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Los Angeles Lakers: 4 Big questions heading into the 2018-19 Season

By Donny McHenry

EL SEGUNDO, CA - SEPTEMBER 25: Head Coach Luke Walton of the Los Angeles Lakers talks to the media after practice at UCLA Health Training Center on September 25, 2018 in El Segundo, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
EL SEGUNDO, CA - SEPTEMBER 25: Head Coach Luke Walton of the Los Angeles Lakers talks to the media after practice at UCLA Health Training Center on September 25, 2018 in El Segundo, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2018 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Defense, Defense, Defense, and…Defense

Okay, those aren’t the four questions that I’ll be writing about, but the team defense is definitely the first and most worrisome question for the Lakers in my opinion.

In Luke Walton’s second season as head coach last year, the team improved its defense which had been a weakness in the previous years. The defensive rating was 110.3 in 2015-16, 112.0 in 2016-17, before improving to 107.2 in the 2017-18 season which put them at 13th in the league.

It’s worth wondering if the losses of Julius Randle and Brook Lopez will impact their team defense. Randle and Lopez didn’t necessarily rank high on the team in regards to DRTG (8th and 10th among Lakers who played at least 50 games, respectively) and didn’t rank high with the league in regards to Defensive Real Plus/Minus (53rd and 47th percentile of the league). They were however large bodies that helped the Lakers rim protection and both men were able to fend off guards pretty well when dealing with switches.

You can argue that the losses of those two won’t impact the defense much, but I’d say there’s no question that the players brought onto the team won’t help the defense all too much (stats via ESPN).

  • Rajon Rondo DRPM: -0.37 (40th percentile in the league)
  • Lance Stephenson DRPM: -3.01 (2nd percentile in the league)
  • Michael Beasley DRPM: -1.04 (21st percentile in the league)
  • JaVale McGee DRPM: 0.30 (59th percentile in the league)

Hell, even LeBron James was in the 30th percentile in DRPM. LeBron’s well known for taking plays off on the defensive end, especially when he’s supposed to provide help defense. He’s known for turning it on for one-on-one defense and providing the occasional patented chase down block, but his overall defense is lacking to provide LeBron maximum energy for the defensive end. He will more than likely need to put forth at least a little bit more effort this season to compensate for the rest of the team.

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