6. Coaching staff
The Lakers’ most underrated moves of the offseason came from building their coaching staff. They completely revamped the staff and went in a different direction. They stacked their bench with experienced coaches that know what it takes to win basketball games on the defensive end.
Vogel is a defensive specialist. Kidd is second all-time in career steals. Lionel Hollins built some of the best defenses in the league with the Grizzlies and Phil Handy is known as one of the best player development coaches in the league. So, by having those four on the bench, the Lakers have so many minds that when put into a room they can come up with unique defensive game plans that no team will see coming and allow them to maneuver the plans around.
When you add the variables in of versatility and length, it shows that no team will have fun trying to score on the Lakers and as the games go on, they will continue to wear you down with hard-nosed defense. It is always fun to see NBA teams get to the college basics of defending, and the Lakers will have the opportunity to lock in on that end and do that.
Although they did not lure Ron Adams away from the Warriors, the Lakers did the best they possibly could building a coaching staff that can help on offense and create a defensive juggernaut. They have all the tools to do it and they need to use the preseason as a gauge to tinker with their game plans and how they’re going to match up with their opponents.