Given the reputation Kwame Brown had for having a fragile mental state, Phil Jackson knew going into the season that he wasn't going to be hard on him for having difficulty learning the triangle offense; if he struggled he was just going to be asked to run the floor and rebound.

"I think now my mindset and my teammates' mindset should be: If I have the ball on the block, let me go to work," Brown said. "As opposed to the beginning of last season, I was looking to just pass the ball and get the ball to Lamar (Odom) and Kobe (Bryant).

"I think now that when I get the ball, I've earned the trust in them and in myself to go ahead and go to work."