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Late this afternoon, Kobe Bryant (shooting guard, Los Angeles Lakers, used to wear a mask) appeared on 710 ESPN's Mason and Ireland Show -- click here for the full interview -- and covered a lot of ground over about 12 minutes. He called the Lakers contenders, commented on his relationship with Mike Brown and the coaching staff, weighed in on the question of whether Ramon Sessions should start, and why the Lakers have struggled on the road.

The nugget likely to get the most attention came at the end, when he was asked about Jim Buss:

"We have a good relationship. People misunderstand that relationship. We’ve had good times. We’ve had dinner together, things like that. He’s a great guy. He wants to do the right thing, he wants to help us win a championship. The biggest thing is, the same with his father who he’s learned from, he’s not going to make rushed decisions. He’s going to be patient, he’s going to take his time, and the one thing I will say about the Lakers organization is that this is one of those franchises that always seems to land on it’s feet. Always seems to make the right choices, always seems to make the right decisions. Even the tough ones. He’s a great guy.”

Not that you'd expect Bryant to go Category 5 and blow up his boss on the radio, but his answer is still a lot nicer than many would guess, even if he's not being completely forthright. It doesn't make some of those things ticking Kobe off in recent months less real, but as a money quote could quell some of the whispers about major fractures in his relationship with the team. That's no small thing at a time where the Lakers are at a very uncertain place, caught between winning now and trying to prep for the future.

Among the other topics covered (arranged chronologically for your convenience)...

• His thoughts on Brown and his staff. "We have coaches on staff who are very smart and understand the temp of the game. [Ettore] Messina in particular, who has a great deal of experience in coaching overseas and brings more of a European style of play, that’s more fun to watch and involves more movement and things of that nature. Our coaching staff as a whole is very unselfish, and they don’t mind other coaches sharing ideas and players sharing concepts."
• How he can go shoot a combined 13-of-47 against Utah and Houston, then go 11-for-18 vs. Dallas.
• On starting Sessions. "I don't really see it as a major issue or a big deal."
• Why they struggle on the road, and how Sessions can help them improve.
• Lamar Odom's struggles in Dallas. It's not just lingering disappointment from the trade, but his role as well. "“You have to feature him. He was a playmaker for us. He was a point forward for us. We ran our offense through him and allowed him to make decisions. It’s tough to do that in Dallas, because they already have their structure.”
• His belief that this is a team capable of winning a title.

Finally, he was asked -- jokingly, of course -- if he and Derek Fisher would go easy on each other when the Thunder come to town next Thursday. "“The most disrespectful thing we could do to each other is take it easy on each other. That’s not what we’re about.”

There will, he said, be elbows thrown and bruises inflicted.

Wednesday night, the Lakers knocked off the Clippers in what was their 19th game of a lockout-shortened 66-game campaign. For those not doing the math at home, one month in the Lakers have already completed 29 percent of their schedule.

A lot of time? No, but by this season's standard not a bad sample size, either.

From a scheduling standpoint, Wednesday also marked a natural dividing line between the home-heavy start and what amounts to a national tour for the purple and gold, as 11 of their next 16 games come away from Staples Center. Put together, it makes for a natural moment to stop and assess what we know about this season's Lakers. When the lockout (tentatively) ended back on Nov. 26, we published a list of 34 questions facing the team this year in the wake of last spring's playoff disaster.

Why 34? Because 20 isn't enough when the league lets you sit around all summer thinking about stuff. Below is that list, each with some answers.

Strap in, people. We've got a lot of ground to cover.

1. Who wins the battle between the well-rested knee of Kobe Bryant (and his ankle, back, finger and general skeletal structure) and a compressed schedule?

Knee? What knee? I thought we were worried about his wrist. (Which, by the way, we’re increasingly less worried about.) Meaning 19 games in, the answer is Bryant in a walk. He leads the league in scoring (30.2), a nearly five-point improvement over last season, while maintaining a solid shooting percentage (45 percent). Asked to carry an almost comical burden in the Lakers offense, at least as measured by his league-leading usage rate (35.9), Bryant has been outstanding. And spry. Very, very spry.

Basically, the man is a running, leaping billboard for German medical engineering.

2. Who wins the battle between the well-rested will of Bryant and the authority of Mike Brown?

The relationship between Kobe and Brown has been a success. Bryant has expressed nothing but admiration for his new coach, praising on multiple occasions Brown’s work ethic and emphasis on defense, noting the team wants to win for him because they see how much Brown wants to win, too. They know he puts in the work.

Doesn't mean the questions about Bryant's shot selection, balance, or how he's used offensively have stopped, but those would be asked whether the coach was Brown, Phil Jackson, Brian Shaw or Rick Adelman. They are, in sports terms at least, eternal.

To this point, though, one major concern -- Brown's ability to "manage" Kobe, has been a non-issue.

3. What will Brown's system look like, and how quickly will the Lakers be able to pick it up?

Not totally sure, and not very.

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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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The long reported addition to L.A.'s staff became official Friday afternoon, as the Lakers announced the hiring of famed Italian coach Ettore Messina, reports ESPNLA.com's Dave McMenamin. Messina will serve as a consultant to Mike Brown.

If you missed it, here's our Q and A with Os Davis of TrueHoop's BallinEurope.com, along with a great post from Sebastian Pruiti of NBAPlaybook.com on how Messina might influence the offense.

By the way, if the Lakers decide they need a Loggins to go with their Messina, I recommend this guy.

A quick roundup of news impacting Mike Brown as he looks to fill out his staff:

• Chuck Person, the only realistic holdover candidate from last season's crop of assistants, met on consecutive days late last week with Brown, but as ESPNLA's Dave McMenamin reports, Person isn't putting his eggs in one basket. He's scheduled to interview with the Houston Rockets, hiring assistants to serve with new coach Kevin McHale.
• Via multiple reports, including Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, Mike Malone, who worked under Brown in Cleveland and was widely believed to be a serious candidate to join him in L.A., will instead be the lead assistant on Mark Jackson's new staff in Golden State. Malone is considered a top shelf defensive coach, helping transform the Hornets into a top tier team on that end of the floor this season. Should Malone do the same with the Warriors, he should bypass "next hot head coaching candidate" status and go straight to sainthood, because that would be a miracle.
• John Kuester, the architect of Brown's more productive offenses in Cleveland and recently canned as head coach of the Pistons, is seen as a very strong possibility to come to Los Angeles.

If you haven't had a chance to read the Q and A on Ettore Messina, added to Brown's staff in a consulting capacity, it's well worth the time. I suspect he wasn't brought across the pond just to do light office work, so his influence could be very important.

During his introductory presser, Mike Brown acknowledged European coach Ettore Messina -- who most recently coached for Real Madrid and won Euroleague titles with Virtus Bologna and CSKA Moscow -- would be among those considered for his coaching staff. Well, according to ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher, Messina has been tabbed to join next season's staff, though while he'll be listed as an assistant coach, Messina's job will be more of a consultant. Whether his duties are similar to Tex Winter's former role with the Lakers or the responsibilities are more expansive remains to be seen. Also, nothing is official yet, thus a Laker spokesperson when asked didn't confirm the report.

Either way, Lakers Nation has its collective eye on Messina, so I reached out to Os Davis from BallinEurope.com (TrueHoop network), who was kind enough to answer some questions. As luck would have it, Davis is equally familiar with the current incarnation of the Lakers as he is Messina's career overseas, making his perspective that much more valuable. Here's what Davis had to say about Messina.

Land O' Lakers: How would you describe Messina’s offense/system? More half court or wide open? What’s the tempo? Does it have any principles or characteristics of the triangle?

Os Davis: Messina’s teams tend to play quite a slow tempo relative to that of most European leagues, particularly in Spain’s ACB, where Messina was for the past two seasons with Real Madrid and where the floor is wide open. Of course, there are exceptions to this. His 2005-06 CSKA Moscow squad could go into fourth gear early and run the court for the entire match. (Of note, too, is that this team was the ultimate fruit of Mikhail Prokhorov’s business labor, that CSKA dominated defensively in both the Euroleague and Russian Super League, and that Messina was named Euroleague coach of the year.) But the general rule on a Messina team is a slow tempo, half-court game on both sides of the ball.

Probably one of the bigger disappointments in his career -- and surely a source of extreme pressure on Messina from club management -- was Real Madrid’s inability over the past two seasons to get past rivals FC Barcelona. Despite the fact the seriously flexible system of player movement among top European clubs made the 2009-10 Madrid roster a revolving door throughout the season, Messina & Co. just couldn’t find the right combination of quick big men to counter Barcelona’s relentless attack and ability to open the floor at will.

In addition to his preference in the half-court, Laker fans will certainly be cheered by Messina's specialty of working with the post. Nobody in Europe, where frontcourts tend to be notably smaller but the bigs typically have the complete skill set in shooting, really employs anything like a triangle offense. But if Mike Brown was serious when he implied that some stuff with the triangle would remain in the playbook, you can bet that some of those Gasol-Bynum double post plays will have been tweaked/modified/perfected with Messina’s input.

Messina is also known for his defensive schemes, but again, this might not necessarily be adaptable to NBA play, as European teams basically always run zones.

LO'L: Would the Lakers roster as constructed flourish in Messina’s system? Are there areas where they might be lacking?

OD: If only they could send Derek Fisher back in time a few years, he’d be the ideal Messina point guard -- thrives in the half-court, best at setting up plays there and starting them off, etc. It will be interesting to see what Shannon Brown might learn under Messina’s tutelage.

Of course, one relationship that all will be watching is how Messina gets on with Pau Gasol. Can an All-Star get better? With his Continental resume and his most recent experience in Spain, Messina just might be the man to fully exploit all of Gasol’s many (and from this perspective, distinctly European) skills. Andrew Bynum taking tips on defense and post play from Messina? That’ll work. And as a big Derrick Caracter fan, I think he could be one to watch developing under Messina.

As for Kobe, Messina has coached some top stars, including Theo Papaloukas and some guy named Manu Ginobili, while employed in Europe and surely he has enough wisdom to handle the biggest name he'll have worked with.

Areas in which the Lakers are lacking, as you probably reckon too, are age and speed. I think any head coach, assistant coach or consultant might like to get a bit of help for these problems.

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LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Lakers have done much more than simply shed their skin in anticipation of a new year this offseason. They've found a new head for their snake, as Mike Brown was quickly settled upon to become Phil Jackson's successor.

Now it's time for the team to determine what the snake's tail end will look like by filling out the rest of the coaches on Brown's bench.

Brown will be allowed to pick his own staff, however Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss, vice president of player personnel Jim Buss and general manager Mitch Kupchak reserve the right to veto any selection he makes, according to a source familiar with the Lakers' thinking.

He'll be starting with a nearly completely clean slate in which to deal with, after the team has cleared house in an effort to cut costs in anticipation of a potential lockout come July 1, while also having the intention of distancing itself from all things directly related to Jackson.

That means they'll be saying goodbye to longtime Jackson aides Jim Cleamons and Frank Hamblen, who were with him in both Chicago and L.A., when their contracts expire at the end of June the same way Chip Schaefer, Jackson's lead trainer since the early 1990's, was informed during the playoffs that he would not receive a contract extension. Hamblen told ESPNLosAngeles.com's Ramona Shelburne that he has already been contacted by an undisclosed team, while The Los Angeles Times reported that Cleamons will likely interview with the Phoenix Suns for a spot on their staff to coach defense.

Jackson's other full-time assistants, Brian Shaw and Chuck Person, who were in-house candidates considered for the head coaching vacancy are a different story.

Shaw was the only person other than Brown to receive an interview for Lakers head coach. Even though he is a respected member of the organization who won three championships as a player and was part of two more as an assistant coach, it is unlikely he'll remain as an assistant under Brown. He is still in the mix to become the next head coach of the Golden State Warriors, however, having interviewed there. Brown was considered to be the favorite for the Warriors job, but now that he is with the Lakers, the race in Golden State has opened up again.

Person, on the other hand, could very well stay with the team and occupy a spot on Brown's staff, similar to the way Kurt Rambis bridged the gap in the late '90s as an assistant for Del Harris and then Jackson. Person and Brown have a shared history, as they were both on Rick Carlisle's staff with the Indiana Pacers where they coached Ron Artest together. Person has the support of Lakers management based on the strides the team made on the defensive end during the second half of last season when Person became a more vocal teacher of defense in practice. He also has strong relationships with the players, including Artest, Andrew Bynum and Kobe Bryant.

The Revista Ufficiale NBA in Italy reported Brown has already been in contact with Ettore Messina for a position. Messina is a well-respected coach in Europe, having just finished a two-year contract with Real Madrid after completing a successful run at the helm of CSKA Moscow before that. Messina will have to weigh his desire to come assist with the Lakers offense and work with Bryant, who he is an admirer of, against his desire to make far more money as a head coach in Europe. Messina is a candidate to take over Olimpia Milano, owned by clothing designer Giorgio Armani, according to a source.

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