent question is whether D’Antoni needs to make any offensive changes at all.

“It’ll depend,” D’Antoni said. “I like to coach an up-tempo game, no doubt about it, but every team has a level of running that they do. We will find that level and stick with it. We do have guys that, we can go big, we can go small. We have a lot of guys who can go down the floor, we can play a little more of an up-tempo game.”

Well, maybe. D’Antoni might like to coach an up-tempo game, but the Lakers were not an up-tempo team last year, and they did not suffer because of it. Take a close look at the numbers from last year and the personnel changes this year, and you get a better sense that this season’s Lakers offense—which will be awaiting the return of Kobe Bryant, of course—will look a lot like last season’s Lakers offense.


Transition


The Lakers were among the worst teams in the league on the break last year, ranking 27th in points per possession (1.079), according to Synergy Sports. Only three other teams—New York, New Orleans and Chicago—failed to score 1,000 points on fast-break possessions last season. There were a number of reasons for that, including age, injuries to point guard Steve Nash and the presence of the plodding Howard.

It is possible that the Lakers’ new lineups will yield better production in transition. But it probably won’t amount to much. Losing Howard will help, but his replacement, Chris Kaman, doesn’t exactly move like Mercury. The more the team plays Jordan Hill with center Pau Gasol, the better it will be in terms of getting up and down the floor. Going from Metta World Peace to Nick Young will help, too, as will the addition of guard Jordan Farmar.  The Lakers are more athletic, but don’t forget, the trio of Nash, Gasol and Bryant is 107 years old combined. The Lakers might improve their efficiency on the break, but running will remain minimal.


Pau Gasol


As he has gotten older, Gasol has been more and more comfortable at center. That was never more obvious than last year, when Gasol never seemed to fit in with Howard, and was a much better player when Howard was out. Gasol works very well from the post, as a passer and a scorer, and when it comes to defense, he does much better defending post-up big men than keeping up with more agile power forwards.

According to 82games.com, Gasol was excellent at center on both ends of the floor last year, with a PER of 22.0 and an opponent’s PER of just 14.4. At power forward? His PER was 15.4 and his opponents’ was 17.2.

Even with Kaman on board, Gasol will be at center primarily. That’s when the Lakers offense was at its best last year. “I think the biggest thing is that Pau will be back at center a lot more, where that is his natural position,” D’Antoni said. “He can play anywhere, but he is a devastating center in the league and always has been. So he can get back to his natural position.”


Familiarity


When run at its best, D’Antoni’s offense is a hallmark of simplicity. You push the ball, you take the open shot when it presents itself, you set up pick-and-rolls if nothing else works. But it was not so easy for the Lakers to grasp last year, because D’Antoni came to the team 10 games into the season. Remember, before that, the Lakers had brought in assistant coach Eddie Jordan to institute the Princeton offense with the Lakers, and that was the entire focus of the preseason. Unlearning all of that was a challenge in itself.

Making matters worse, the one guy who could best orchestrate D’Antoni’s system was Nash, who was out with a broken leg until just before Christmas. The first 16 games the Lakers played under D’Antoni were without Nash at the point. It made for a muddle of an offense, which should not be a problem after a full training camp this year, once Bryant returns.

“We spent six, seven weeks learning the Princeton offense, which is completely different, opposite of the way Mike wants to play,” Nash said. “In some ways, it was almost like we were going in opposite directions. It was difficult to not only change our methodology and idea of how we are going to play, but we also had so many injuries, we did not have enough bodies to practice. It was something we tried to do on the fly.”


Perimeter shooting


Of all the complaints that could be lodged against D’Antoni’s approach last year, the fact that Lakers kept launching 3-pointers is the most valid. They just did not have the shooters to be a team that was averaging 24.6 3s per game—that was third in the NBA, but their 35.5 percent accuracy mark was just 19th.

Part of the problem was the Bryant and Metta World Peace took 40.6 percent of the team’s 3s, with Bryant shooting 32.4 percent and World Peace making 34.2 percent. World Peace is gone and the hope is that Bryant reels in his 3-point barrage when he returns from his injury. 

Farmar is a decent 3-point shooter (36.7 percent for his career) and Young has made 37.4 percent in his eight years in the NBA. The Lakers took a chance on Xavier Henry, who has been lost in his three seasons in the NBA, but he came out of Kansas with a reputation as an ace shooter and if he can reclaim his career, he could be a boost to the Lakers’ perimeter efforts.

“We have a lot of guys who are going to command attention from the defense, even before Kobe gets back, like Pau and Steve Nash,” Young said. “That is going to make opportunities for us as shooters and that is something we need to take advantage of.”

The 3-pointer was a misguided weapon in the Lakers offense last year, a shot that was taken and missed all too frequently. Like other aspects of the offense, don’t expect D’Antoni to make major changes to that approach—the hope is that things just work better in general.