<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Frank Hamblen tried to squeeze a triangle offense into a round hole, and it didn't fit. As the Lakers stumbled, bumbled and, well, flat-out collapsed in the second half of this season, players often have cited their unfamiliarity with the triangle offense as one reason for the team's struggles. Teammates give the ball to Kobe Bryant and let him do his thing, because they don't know any better. Chucky Atkins hadn't seen a triangle since high school geometry, so how was he supposed to run this offense? Which begs the question: if the players aren't comfortable, why in the world are the Lakers running it? In this season of unending distractions, from Kobe-Shaq to Kobe-Karl to the flight of Rudy Tomjanovich, the Lakers, many of whom were barely on a first-name basis with each other, were asked to master an offense that relies tremendously on teamwork, communication and cooperation in order to succeed. The triangle isn't complicated. In fact, former Lakers assistant Tex Winter, the "Yoda" of the triangle offense, touts its simplicity when a team knows how to run it. But that's the point. Other than Bryant, none of the Lakers' regulars knew how to run it. And the middle of an already-difficult regular season wasn't the right time to conduct a triangle clinic. It's something to be done in training camp, and in the summer league with some of the younger players, not halfway through a season in which the Lakers were fighting simply to make the playoffs. This all began with good intentions. With the Lakers on an early-season slide, Bryant and Tomjanovich met and decided it would be good to try the triangle in small doses, to give opponents a different look. Then, when Tomjanovich left town, Hamblen took over. Granted, Hamblen is in a tough spot. He didn't ask for this. He's more comfortable in the shadows, and he'd be back there right now if he could. But duty called, Hamblen took charge and he attempted to bring the full-scale triangle to the Lakers. It's what Hamblen knows. He was one of Phil Jackson's top deputies in Chicago, for the second of the Bulls' title runs, and he followed Jackson to Los Angeles and stayed after Big Chief Triangle took his leave. Hamblen is going with what is familiar. He's a master of the triangle, and he thought he could teach it to a group that had only played together for approximately four months. It was an incorrect bet.</div> Source
