Wednesday at practice, I was part of a conversation with Lakers assistant coach Brian Shaw about Kobe Bryant, and the dynamics of playing and coaching a team with him as the focal point.  It's an honest conversation without being judgmental, and Shaw's ability to speak both respectfully of Kobe's talent and some of its side-effects, particularly the power of 24's influence and competitive drive, helps illustrate why his name is commonly tossed around as a potential successor to Phil Jackson.

There are enormous and obvious benefits to playing with an athlete of Kobe's caliber, but as Shaw demonstrates, winning with Kobe isn't simply a matter of rolling the ball out and letting him go.  Coaching him is a challenge, as is being his teammate.  That's not a criticism of Bryant, but a simple reality.  Basketball is a team sport, and Kobe's unique makeup is the dominant feature of LA's team dynamic.  

It's an interesting read.

Q: Win or lose, the focus is always on Kobe.  He's brilliant, he shoots too much, he was tired, he showed his greatness, whatever.  As a team and a staff, how do you guys keep that aspect of "all Kobe all the time" out of it?  So things don't get overwhelmed?

Before the second round series against Houston kicked off, Rockets center Dikembe Mutombo's career had already reached an unfortunate end after an in-game knee injury during the previous round against Portland.  And with yesterday's 89-70 Game 7 win shutting down the Rockets' postseason, Mutombo's NBA life is now officially concluded as well. 

With that in mind, I felt it appropriate to pay proper respect to Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean Jacque Wamutombo, whose achievements were even longer than his full name.  Most basketball fans were aware of Mutombo's round ball credentials:  Eight-time All-Star.  Four-time Defensive Player of the Year.  An absolute beast sucking up rebounds and swatting away shots, the latter achievement always followed by the infamous "not in my house" finger waggle. 

But despite the laundry list of NBA excellence (and the genius that was "Clouds"), Mutombo arguably made a bigger impact away from the game.  Check out the items littering his NBA.com bio section.

For the third consecutive game (last night's 92-75 win over the Griz), Shannon Brown was the first guard off the Laker bench, displacing Jordan Farmar in a trend I don't expect to reverse unless the newbie Laker comes up short.  Brown played seventeen minutes on Sunday against Farmar's thirteen, but I imagine the gap would have been larger were this contest remotely competitive.  Lamar Odom's presence in the second unit adds one more ball handler to the mix, and between LO, Luke Walton and (to a lesser degree) Sasha Vujacic, there are enough dudes capable of running the show that Brown can play "off rock" while concentrating mostly on defense. 

That's one reason (among others) that I figured LO would return to his sixth man role with Andrew Bynum available. 

Brown and I didn't talk long after the game, but he said a few things I found interesting.  For starters, his take on the triangle's famed difficulty.  Brown agreed that the system comes as advertised, but it's a hurdle conquerable by a strong willingness (and in the Lakers' case, a need for change). 

Brown clearly can't give Tex Winter a run as the triangle go-to instructor, but has studied hard enough that he can operate without getting lost, which is enough to keep him on the court.  

I had an interesting exchange with Derek Fisher at practice earlier this week about defense in today's NBA worth passing along...

Q: The way games are called now on the perimeter, with guards especially, how do you quantify defense as a point guard?  Is it more about helping?  Putting the opposition in the spots you want them on the floor?  Or is it still about staying in front of your guy?

Fisher: It's more so about being able to influence guys to have to operate in certain areas and certain positions now.  I think you're required to know much more about the guy you're playing against, his strengths and weaknesses, whether he prefers to shoot going left or right, or how he finishes at the basket going left or right, and then try your best to influence him and make him operate in the weaker areas. 

But as far as staying in front of him or trying to be physical with him?  You can't do it anymore.

Q: Is there anybody in the league that's still considered a "lock down" point guard?

Whether you're talking fans, media, coaches or the players themselves, there's been obvious concern over the current stretch of substandard play from the purple and gold.  Granted, there's hardly a need to strap on a hardhat for fear of falling skies, since the inconsistencies have rarely translated into losses and against better opponents, the Lakers generally play their best ball.  But it's nonetheless about that time of year where you'd like to develop an "at your best" groove.  Along those lines, mission far from accomplished.  What the dillio, one might ask?  And specifically, one might ask Derek Fisher, since he's the most reliable Laker when it comes to straightforward shop talk. 

After last night's win over the Warriors, Fish spent a fair amount of time fielding reporter questions about this topic and the upcoming roadie.   

If there's a theme from his comments, it's that human nature- whether in the form of lapses in concentration, frustration, slumps, etc.- will inevitably provide obstacles over the course of a long season.  Doesn't matter how many "killer instinct," "eyes on the prize," or "hungry team" cliches get tossed about.  It's to be expected.  Which, mind you, isn't the same thing as being accepted. 

The key is being able recognize the signs, then work through them without coming apart. 

After the unfortunate loss to the Sixers on Tuesday, I caught up with ex-Laker Aaron McKie for a few minutes.  As someone who played with the Lakers right before their rapid rise, I was curious to get his take on that transformation, plus topics like Kobe Bryant, coaching and being "traded" for Pau Gasol.  Here's what he had to say.

On the seamless addition of Pau Gasol last season
"For them to go out and get Pau midway through and make all the proper adjustments to get him involved, to get their team moving in the right direction.  It's a credit to their system that they run and the guys that they have playing with them out there on the court."

Part II of my talk with Adam Morrison.  In the first part, we discussed mostly his time in Charlotte and the process of transitioning into the NBA.  The latter topics included His Airness, life with the Lakers and that infamous moment during his final game at UCLA (still poked by BK's wife).  Here's what he had to say. 

Andrew Kamenetzky: What was it like for you to have Michael Jordan go to bat for you during the draft?  That's pretty flattering.

(Jordan's take on Morrison, from the piece linked above: "The thing that I saw about him is you can see a lot of skillful people coming out of college and some kids that are not as skillful. I think he’s very skillful, but his heart and his desire to become the best was something you can’t give kids. It’s hard to give people that type of attitude and he has it. Now can that translate into being a successful NBA player? We think he can. That’s one of the things that we saw in him. He’s a gym rat. He loves being around the game of basketball. He’s tough. He can learn. He listens. His demeanor, his attitude about failure is something you can’t really find. He wants and accepts what failure is and wants to turn it around into something successful. That’s hard to find in kids today. )

Adam Morrison: Yeah, definitely.  Michael was always great to me.  Always fair.   Same with Rod Higgins.  So it was great.

It would be something of an understatement to say Adam Morrison was a legitimate college basketball phenom during his final season at Gonzaga, capturing the nation's attention while averaging an NCAA best 28.1 ppg, topping 30+ in fourteen games and 40+ in a quintet.  Folks also seemed to dig the long hair and 'stache, which added personality to an already colorful story of success while controlling diabetes.  It would also, however, be something of an understatement to say that the transition to the pro level hasn't offered quite the same riches.

The rap on Morrison was that he didn't possess the athletic ability needed to rack points at the NBA level.  Michael Jordan, the new part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, felt the kid's heart and competitiveness would offset any deficiencies, and pushed to select Morrison as the 2006's third overall pick.  As of now, Morrison hasn't done much to erase the notion that MJ may be the game's all-time greatest, but can't evaluate talent to save his life.  After a solid enough start to his rookie campaign, Morrison slowed considerably over March and April, then sat his entire sophomore campaign with an ACL tear.  From there, it's been sluggish.  Morrison quickly fell out of new Bobcats coach Larry Brown's favor, then eventually got dealt to the Lakers with Shannon Brown last February for the similarly out of favor Vlad Radmanovic.   

How he'll fare with in L.A. is a murky proposition.  It's not exactly a well kept secret that the Lakers made the swap in large part to shed Radmanovic's contract for one that runs a year shorter.  And with Morrison's deal set to expire next season to the tune of five mil (unless a team option is picked up), who's to say he'll even be part of the '09-10 equation?  But to some degree, that's all irrelevant, because no matter where he plays, Morrison is just looking to reestablish some footing.  In the first part of our talk, we discussed matters ranging from what what wrong in Charlotte, being a scorer and the rookie wall.  Here's what he had to say.

Andrew Kamenetzky: What do you think accounted for your struggles in Charlotte?  Adjusting to the next level?  The way you were used?  The situation?

Adam Morrison: I think it was a little bit of everything.  I had a good, probably, fifty games my rookie year, I was playing well.  And then hit the wall, I think.  Then some of the way I was used, kind of just a "standing shooter/standing in the corner" type of deal.  But some of that's on me.  They gave me a fair chance to play well and then obviously, coming off an injury, it was a little bit different. 

On a minute-to-minute basis, there's probably nobody on the Lakers' roster who has better taken advantage of his playing time than Josh Powell.  Brought in to fill a backup power forward role when Ronny Turiaf left for Golden State, Powell hasn't matched Turiaf's level of enthusiasm on and off the floor- who could?- but from a production standpoint has been effective, utlizing a solid face up game offensively and a willingness to hit the boards on both ends. 

Bottom line, dude works his ass off. 

In Friday's win over the Timberwolves, Powell hit for 14 points on 6-11 from the floor, and added six boards and three blocks in one of his best performances of the season.  Powell isn't the chattiest of fellows (I've joked that he speaks less English than Sun), but talked to us after the game.

Q: It seems like as the year has gone on, your level of comfort both offensively and defensively has increased a lot.  How long does it take to get acclimated to a new system and team?

The last of my Media Day jabber collected, this time with Vladimir Radmanovic, who's typically reliable for a good quote or two.  And considering he's among the key principles in one of the season's more intriguing plotlines (that logjam at small forward), I thought it was worth passing along Vlad's thoughts on his third campaign in purple and gold.  For starters, I don't think he expects to be a starter anymore.  For that matter, he didn't sound as if he was "expecting" much of anything, other than the likelihood of minutes shrinking across the board.  And he's cool with that notion, no matter how it shakes out personally for him.  "I know not all of us are going to be happy all the time, but we have to look at the big picture, winning a championship," he said. "That's all that matters.  The ultimate goal is winning championships, not play 30 minutes or score 20, 30 points.  As long as we all look at it the same way, it shouldn't be a problem at all."