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SAN ANTONIO -- The Los Angeles Lakers said all the right things Wednesday after it became official that Mike Brown, who was let go by the Lakers in November after the team's 0-8 preseason and 1-4 regular season start, was rehired by the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"Mike’s a great coach," said Mike D'Antoni, Brown's replacement in L.A. "He’ll do a great job."

"I’m happy for him," said Pau Gasol, one of the eight players on the Lakers roster who played for Brown in 2011-12, his only full season in L.A. "I think Mike is a really good coach, so he’s going to I’m sure help Cleveland be a better team. They have a young team. Mike is a hardworking coach. Very dedicated. Pays attention to detail. So, he’s going to help them out."

Said Steve Nash: "He’s an extremely hard worker, a very passionate basketball person. He has an emphasis on defense and he does a great job. I think he’s a very good coach."

Added Dwight Howard: "I’m happy for him. He’s a great guy and he’s back in Cleveland, so I’m pretty sure he’s happy about that."

It remains to be seen just how happy Lakers management will end up about the development.

The Lakers owe Brown approximately $7 million for the remaining two years on his contract with the team, but the Cleveland hiring will offset some of that. According to a team source, the Lakers expect "at most" half of what they owe Brown to be offset and that the $3-4 million that it would amount to would be a "grain of sand on the beach" when it comes to impacting the Lakers' finances. The Lakers will not know the final amount they will save on the Brown hiring until his new contract with the Cavs is finalized and approved by the league, which could take "up to a month," according to the source.

The other way Brown's hiring could be felt in L.A. is with D'Antoni's coaching staff. All but two of D'Antoni's assistants -- his brother, Dan D'Antoni and Chuck Person, who was hired when Phil Jackson was the head coach -- were brought on by Brown.

That means that D'Antoni could have significant spots on his staff to fill next season if Brown attempts to lure assistant coaches Steve Clifford, Bernie Bickerstaff, Darvin Ham, player development coach Phil Handy or the team video and support staff of Kyle Triggs, J.J. Outlaw and Tom Bialaszewski.

"You know what? I’m thinking about San Antonio, that’s all I got time for," D'Antoni said Wednesday when asked if he's considered what his coaching staff could look like next season. "Then we’ll figure out everything else later. No, I’m not even thinking about it."

As L.A. contemplates the decline and fall of the Lakers Empire, some fans are starting to look past this disastrous season and toward the offseason -- something nearly unheard of in Lakerland in January.

Nervous questions like “how can the Lakers make the playoffs” are now being replaced with sober inquiries such as “How will Mitch Kupchak fix this mess?”

Naturally, attention is turning toward the Lakers’ upcoming draft picks. If there’s one silver lining to missing the playoffs and landing in the lottery, it’s that the team usually gets a pretty good rookie to show for it. Problem is, the Lakers never envisioned being in this situation, and instead used their upcoming picks like chips at a poker table, throwing them into the pot in order to go all-in with their current hand.

Lottery pick? Not this time.

In two separate but interconnected trades, the Lakers dealt away most of their future draft assets. Let’s look at what happened earlier this year in order to understand what’s going to happen in June when David Stern calls his final draft.

March 15, 2012: The Lakers traded Luke Walton, Jason Kapono, a conditional 2012 first round pick (used to select Jared Cunningham at the 24 spot), future draft considerations and cash to Cleveland for Ramon Sessions and Christian Eyenga.

While this trade brought the Lakers a stopgap point guard in Sessions, it’s the future draft considerations we want to focus on here. The Cavs had already stockpiled first-round picks from the Heat (in the post-decision LeBron James sign-and-trade) and Kings (as part of their J.J. Hickson-Omri Casspi deal in 2011). In the Sessions trade, the Cavs gained the right to swap the worst of these picks and their own pick with the Lakers, as long as the Lakers’ pick isn’t in the lottery.

From the Lakers’ perspective, this means that if they miss the 2013 playoffs and land in the lottery, they retain their pick. If they make the playoffs, then they will enter the draft with the worst pick from among their own, the Cavs’, the Heat’s and the Kings’ picks.

As a result of this trade, the Lakers’ pick had been partially spoken-for, but they still retained control of it if it turned out to be one of the top 14. This meant they were free to trade it again, as long as it was traded on the condition that it was one of the top 14 picks. They could even trade their pick if it wasn’t one of the top 14, so long as the trade specified that they were giving up whatever pick Cleveland left them with.

That’s exactly what they did.

July 11, 2012: The Lakers traded a 2013 first-round pick, a 2015 first-round pick, two second-round picks (in 2013 and 2014) and cash to Phoenix for Steve Nash.

In a trade that was widely viewed as a coup for the Lakers, the team acquired one of the premier point guards of the millennium (albeit the 38-year-old-version) for what was thought to be a collection of odds-and-ends. Again, we want to focus on the 2013 pick here.

The Lakers essentially agreed to give the Suns whatever pick they end up with in 2013. If the team misses the playoffs and ends up in the lottery (with one of the top 14 picks), the pick goes directly to Phoenix. If the Lakers somehow make the playoffs, then the Cavs still get the first shot at it, and the Lakers will end up with the worst pick from among the four aforementioned teams. But then whichever pick the Lakers end up with would go to Phoenix.

In summary, any way you slice it, the Suns get a first-round pick from the Lakers this summer. If we project the current records to the end of the season, the Lakers would be in the lottery and likely end up with the 10th pick, and the pick would be conveyed to Phoenix. (Historians will note that the Lakers’ only visits to the lottery were in 1994 and 2005, and both times they had the 10th pick, selecting Eddie Jones and Andrew Bynum, respectively.)

So if the Lakers want to have a first-round pick in this June’s draft, they’re going to have to trade for one. Their own pick will go to either Phoenix or Cleveland (likely Phoenix), and the team will be on the outside looking in on June 27. Unless Kupchak trades for another pick, his options are limited.

If Kupchak wants to fix the team through the draft, he likely won’t have a 2013 first-round pick at his disposal.

LOS ANGELES -- If you listen to Mike D'Antoni, it might be mid-January already, but the Lakers are 1-0.

"I told the team that the biggest thing is that our season starts Sunday," D'Antoni said after the Lakers lost 116-101 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday to give them a 15-21 record and extended their losing streak to six.

Well, then I guess you can say the Lakers came out of the gates strong with their win against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday.

If only hitting the reset button on the season could be that easy. Nevertheless, the Lakers are 16-21 and still on the outside of the Western Conference playoff picture looking in.

Reset button or not, at least they took care of business and stopped the bleeding.

How it happened: The short answer is that Dwight Howard returned from the right shoulder injury that caused him to miss the past three games and dominated.

Howard finished with 22 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, one block and one steal in 30 minutes of work, going 9-for-11 from the field.

The longer answer is that the Lakers jumped out to a 37-20 lead after the first quarter and continued to pour it on from top to bottom, putting four starters in double digits along with two bench players.

What it means: If it wasn't abundantly clear already this season, the Lakers need more than Kobe Bryant to win on a consistent basis.

Bryant was splendid Sunday (23 points on 9-for-14 shooting and six assists), but the win came down to a total team effort on both offense and defense as the Lakers shared the ball on O and limited the Cavs to just 41.1 percent shooting on D.

Hits: A trio of role players came up big as Antawn Jamison (16 points after scoring 19 against the Thunder), Darius Morris (14 points) and Earl Clark (13 points, nine rebounds and four assists as the "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll Earl" movement continues).

Misses: The Lakers had 13 turnovers in the first half leading to 14 points for Cleveland. L.A. ended up with 22 turnovers for the game, seven of which belonged to Howard.

Jodie Meeks did not play until garbage time in the fourth quarter, with L.A. already up by 20-plus points. His playing time has been limited recently as he totaled just six minutes against San Antonio and 15 minutes against Oklahoma City coming into Sunday.

Stats of the night: The Lakers shot 13-for-25 from 3 (52.0 percent) as a team, led by Bryant (3-for-4) and Jamison (4-for-5).

L.A. assisted on 80 percent of its made baskets (32 of 40).

What's next: The Lakers host the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday, one of the two teams in the league other than the Lakers (along with Brooklyn) to fire their head coach this season. The key will be for L.A. to not overlook the Bucks with the Miami Heat coming to town Thursday. They need every game just as much as the next one at this point. The last time the Lakers had consecutive wins was when they won their fifth in a row Christmas Day against the New York Knicks.

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Follow him on Twitter.

On its face, a four-game road trip seems like the last thing the struggling Lakers need at this moment. However, among their myriad issues are recurring bouts with complacency, and time away from Staples Center could theoretically alleviate that ... unless opening the trip against 4-17 Cleveland offsets any urgency created by leaving L.A. In that respect, perhaps the earlier-than-expected return of point guard Kyrie Irving from a broken finger potentially becomes a blessing in disguise. Given this 9-12 team's inexplicable proclivity for seemingly treating any game as an automatic win, his presence can only help keep them engaged.

Plus, the Cavs are 2-8 with Irving and 2-9 without him, so practically speaking, the Dukie's talents haven't translated to much winning, anyway. Hopefully, it's the best of both worlds for the Lakers. Here are three things to be mindful of once the ball is jumped.

1. A defensive tone set by Kobe Bryant
Some of the Lakers' defensive issues are caused by elements beyond their control. Say what you will about Pau Gasol's defense, but he's an upgrade over Antawn Jamsion. Say what you will about Steve Nash's defense, but with the two-time MVP quarterbacking the offense, quality shots should increase while turnovers decrease, both of which should cut down on possessions in which the Lakers find themselves defensively in transition. And until the Lakers are at full strength for an extended time, continuity remains elusive. As Dwight Howard and Jodie Meeks noted after the Utah loss, this group is still learning each other, and defensive synchronicity takes time.

However, it also takes effort, particularly when short-handed, and consistent willingness has been in short supply. And to be blunt, chief among those guilty of fluctuating effort has been Kobe Bryant. Darius Soriano at Forum Blue and Gold wrote a terrific breakdown of The Mamba's recent issues, which include ball watching, gambling and poor rotations, all points discussed by Brian or I at various points this or the past few seasons. Kobe has also maintained his habit of reacting to perceived non-calls (in his mind, more or less whenever he shoots) by demonstratively arguing with referees in lieu of getting back. As I noted in Sunday's "Rapid Reaction," Bryant didn't even bother crossing halfcourt on one possession while his teammates defended four-on-five. In the past, Bryant's teams were good enough to stop opponents while he jawed with officials. This season, not so much.

But beyond how Bryant's inconsistent defense creates practical on-court issues, it sets a troubling tone. Howard is the Lakers' defensive anchor, and his credentials on that side of the ball best any teammate's, but Kobe rightfully remains the unquestioned leader whose cues are taken foremost. Thus, when he's not attentive or devoted defensively, it's easier for others to take possessions off. Or, for those actually consistently trying, foster resentment over what they perceive as unmatched effort. Either way, it's a problem.

Obviously, all of the Lakers' defensive problems shouldn't be laid at Kobe's doorstep. He's hardly the only one guilty of sloppiness, and these guys are all professionals obligated to perform as such. However, until Bryant makes a point of investing himself defensively, I believe there's a ceiling to any potential improvement. This is the burden that comes with being a franchise player and a Hall of Fame first-ballot lock. Inevitably, it all starts with you.

And for those who claim Bryant is too taxed by his offensive responsibilities to be a two-way player, I would submit he scale back what he's doing, anyway. The Lakers are 1-9 when he scores 30-plus, 5-3 when he scores between 20-29, and 3-0 when he scores less than 20. Moreover, a look at Kobe's splits reveals that in wins, Bryant's taking 15.9 shots while averaging a shade under seven assists. In losses, his assists drop by nearly half as the shot total climbs by nearly seven. Taking things a step further, to a man, Howard, Pau Gasol and Metta World Peace are averaging more shots in wins than losses.

This can't all be coincidence.

History has generally dictated that the more judicious Bryant is in seeking his shot (especially those created off-ball, where he never seems to work anymore), and the more conscientious he is toward creating for others, the better the Lakers perform. During this period down key playmakers in Nash and Gasol, even more so. This issue isn't really about Kobe taking "too many" shots, but the overall dynamic of a game as he tries to do too much. Kobe is not "the reason" for the losses, but I do think an altered approach would result in more wins.

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Dwight Howard had no idea how good he had it as he left Staples Center late Saturday night.

"Day off tomorrow!" he said happily as he left the arena.

After a long week of practice, three exhibition games, plus travel to Fresno and Ontario, it wasn't surprising the Lakers would take Sunday off before starting a week in which they'll practice every day, play three more exhibition games and travel to Anaheim and Las Vegas.

It wasn't surprising unless of course you spent any time around the team during Mike Brown's first season as head coach.

During the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, the Lakers worked 19 straight days from the time training camp started on December 9, finally taking a day off on December 28 after opening the regular season with back-to-back-to-back games.

Things didn't get much easier from there, as Brown earned the nickname "All day, every day" from his players, many of whom chafed at the coach’s hard-driving style.

Shootarounds were often two or three-hour affairs. Brown favored practices on the mornings after a back-to-back. Days off were few and far between.

Brown was new. The systems he needed to install on offense and defense were different than those the Lakers had run under Phil Jackson. After a flurry of deals at the trade deadline, half the team was new too. Brown needed time to teach. His players needed time to learn. Even late in the season, even in their second-round playoff series against Oklahoma City, the Lakers looked like a team still figuring things out.

This season they all have time to breathe again. Training camp is a month long. The season isn't condensed. And while Brown is still pushing the Lakers hard -- he ran them through a three-hour practice before their exhibition game in Ontario on Wednesday -- he seems to be reading and reacting to his mostly-veteran team better than he did a year ago.

"From what I hear, last year they didn't have a day the first 19 or 20 days," Lakers forward Antawn Jamison said. "This is already our second day off.

"He knows this is a team with a lot of guys who have a lot of mileage. There's certain things he's going to tweak what he would normally do. That's what coaching is about -- understanding your personnel."

That three-hour practice on a game day? Brown heard about it from no less than Steve Nash who joked in his post-game comments, "That was a new one for me."

And even Brown admitted that night that his team looked "a little tired" during their loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.

So Thursday's practice turned into a 90-minute film session and mental reps. Friday's practice was short as well. Shoot-around on Saturday was 90 minutes.

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EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- It wasn’t a surprise to anyone that it didn’t take long for Dwight Howard and Steve Nash to come up with a Laurel & Hardy-like repartee.

However, the subject matter of Nash & Howard’s first comedy act after Wednesday’s Los Angeles Lakers practice didn’t seem like laugh-track material.

The NBA announced its new anti-flopping rule on Wednesday, which will penalize players financially after the fact for flopping, based on video review, and, well ... we’ll let Nash & Howard take it away from here:

Howard: “Me and Steve had a play like that today. He flopped and he got away with it, so he should be getting fined.”

(Howard yells over to Nash who is standing in a separate media scrum about 10 feet away.)

Howard: “Steve, you’re fined. I just got off the phone with David Stern.”

Nash: “There’s no video tape in here! … “Sorry, buddy, you’re not going to win this one.”

Howard: “Well, there’s no evidence of the flop, so the NBA rescinded it.”

Not exactly the stuff that will garner the Mark Twain Prize, but perhaps the bigger joke was on the NBA on Wednesday, as no one within the Lakers could seem to agree on whether the rule change would be an effective deterrent against floppers or not.

Kobe Bryant and Metta World Peace agreed that flops were embarrassing.

Bryant: “Shameless flopping, that’s a chump move.”

World Peace: “Flopping is very stupid. It’s not even basketball. I don’t know who taught people how to flop.”

Yet, their overall stance on the rule change varied greatly.

Bryant and Pau Gasol both suggested that in lieu of a fine, technical fouls should be doled out during the course of a game to really have an impact on how players conduct themselves, similar to how international basketball is officiated.

For Howard, who led the league in technicals in 2010-11 with 18, Ts certainly weren’t the way to go.

“There shouldn’t be any techs given,” Howard said. “I think once you give guys techs for flopping, it’s just more money, it really hurts the team and it hurts them later on in the year. I’ve experienced getting a lot of technical fouls, and it’s not a good thing.”

World Peace put the onus on the referees to ignore floppers, swallow the whistle and give the advantage to the offensive player to continue unimpeded to the hoop while the defender who flopped is on the floor.

“You can’t blame the players for adjusting to how they’re reffing the game,” World Peace said. “Now you can’t just take somebody’s money for adjusting to how (the referees) adjusted the rules.”

And Lakers coach Mike Brown just didn’t like the rule at all, questioning how it can be properly enforced after the fact.

“I think it’s tough to determine that,” Brown said. “Because watching it on tape, do you really know if a guy is flopping or not? It’s a subjective call.”

Brown, who has benefitted from having a couple notorious floppers on his teams in the past (Anderson Varejao in Cleveland Cavaliers and Derek Fisher in L.A. come to mind), doesn’t feel like the rule will have an impact on this year’s Lakers squad.

“We should never get fined, because we don’t have any floppers on our team,” Brown said. “That’s all I’m worried about.”

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com.

The news, first reported by Real GM's Jerrod Rudolph and confirmed by ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard, certainly represents a new turn in the Everlasting Gobstopper that is the Dwight Howard trade saga. If traded to the Lakers, sources say Howard is open to signing a long-term extension following the 2012-13 season. (Thanks to provisions in the new CBA, doing it at the time the trade is executed costs him tens of millions, so nothing would be inked until next summer.)

It's a great headline, but what does it mean for the prospects of actually bringing Howard to town?

Not all that much, really. Signaling a willingness to stick around long term obviously removes one potential spot of worry from the Lakers' end and allows them to move forward with more confidence, except it wasn't that concern holding up a deal. The Lakers have been willing to pull the trigger even without such assurances from Howard, confident they could keep him through a combination of championship culture, fringe benefits to living in Los Angeles, and the extra money they'd be able to offer by holding his Bird rights. So while it's nice for Howard to point to L.A. as a preferred (or at least acceptable) destination, as the Nets can attest, Dwight doesn't always get what Dwight wants. If Orlando isn't interested in Andrew Bynum as a return for Howard, the Lakers and Magic still need to find another team, maybe more than one, to build a package of young talent, draft picks, and cap space attractive enough for the Magic to accept.

Maybe that team is Cleveland or Houston, or perhaps the Lakers can draw another squad into the talks, but for the time being, at least, the Magic seem willing to be picky. Would the newest incarnation of a trade, sending Bynum to Cleveland and a package of picks and Anderson Varejao to Orlando be enough? Probably not considering what the Magic have already turned down. In the short term, constructing a deal might even get harder, because while the Lakers aren't desperate in their Howard chase -- they would be perfectly willing to enter the season with Bynum as their center -- teams might demand a little more to help facilitate a trade if they believe the pressure is on L.A. in the wake of Howard's new outlook.

The news seems to give Bynum a lot more leverage, as well. He could in theory kill a deal by sending signals he'd be unlikely to re-sign in his new city once the season is over. (Like Howard, Bynum costs himself too much money in an extend-and-trade to sign early with his new team.)

Point being, there's a lot of work left to do.

So while last night's development is certainly significant and definitely increases the likelihood of a successful post-trade relationship between Howard and the Lakers in which he becomes the franchise's post-Kobe Bryant cornerstone, from a practical standpoint it doesn't actually change much. The Lakers are still positioned very well to get Howard and can still afford to be relatively patient, but also still have to construct a trade with which the Magic are, if not comfortable, at least willing to take.

Per ESPNLA's Dave McMenamin:

"Jamison will sign a one-year deal for the veteran's minimum with the Lakers ... The 36-year-old forward will bolster the Lakers' bench with scoring and veteran leadership while pursuing the first championship ring in a career largely spent as the best player on bad teams...

... Jamison had several suitors for his services, including his hometown Charlotte Bobcats, the Brooklyn Nets and the Golden State Warriors, his employer for his first five NBA seasons. For a player who has never advanced past the second round of the playoffs in 14 NBA seasons, the Lakers' chance to contend apparently was too enticing to Jamison."

Brian recently shared some thoughts on Jamison. The two-time All-Star was among the bigger "names" available, but also among the more productive players. His numbers may be trending southward, but last season's 17.2 ppg and 6.3 rebounds is nothing to sneeze at. Even if those figures -- along with his shooting percentages from the field and downtown -- continue to dip, Jamison could become the most useful Lakers reserve since Lamar Odom. And we all remember how much LO (or a credible equivalent) was missed in 2012.

Beyond his age -- and all joking aside, it wouldn't be worst thing to add another rotation player who refers to a 30 year-old as "sir" -- the biggest issue I suspect fans will raise about Jamison is his defense. And with good reason. The guy wasn't a particularly good defender in his prime, which means at 36, he's only slightly more effective slowing foes than an Antawn Jamison fathead. (Which, incidentally, can be yours for the low, low price of just $99.99!) Will that be problematic at times? I imagine so. Perhaps the chance to play for a title, an opportunity rarely presented over the course of Jamison's career, will spark a greater commitment to the defensive side of the ball. Granted, one doesn't typically discover his inner-Bruce Bowen 15 years into a career, but if increased effort led to even 10-20 percent better lockdown, that beats the alternative.

And even if Jamison remains an absolute sieve, here's the thing: Last season, the Lakers subs averaged a league-worst 20.5 ppg (more than a third of which were provided by Matt Barnes, who ain't walking through that door). Unless the bench scoring is drastically improved, the reserves' collective defense is largely irrelevant, because they'd need to hold opposing second units to 10-15 points a night to be effective. That being a completely unrealistic goal, enter Jamison, who nearly outscored the purple and gold reserves himself in 2012. He's often a volume shooter, but outside of his rookie season, he's never averaged less than 14.8 points (which came off the pine). Jamison's proven ability to unite ball and basket removes pressure off the starters and reserves alike. Simply knowing somebody can consistently score should provide the bench with a mental lift, and defenses being forced to key on Jamison should make the unit as a whole more effective. Thus, I'm guessing the points generated by Jamison will offset the inevitable buckets he'll allow in the process.

There are other pluses as well. He's a former Sixth Man of the Year. Yes, that was eight seasons ago, but success in that role requires a specific mentality. Some players adjust well to joining games already in progress. Others struggle to catch a groove. Jamison is familiar with the process, so hopefully this will help him hit the ground running. The half-season spent under Mike Brown in 2010 means he's at least somewhat familiar with the coach's style and system, which could result in a reasonably smooth transition. (Ditto Steve Nash after their 2004 season as Mavericks teammates.) While probably better suited for the four at this age, Jamison can play both forward positions, which provides depth at two spots. Durability isn't an issue, even at his age, which is important for a team lacking the depth to absorb an injury to a key player. He's also long carried a reputation as a good locker room addition, and even veteran teams can never get enough of those players.

And finally, the money involved makes this a pretty sweet deal. More often than not in life, you get what you pay for. On paper, Jamison represents more help in one player than I figured the Lakers could realistically land at that cost. Unless he seriously underachieves, this signing should prove a very useful bargain.

You didn't really think the deadline would pass without a poddy, did ya? You know us better than that. Among the talking points...





- The Lakers are officially different than at March 15, 11:59 am PT. The key new face arriving is, of course, point guard Ramon Sessions. We both think he was a nice pickup, and can really help this team. He's not an elite point guard, but he can get to the rim, run a quality pick-and-roll and move the ball well. I don't expect him to start for at least a couple of games, but eventually, he should help make life much easier for Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

- Of course, the day also resulted in a pair of longtime Lakers, Derek Fisher and Luke Walton, exiting L.A. Walton, human punchline/punching bag that he became for most Lakers fans, was a popular teammate and respected in the locker room (by, among others, Kobe). But to be perfectly honest, any on-court utility offered has long-since expired and his contract represented money deader than any presidents on the bills he pocketed. Moving Walton was a no-brainer if possible.

Fisher, however, still brought tangibles to the table, even with his production in decline. Dude's still got a knack for big shots, and it's fitting his final bucket as a Laker was a go-ahead score against New Orleans in OT. More important, as I wrote yesterday, his presence, character and leadership was a major component of the success this team's enjoyed since 2008. His absence will be felt -- not that the team can't move forward, but that's simply a fact -- especially as the team looks to make a deep playoff run.

But ultimately, BK and I think the Lakers made the right call. With Sessions on board and Blake backing him up, Fisher would become a resident of "DNP-CD County," which undercuts his powerful voice and could fuel sour feelings, professional that he may be. Mike Brown also would be placed in the horribly awkward position of having to bench an influential member of a locker room still perhaps not entirely in his corner. Both risked becoming "the bad guy," which isn't fair to either, and from a financial standpoint, the Lakers are allocating their resources much more efficiently. The move had to be made, even if from an sentimental standpoint, it wasn't pretty.

- I share my longstanding theory former NBA players Mamadou N'diaye and Boniface N'Dong were actually the same person.

- Gasol is among the more charitable fellows in the NBA, and among other organizations has been involved with UNICEF. Thursday night, he attended a benefit, and sang a, shall we say, weepy song to help inspire some giving.



On one hand, BK and I have spent a lot of time defending Pau against the "Gasoft" label we don't think is fair or accurate, and warbling this particular song does our battle no favors. I get the thematic fit. It's called "How to save a life." The very important message is being driven home. But he might as well been singing "The Rose" or something by Tori Amos. There must be a "tougher" sounding song that inspires giving. Although on the other hand, if you're actually secure enough to sing that in a crowd and Tweet out pics, knowing the snickers that could follow, by definition, how soft can you really be?

Either way, good on Pau for getting behind a good cause, and while I'd label him a better piano player than singer, he's not terrible. Better than me, that's for sure.

In light of the disturbing news out of the NFL that both the New Orleans Saints and Washington Redskins had "bounty" programs in place where money was used as an incentive for defensive players to hurt the opposing teams' offensive players, Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown was asked if he ever offered money to his players based on their performance.

"I did when I was in Cleveland," Brown said before the Lakers played the Sacramento Kings on Friday. "I used to give, I think it was $1,000 a month and the NBA said we’re not allowed to do that or else we’ll get fined as a club, so we stopped doing it. Anderson Varejao used to win it every month and everybody didn’t like it. They would complain, ‘Well, he got the most minutes! Well, he’s always down by the basket so he could take the charges.’ Blah blah blah blah. He was the usual winner."

ESPN's Shelley Smith reported during the 2010 NBA Finals that the Lakers had a similar charges for cash program, although the payoff was far more nominal: $50 per charge.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Varejao drew 28 offensive fouls in 2009-10, the last season Brown coached Cleveland. If Varejao led the team in charges every month of the regular season, it would have netted him $6,000 in Brown's system, but just $1,400 in the Lakers' $50-per-charge setup.

Derek Fisher leads the Lakers in charges drawn this season with 21, followed by Steve Blake with 11, Pau Gasol with seven and Matt Barnes with five.

Dave McMenamin covers the Lakers for ESPNLosAngeles.com. Follow him on Twitter. ESPN Stats & Information's Alvin Anol contributed to this report.

There were some things to like during Friday's 97-92 win over the Cavs at Staples Center Friday night, and other things... not so much. Either way, following an 0-2 start, the Lakers have now found themselves on the right side of the scoreboard in nine of their last 11, pushing them to the top of the Pacific Division. Still, it's a little tough to measure just how good this Lakers team actually is.

We'll find out soon enough. Starting Saturday against the Clippers, the Lakers play six straight against playoff caliber opponents. They'll do it without Steve Blake, expected to miss 3-4 weeks in the wake of his rib injury, but with a red hot Kobe Bryant, who scored another 42 points on 15-of-31 from the floor, his third straight 40 point game and 110th over a 16 year NBA career.

One reason for hot streak: That bum wrist is getting a little less bum.

Maybe he should ding it up again? The results over his last seven games, including six Lakers wins, have been otherworldly. 37.4 points on 50 percent shooting, plus 5.7 rebounds and five assists. Perhaps it's best not to change a thing?

I kid. In the clip below, Kobe attributes the run to the quality of shots he's been getting since sitting down with Mike Brown following the Denver game on New Year's Day. Certainly Brown and his staff have learned to put Kobe in advantageous positions with consistency, a major improvement over last year. So there's that, plus a healthy dose of motivation brought by playing with the wrist and a totally palpable desire to send a message to anyone who believes (or more importantly who Kobe believes, believes) his time as an elite player has run its course.

My position hasn't changed. As a fan of basketball and athletic achievement, Kobe's play has been amazing and a ton of fun to watch. As someone paid to form an opinion on how it impacts the Lakers, I'm less enthused. Kobe has talked about his scoring as a weapon they can use as needed. Unfortunately, it's one they've fired a lot in the early going. At some point, the Lakers collectively need to find ways to lighten Bryant's load, or the odds of a happy outcome this season go down.

There's time to get it done, but this season in particular time is of the essence. Until they do, though, the fireworks likely continue. There's a reason people like fireworks.



More from Bryant below, on the absence of Blake, Andew Bynum learning to deal with double teams, and more. Video as well from Darius Morris, Bynum, and Brown.

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What should have been a blowout Friday night evolved into an actual game, and the failure to close out was pretty disappointing. Obviously, the bottom line is a record pushed to 9-4, but lapses such as these do provide pause. And if repeated against an opponent such as the Clippers (on the docket Saturday), they'll likely result in a 9-5 record, rather than 10-4. Still, we move forward, with six takeaways from the game:

1) For one game, the Lakers looked like a team drenched in point guard strength.

Ironically, this development took place as their best overall point guard, Steve Blake, watched in street clothes while starting his three- to four-week recovery period from a fractured rib. For a team lacking in both ball handlers and play-makers, this felt like a recipe for (at best) Kobe Bryant shouldering a heavier burden to manufacture buckets for himself and others or (at worst) an inconsistent offense bogging down even further.

But a funny thing happened on the way to Strugglesville. The tandem of Derek Fisher and Darius Morris, the former beaten up 24/7 as the Lakers' weakest link and the latter making just his second appearance this season, joined forces to provide some quality minutes. In particular, Fisher had himself one heckuva night. His first half rounded out with nary a shot attempt or point, but his passing created nine Lakers buckets. Fisher got off to a great start by creating the Lakers' first two scores with dishes inside to Andrew Bynum, then later threw a gorgeous left-handed baseball pass to Pau Gasol after drawing a double-team on a pick-and-roll. He also was particularly in sync with Matt Barnes' off-ball movement, setting him up with a couple of baskets while the small forward ran curls away from the action.

And in a moment I'm sure the veteran enjoyed, given his distaste for the "Fish can't hang with the kids because he's older than dirt" narrative, he stripped No. 1 overall pick Kyrie Irving on one possession with shocking ease, then converted the turnover into a layup for Gasol.

Fisher finished the night with 10 assists (against zero turnovers), the 15th 10-plus assist game of his career, the previous one coming Jan. 11, 2009.

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In any scenario, I want the Lakers to win. It's "good for business," as the saying goes. It's good for my soul, too. There's just no downside to a purple and gold W, and I doubt the Laker Nation would disagree. But if extra incentive were ever needed for this fan base to cheer on the Lakers, try this on for size: Friday's opponents, the Cleveland Cavaliers, are owned by Dan Gilbert.

Gilbert was among the owners who took umbrage at the original deal sending Chris Paul to the Lakers, even going so far as to send David Stern an email urging him to block it. Unless you take the Commish at his word about acting independent of outside pressure -- and I don't -- Gilbert by extension had a hand in preventing Paul from wearing a Laker uni. And if you didn't get the memo, Paul now plays for a local team trying to steal the Lakers' thunder.

So there's that.

For further insight on the Cavs, I called upon John Krolik, keeper of the True Hoop network's Cavs:The Blog. Below are his answers to five questions, plus additional thoughts sprinkled in from yours truly:

1) Land O' Lakers: At the risk of offering a backhanded compliment, the Cavs are 5-5, much better than I expected. Even acknowledging some wins over weak teams, are they moving in a good direction?

John Krolik: I've gone on record as saying that I was hoping the Cavs would be absolutely terrible this season while developing their young guys so that they could snag another high draft pick rather than get stuck in "we're in the hunt for the #8 seed!" purgatory. And I will say that the Cavs were off to a fairly nice start last season before the first time they hosted the Heat. But yes, they are moving in a good direction. They've gone from 29th to 13th in defensive efficiency, which is the biggest thing for me -- the frontcourt simply did not care about defense last season. This year, [Anderson] Varejao and [Tristan] Thompson have changed that, and even Antawn Jamison has looked decent on defense, which is a 2,000% improvement from last season.

The team looks like it's playing with a purpose this year, which is huge.

(AK's note: Lest we forget, the rudderless version managed to beat the Lakers in what may have been the worst loss of Phil Jackson's L.A. coaching career, much less last season. The Lakers are obviously more engaged in January 2012 than January 2011, but then again, so are the Cavs. In a shortened season of perpetually sloppy basketball, the "any team can beat any other team on any given night"cliche´ feels especially pertinent. The Lakers should win, but there are no guarantees.)

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With the lockout now ended, we can actually examine questions beyond, "When will we see basketball again?" One topic, of course, is how the Lakers' offense will run under new coach Mike Brown. Since October 2005, we've seen this Lakers core run the triangle under Phil Jackson. Really, that system represents the Lakers' look since October 1999, save a brief period under Rudy Tomjanovich.

It's safe to say the aesthetics under Brown will be different.

How different, you ask?

Well, that's difficult to answer with real certainty. Since July 1, when the lockout began, access to Brown has been limited. When he has been available, league rules have prohibited him from speaking publicly about current players by name. Thus, specific details have been in short supply for quite some time. But we have been offered hints, along with some templates, to stoke our imaginations.

During his introductory news conference, which took place before lips were zipped, Brown downplayed the shadow of the triangle. "A lot of people run bits and pieces of the triangle offense," he insisted. "It's just basketball. It's spacing. It's reads. Even Cleveland, we had some bits and pieces of it within our offense." For that matter, he predicted his offense "will have bits and pieces of it that will be incorporated and will be based on the skill set and the comfort level of our players that will determine how much of it will be part of our offense."

Having said that, Brown also added, "We're not gonna run the triangle offense."

So there you have it.

As for what Brown actually will run, a small nugget was introduced that same afternoon:

"A lot that I'm gonna take offensively will stem from the time I was with San Antonio. ... We had two big, skilled 7-footers in Tim Duncan and David Robinson. So we'll do something similar to what they did with a little sprinkle of the triangle offense and a little sprinkle of what I want to bring to the table, also. We'll kinda combine it. But offensively, I think you have to tailor your offense to your personnel. You can't take our offense from team to team to team."

On draft day, amid the Darius Morris/Andrew Goudelock hoopla, Brown expanded these details a bit, offering thoughts on the following:

The role of the point guard in what will presumably be a more traditional offense
“It will be an equal opportunity offense where the 1, the 2 or the 3 can bring the ball up. Because all the smalls are interchangeable. So it’s not going to be too much different, because in the past here they had multiple guys, even including Lamar [Odom], bring the ball up. But the one thing we like to emphasize, we like to emphasize attacking the clock. We want to get the ball from the backcourt to the frontcourt within the first four seconds or so, so that we can get to a second, a third and sometimes a fourth option without our backs being up against the shot clock. So we’d like to get the ball up the floor a little quicker than what we’ve done in the past.”

Whether Brown has an idea of how he wants to use Kobe Bryant
“Yes, I do. It fits into what I’m trying to do in our early offense. What I was saying is our early offense is going to be similar to what San Antonio did back when they had the two bigs in David and Tim. Again, there will be some bits and pieces of the triangle involved. But I think the triangle, it’s a motion offense for the most part, and a lot of people have bits and pieces of that within their offense. It won’t be any different for us, and we’ll make sure Kobe’s in his comfort zone, or his sweet spots out on the floor.”

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Assuming there's ever a 2012 season for Mike Brown to make his debut, it will by definition be compressed. Everything from the games played to the time for getting everyone on the same page will be served by way of a bullet train. Factor in how Brown had barely over a month to communicate with players before the July 1 lockout and the goal of cohesion becomes even more difficult.

For the time being, the process of meshing his new players to a championship level has been left entirely to Brown's imagination.

Thankfully, it's been in overdrive for quite some time.

Brown actually began picturing himself as the Lakers head coach shortly after July 2, 2010, the day Phil Jackson announced he was embarking on his "last stand." Brown, newly unemployed after getting fired by the Cleveland Cavaliers, knew he didn't want to remain out of coaching very long. And as he shared over a Thursday afternoon lunch at the Lakers' facility in El Segundo with a handful of media members, the Lakers were the team heaviest on his radar.

"I was intrigued with this job," noted Brown. "And you know, I'm not one to talk about [or] look at jobs that are already filled and so it was common knowledge that Phil was going to step down. Early on. Even if a job is filled, you may watch teams and say, 'I would do this, I would do that.'

"But this one in particular, because you knew Phil was going to walk away at the end of the year. I really watched it and studied it and you're excited about the team because of the different players and so on and so forth... I knew I wanted to coach this year and if I had an opportunity, which I felt that I would have during the year, that I was going to take what I felt was the best opportunity."

How vivid was this fantasy of succeeding The Zen Master? The devil may be in the semantics. When I asked if he was "studying" the Lakers from a distance, Brown balked, but conceded he was "watching them closer than any other team." He also didn't agree with my framing of the situation as "coaching the Lakers in his mind," but he nonetheless often pondered how he would have handled certain on-court situations during the failed three-peat bid. If even Brown hadn't pictured himself giving halftime talks inside the Lakers locker room, visions of holding a white board on the Staples Center bench don't feel like a stretch.

Of course, it's also indicative of a coach's mind, which typically can't be turned off. If fans with no chance whatsoever of coaching the Lakers play armchair coach 82+ games each year, can any less be expected from a man with a reasonable shot?

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