KindCrippler2000
Franchise Player
Joined: 02 May 2003
Posts: 15821
|
 Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2016 6:45 pm Post subject: Re: Time to Get Our Hands Dirty |
|
|
| splashmtn wrote: | | KindCrippler2000 wrote: | | Treble Clef wrote: | | Gatekeeper wrote: | | Treble Clef wrote: | | Gatekeeper wrote: | | With D'lo and Nick out it's time to stop relying on the offensive production as a crutch and play some scrappy feisty Laker D. Even if we end up on the short end most nights, I'd much rather see the team start to establish some sort of identity without the ball, so when we're back at full strength, we'll be an even tougher team to contend with night in night out. |
If someone would have told me that through 20 games, these guys would be playing zero defense and the offense would have been centered around contested perimeter shots by nick, Lou, D'Angelo, and Jordan, I would have predicted 2-3 wins tops. It is amazing how successful they have been. |
It's not that the team plays ZERO defense and jacks up threes unconsciously, but that the defense has gotten worse since the beginning of the season. The Drtg the past 10 games have been hovering around 110 (bottom 3), the team gives up the most field goals within 5 feet of the basket, recovers loose balls at the second lowest rate, and is in the bottom five in charges drawn.
Injuries to our best shooters has exacerbated the situation, no doubt, but the regression in defensive intensity is worrisome.
Just listen to Luke at the end of the last game. |
I think a lot of that is averages catching up to them. They haven't played good defense all year but in the first few weeks, they could always count on the opponents missing open shots all game long. Statistically they were elite at defending against the three ball but they were not actually defending those shots at all. |
It's just players normalizing to the mean IMO. It's hard to sustain wins with just offense alone. I actually discussed why this was unsustainable in my defensive rankings thread. Lakers can't continue to win without having some amount of success on the defensive end. Right now, they are last or next to last in most of the important defensive categories (rim protection, opponent FG%, opponent points in paint, etc). Until they get the proper defensive personnel, they will likely hover around that 8th seed, but not get any closer to it.
Even though they had more success, Toronto actually had a similar trajectory 2 seasons ago. Top 5 offensive team, but bottom of the barrel defensively. They relied on their offense up until another catastrophe 1st round collapse in the playoffs. Everything they accomplished in the regular season was fools gold, as their system was predicated only on outscoring teams. After that upset in the playoffs, it was evident Masai needed to make changes and he did -- out goes Lou, Vasquez, enter a slew of defensive personnel (Corey Joseph, DeMarre Carroll, Bismack Biyombo) and they get to around top 10 defensively.
Obviously the Lakers have a tougher go around since they play in the West and have injuries to deal with, but they have all the makings of that 14-15 Raptors squad. I don't like it tbh. I wish they invested in some defensive personnel. |
easy to say but who did you want them to invest in that was able to be invested in this past summer? And remember you should never invest in an "all defense, no offense" type of player unless you have great offensive players already in place(we dont. they are young and still learning.) |
It's still possible to acquire reasonably good offensive players that play defense. Not everyone can be Kawhi Leonard, but I mentioned Cory Joseph and DeMarre Carroll because they are capable of putting up double digit scores while playing rather efficient defense on the other end. Lakers don't even have that right now, with the exception of Ingram and Nance. I'm expecting Zubac to become that rim protecting presence, but he's not even getting burn right now.
As it currently stands, the defensive foundation is very, very shaky for this young team. It's practically non-existent. The second unit relies on Lou and Clarkson taking turns chucking, while Nance, Ingram and Black stay on clean up duty. That's hardly a long term formula for success, and Toronto found that out the hard way. They won't be playing inept shooting teams like Chicago every night, so Luke can't rely on his "pack the paint" defensive strategy. |
|
