Los Angeles Lakers: 3 Keys to success this season

2. Team Defense

Last season the Lakers ranked 25th in the league in points allowed per game, 113.5. That figure is somewhat misleading because they generally played at a faster pace than most other teams.

The team did manage to rank eighth in the NBA in field goal percentage allowed, 45.2%, which was a positive sign. In most advanced stats, their defense ranked around the middle of the pack, which usually isn’t good enough for a championship team.

The Lakers did have several good three or four-game defensive stretches, but they couldn’t consistently clamp down on their opponents. Overall, nobody would really argue that the Lakers were a strong defensive team.

Enter new coach Frank Vogel, who built a reputation as an excellent defensive coach in his six seasons leading the Indiana Pacers. Those teams, anchored in the middle by 7’2″ center Roy Hibbert, finished in the top ten in defense every year, leading the league twice.

Vogel will rely on JaVale McGee, Howard and Davis to be effective deterrents at the rim this season. He has a couple of individual defensive stalwarts in AD and Danny Green and perhaps also Bradley if he regains his old form. Alex Caruso is a hustling, promising backcourt defender, and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope has at times played lock-down D.

The challenge for Vogel is to mold good TEAM defense from this Lakers squad. Although that typically takes time to adjust to one another, veterans such as James, Green and others could speed up the process.

It is unlikely that either LeBron or Rondo can turn back the clock to their younger days when they were both All-NBA defensive performers. But team defense relies more on positioning and reacting, and each of them should be able to adjust.

James might be asked to play a “free safety” role as Magic did in the old Showtime days. Even Kobe Bryant played that part against certain teams, such as the Celtics when Rondo ran the offense and seldom attempted an outside shot.

Last year Kuzma played better defense than he did his rookie season, and Vogel said he can help him improve even more this year. Vogel will likely have a low tolerance for those players who don’t put forth a strong defensive effort.

Scoring points should be a Lakers strength this season. LeBron, AD and Kuz should put up close to 70 points per game. Howard and McGee will likely combine for another 20 or so. On any given night, depending on how many minutes they play, Green, Bradley, KCP, Caruso and Quinn Cook can all score double figures.

If the Lakers hope to challenge for the NBA title this season, stepping things up on the defensive side will go a long way towards making that a reality.