Defensive Struggles
If I had a dollar to every time a player mentioned defense during training camp, I’d have a lot more dollars than I have now. The reason for the overuse of the word “defense” was because the Lakers are missing it, and badly.
For the last two years, the club has allowed 105 and 106 points per game respectively to opponents. This has to change if the Purple and Gold want to see a resurgence any time soon.
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The problem is, it’s hard to recall any franchise in recent memory, except maybe the 2008 Boston Celtics, that became a great defensive team literally overnight. If I can borrow former Celtics’ coach Rick Pitino’s catchphrase, “Kevin Garnett isn’t walking through that door.”
The Lakers did themselves a favor by picking up a few pieces in the off-season that can make a difference on defense. Luol Deng, Timofey Mozgov, and even rookie Brandon Ingram can all impact the game defensively.
However, there’s a difference between having a few good defensive players, and being a good defensive team.
The main defensive category the Lakers need to improve is help defense. The positive thing about help defense is that it’s more based on fundamentals and trust, rather than skill. The players need to be able to trust that when they go to rotate to help, that somebody else will slide over and cover the open man.
Building that trust takes time but fortunately the Lakers have plenty of that to spare.