The Los Angeles Lakers defense is the main thing preventing them from being a serious contender. Thankfully, JJ Redick just discovered the antidote.
Whenever the Lakers move the ball on offense, players other than Luka Doncic feel involved, leading to higher effort on defense. In turn, this leads to a higher rate of winning for the Lake Show. The win-loss column backs up this theory.
ESPN's Tim MacMahon pointed out during a new episode of The Hoop Collective podcast that the Lakers are 7-0 this season when they tally 30 assists as a team, and 21-4 when they record at least 25.
Lakers play with effort on defense when they move the ball on offense
Redick is aware of the trend. After the Lakers' recent loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Redick called out Doncic for not passing enough.
A lot of fans interpreted this critique the wrong way. Redick wasn't saying that Luka can't spearhead a successful and efficient offense by dominating the ball. Rather, it's that the Lakers defense suffers when no one's getting enough touches on offense.
It's human nature: Guys are going to let their effort slide on defense when they feel like they aren't involved at all offensively.
This is the Lakers' Luka conundrum. Doncic is a one-man offense, but that one-man offense often makes his teammates disinterested in the game altogether, leading to lazy and uninspiring defense.
Redick has recognized this dilemma, and he deserves credit for locating a solution to LA's defensive woes that escaped him during the first half of the season.
Luka's task to improve the Lakers now becomes slightly different than just exerting more effort on defense himself. He also needs to do a better job catering to his teammates' psyches on offense, perhaps distributing the rock a bit more than needed to ensure that everyone feels invited to the party.
It's not exactly a fair assignment to give to Luka, but it's the one he needs to complete for this Lakers team to be at its best.
Just as the Oklahoma City Thunder of old used to feed Kendrick Perkins on the first possession of games, and just as the Detroit Pistons of old used to make sure Ben Wallace got a quota of post touches, the Lakers need to democratize their offense a tad more to keep their defensive players happy.
Winning big in the NBA is just as much about managing egos and personalities as much as it is about assembling talent and drawing up the right play. Kudos to Redick for diagnosing the issue at hand. Now, let's see if Luka can execute the solution.