Kobe and Phil agree: Lakers need help

Phil Jackson refused to go quietly into the Hall of Fame.

In addition to hauling his nine coaching NBA championships through the doors at Springfield, Phil used the ceremony's preamble to announce that he and Kobe Bryant are on the same page. We're not sure if this book was borrowed from Phil's player-distribution stash, but Los Angeles Lakers fans are hoping the bottom of this page does not read The End.

According to the newly enshrined master of Laker mojo, Kobe's insistence that the franchise is a bit light on Showtime-caliber talent was tragically accurate.

"I'm in collusion with him on that," said Jackson, whose use of the c-word was an interesting way of defining his reaction to the Los Angeles Lakers' personnel predicament.

Unfortunately, Phil's declaration seems slightly less revelatory than assuring us that, like Kobe Bryant, he believes the sun sets in the west. It's not exactly a secret that his roster lacks certain essentials for playoff success. The tracks of any measurable surprise lead us to Jackson's willingness to publicly zing the team's hiring hierarchy, specifically targeting Jim Buss.

Jim's official title — "Son of Owner" — has qualified Buss the younger to, in Phil's terms, promise "big changes" in the Los Angeles Lakers' talent base. It should be noted that trusting Jim Buss to execute the proper personnel upgrades may be as strategically suspect as expecting Bin Laden eradication tactics to be issued by Jenna Bush.

After losing out in the KG Sweepstakes, Kobe and Garnett won't even be sharing an All-Star uniform, let alone a Los Angeles Lakers one. (Joe Murphy / Getty Images)

With no big thinking anticipated (or received) from that source, the Los Angeles Lakers have been at the talent-evaluating mercy of general manager Mitch Kupchak. According to the visual evidence, Kupchak has been considerably less effective than predecessor Jerry West; his last few years in L.A. and Memphis demonstrated that West, too, had become less effective than himself.

Since the big draft-night whiff of 2003 (Mitch selected Brian Cook at 24 with Leandro Barbosa and Josh Howard still on the board), Kupchak's most important follies have occurred while making trades and securing free-agent talent.

The deals include the Lamar Odom-Caron Butler (since traded for the great Kwame Brown)-Brian "Distorted Contract" Grant troika that represented the Los Angeles Lakers' reward for parting with Shaquille O'Neal. The spending list includes powder forward Vlad Radmanovic — who will be paid $5.2 million this season, presuming he doesn't spend any of that hard-earned cash on lift tickets — and recent reacquisition Derek Fisher, a nice-but-hardly-transcendent addition with a hefty paycheck of $5.8 million.

Kobe Bryant's postseason upheaval campaign initiated trade talks involving Kevin Garnett, but KG's move to Boston has left the Los Angeles Lakers with the option of dealing for Indiana Pacers power forward Jermaine O'Neal. As has been widely chewed upon, the Los Angeles Lakers' refusal to throw 19-year-old center Andrew Bynum into the trading stew with Odom has created a trading stalemate.

The coveting of Andrew Bynum also caused the Los Angeles Lakers to pass on acquiring veteran point guard Jason Kidd during last season's trading-deadline siege.

So, while the Los Angeles Lakers have been standing on Andrew Bynum's potential, the kid reportedly has spent the majority of his off-season training time in Atlanta working out with a personal skills coach not affiliated with the team. During last week's Kobe Bryant collusion statement, Jackson acknowledged that relying on Andrew Bynum as a 2008 difference-maker is pretty farfetched.

But now that Andrew's improvement looms as the only major addition to a cast that seems unqualified to make a move in the Western Conference, Phil and Kobe Bryant are left with few options.

How about making up the difference with brilliant coaching schemes? Well, Jackson is among NBA history's greatest head coaches, but he works in a league that currently rewards psychology more than blackboard wisdom. The league also makes it tricky to triumph when you're in possession of less horsepower than a golf cart.

As pointed out in my Team USA column, even a genius like Mike Krzyzewski seemed internationally fallible until Kobe Bryant and Kidd suited up for the American side.

However, with no help forthcoming from Kupchak and Jim Buss, Jackson may need to consider a little tweaking.

His greatest issue from last season was the Laker defense, which gave up more points than all but five NBA teams.

Only five Western Conference teams allowed the opposition to shoot at a more successful field-goal rate than Jackson's crew. This suggests that softies Cook and Radmanovic should be buried on the bench to help ensure a stronger defensive effort for this season.

Another defensive suspect is Sasha Vujacic, who might be capable of checking two-guards but generally is required to defend point guards.

Unfortunately, each member of this mighty trio is registered as the rare Laker capable of consistently accurate perimeter shooting, a commodity needed to optimize Kobe Bryant's ability to draw a defensive crowd.

Starting small forward Luke Walton was re-signed and will provide a feel for the game that almost reconciles his slow defensive feet and unreliable jumper. Odom combines inconsistent perimeter shooting with a creative ability that seems to be at cross purposes with Kobe Bryant's assumed role in Jackson's altered triangle.

Breaking ranks with triangle tradition might work even better if Odom is handling the ball against four-men and Kobe is working off the ball through an obstacle course of screens. Getting the ball to Kobe Bryant on the move reduces the defense's ability to double, preserves more shot-clock time and turns teammates into screeners instead of guys who usually miss open jumpers.

Beyond any schematic alterations, Laker fans can hope that first-round pick Javaris Crittenton is even better than he seemed to be as a Georgia Tech freshman. Maybe Andrew Bynum is prepared to march toward the elite-center level. Kwame Brown and Chris Mihm could return in good health and provide the Los Angeles Lakers with an even greater variable — the motivation to deal Andrew Bynum without leaving the team naked at center.

Or they could the stun the basketball world by moving Kobe for a collection of good players who (collectively) probably won't rise to the level of great. Unfortunately for those who believe in that course of action, winning big in the NBA almost always requires great players.

Having a Hall-of-Fame coach can't hurt, but removing the great player probably would put both on another page in a book that will be written while someone else is sitting on the Los Angeles Lakers' hot seat.

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