The Los Angeles ackcourt
6. Wayne Ellington: “The Man with the Golden Arm” is a solid (not great) three-point shooter with a career 38 percent average from deep, but he was dead last (21st out of 21 players) in defensive rating last season for the horrific 20-52 Detroit Pistons. He’s a 3-and-? player, who’ll be lucky to see spot duty throughout the season.
5. Rajon Rondo: The former Celtic All-Star was a nice pickup by Rob Pelinka. If Russell Westbrook goes down with an injury, he could see significant playing time, but heading into his 18th season, he can’t be counted on to play lockdown defense anymore (83 out of 91 point guards in ESPN’s defensive real plus-minus).
4. Kendrick Nunn: He was a decent get by Rob Pelinka, but he finished 15th in defensive rating for the Miami Heat last season while allowing his assignments to shoot over two percent better than their average. On offense, Nunn shot a measly 33 percent during clutch situations, hardly the type of output you want from one of your perimeter players.
3. Malik Monk: I’ve gone on record saying Malik Monk should start and could even garner Most Valuable Player votes. That doesn’t mean he should be part of the Lakers’ peak defensive unit. While I believe Monk will up his defensive performance under Frank Vogel’s tutelage, at 6’3″ with a 6’4″ reach, he doesn’t have the physical attributes to become a genuine lockdown defender.
That leaves Talen Horton-Tucker and Russell Westbrook as the Lakers two best options in the backcourt.
Last year, Alex Caruso only started six games, but Frank Vogel often went with him to close contests because he is one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. Lakers management let Alex Caruso walk and gave the younger THT a three-year, $30 million contract. It seems clear Frank Vogel and Rob Pelinka see Horton-Tucker as a higher upside version of Alex Caruso, and maybe they’re right.
Last year Alex Caruso finished 8th (minimum 15 minutes per game) in www.nba.com’s defensive rating. THT wasn’t far behind, though, finishing the year ranked 22nd. Horton-Tucker still has a way to go to get to Caruso’s level on defense, but Frank Vogel and de facto assistant GM LeBron James (arguably the smartest player to ever suit up) have clearly put their faith in his ability to make a leap this season.
Russell Westbrook has played parking pylon defense throughout the last two seasons, but that seems to be a symptom of environment versus ability. Go back two seasons to 2018-2019. Russell Westbrook ranked 2nd in DEFRTG for an Oklahoma City squad that finished the year with a top-5 defense.
It was a similar story during the 2017-2018 season when the Thunder finished the year with the 9th best defense in the league, and Russell Westbrook spearheaded their effort as the squad’s best-ranked defender over defensive stalwarts Paul George and Steven Adams.
I’m not saying Russell Westbrook is a better defender than Paul George, simply because an all-encompassing stat like Basketball-Reference’s defensive rating says so. That would be crazy. But Russell Westbrook isn’t a pushover either. He’s fallen somewhere in the middle throughout his career. With a reduced workload on offense for the Lakers this upcoming season, he has the athleticism and strength to be a lockdown defender.