Los Angeles Lakers: Why they can be a top five defense and offense

(Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
(Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
3 of 8
Los Angeles Lakers
(Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

2. Ball movement

The Lakers have a few ball handlers on the roster. Led by James and Rondo, the Lakers will move the ball well around the court. Green comes from a Spurs background and then moved onto the Raptors, ho also know how to spread the ball around.

When guys know how to pass the ball around and move without the ball, you keep the defense on their toes and you start to tire them out earlier in games. Having guys that enjoy playing with each other makes this process much easier and players have fun while playing.

Here James finds Kyle Kuzma, who passes up an open floater in favor of an easy dunk for Tyson Chandler. What makes this better is it will now be Davis on the receiving end of this.

This also helps with not becoming a stagnant offense. Too many teams will fall into spells where they cannot score and they turn to iso ball, which consists of their best player going one on one and beating their matchup. Two teams that have been known to do this in the past are OKC and Washington, because Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Bradley Beal and John Wall can beat any matchup.

This is great and all for short spurts when teams are cold but that is not a long term solution. The Lakers have guys who will move without the ball in Green and Bradley and they have two guys who possess elite court vision in James and Rondo, so they will move the ball around well, leaving their opponents gassed by the time they get to the fourth quarter.

Having Jason Kidd on the sidelines as a coach is also a huge positive to this. He is one of the top passers of all time and knows how to read defenses. His expertise in this area will help the Lakers find the best routes to take each game and position the guys in the right spots to beat the defense.