Over on the outstanding SB Nation Lakers' blog Silver Screen and Roll, C.A. Clark analyzed the statistics to try to find out whether or not the presence of Steve Blake -- or rather, the departure of Jordan Farmar -- will help Shannon Brown be a more unselfish and more effective player this season:
So is Farmar "to blame" for Brown's over-aggressive offense last season? Tough to say. It bears mentioning that even if Brown was more selfish last season as a result of playing with a selfish Farmar, it does not justify or vindicate his actions. He is still responsible for chucking too many shots under bad circumstances. "But coach, Jordan was doing it, too" will never be a valid excuse.
This year, however, Brown has nothing but positive circumstances surrounding him. Steve Blake should organize the 2nd unit in a much more team-oriented, coach-friendly type of way. In the small and irrelevant sample size that is the preseason, you can tell that the Lakers have made a conscientious effort to improve team ball movement. If anything, the team seems to be over-passing so far this year, instead of under-passing Brown now has every opportunity to be more successful, through off ball cuts and spot up shooting, than he was last season. However, with positive circumstance and increased opportunity comes a lack of excuses. If Brown continues to make the same decisions regarding shot selection that he has in the past, there will no longer be any mitigating evidence on his behalf. The numbers shown don't really indicate whether Shannon Brown was a gunner last season because he is a gunner, or whether it was because he was trying to keep up with his gunning partner.
For more insightful Lakers analysis, be sure to read Silver Screen and Roll on a regular basis.
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