One of the reasons why the Los Angeles Lakers have struggled in recent years is because of their defense. This season, they are looking to turn that around.
The past few seasons have not been kind to the Los Angeles Lakers. With the Kobe Bryant era coming to an end, losing has become the norm in recent years. With a young coach in Luke Walton and a new front office led by Magic Johnson, the Lakers are seeking to turn it around.
One of the reasons why the Lakers have struggled the past few seasons has been because of their inability to stop anyone. While the Western Conference does feature a quicker pace and some high scoring teams, the Lakers have been one of the worst teams in the league when it comes to defensive efficiency.
Last season, the Lakers were ranked 29th in opponents points allowed for the second straight season, and it should come as no surprise why they struggled to win games. Even though scoring makes a game fun to watch, a team needs to be able to make some stops on the defensive end in crunch time.
Lakers forward Larry Nance Jr. might be a young player still, but he wants his teammates to make improving on the defensive end a priority. Recently, Nance had an interview with Mike Bresnahan of Spectrum Sportsnet and talked about what he wants to see from the team this year. Here’s what Nance said via Daniel Starkand of LakersNation.com.
"“We’re not going to have the worst defense in the league this year. That’s something that I think we’re all working on but me especially. I’m really gonna tune in to fix that,” Nance said.“Even in the pickup games we have, it’s really important to focus on defense. Deflections, steals, blocked shots, protecting our rim. That’s our paint, we can’t be giving up 60-70 points in the paint every night like we have before so it’s been a big talking point, it’s been a big emphasis. I for one will be on the forefront of making things change.”"
One of the big helps for the Lakers on the defensive end will be the addition of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Coming from the Detroit Pistons, Caldwell-Pope is widely considered to be a great defensive player and he will be the ability to guard multiple positions for the Lakers.
In addition to Caldwell-Pope, the Lakers also have a lot of length with both Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram in their starting lineup. With Ball being 6’6”, switching on defense will be something that we likely see quite a bit from the Lakers this season.
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Nance will likely be coming off the bench once again in the 2017-18 season. However, the Lakers could certainly use him to be a factor on the defensive end to help lead the second unit.