Los Angeles Lakers: Takeaways from 123-113 preseason win against Warriors

3. Who’s playing the four and five on the back line?

"I’ll say it again…positionless basketball is nice to talk about, but the NBA is about matchups. The way things are going right now, I am on the record now saying that the Los Angeles Lakers are in trouble. Defensively, the Lakers cannot stop a soul down low when JaVale McGee sits down and they struggle even when he is on the floor."

The Lakers still are not a good defensive team. Let’s get that out of the way…BUT!

This system can work on some nights. Obviously Draymond Green did not play and Steve Kerr’s main objective was not to get any of his players hurt, but the Lakers can run on weak teams who have weak front lines. The Lakers DOMINATED the bench frontline of the Warriors. Kyle Kuzma looked like a grown man out there, playing with a ton of confidence, like this…

What I liked was the toughness and the willingness to compete. Kuzma scored 22 points while knocking down a couple of threes. But the main thing that Lakers fans should be excited about is Kuzma has bought in to playing the back line. I STILL don’t agree with him playing the five spot, but he could really do damage at both forward spots.

Now, the Warriors bench was bad…but that’s not on Kuz. Smash what is in front of you. Last night Kyle Kuzma did.