Los Angeles Lakers: Great defensive start provides hope for future

The Los Angeles Lakers have started off well on the defensive side of the ball. Can that sustain throughout the season?

If there’s one thing the Los Angeles Lakers could hope becomes a trend, it’s their improved defense.

For the last six seasons, the Lakers were one of the worst teams in the league defensively. As the youth movement began, several key players departing and the end of the Kobe Bryant era merged into one, and the Lakers constantly ranked in the bottom half of the league defensively, finishing dead-last twice.

Most young teams are bad defensively, which means the Lakers’ defensive woes were expected. The issue, however, is as the Los Angeles rotated several players out of the organization, the defense never improved. After a head coaching change, several top draft picks entering the organization and a defensive scheme change, the Lakers were expected to take a step forward.

So far to start the season, the Los Angeles Lakers are 11th in the league in defensive efficiency, via Basketball-Reference, providing a bit of hope for the future on that side of the ball.

It starts with the recent changes on the roster. As much as Nick Young — who had solid stretches of decent defense last season — and Lou Williams offered on the offensive side of the ball, they’re two of the worst defensive perimeter players in the league and were constantly blown past, forcing Los Angeles’ big men to have to line up and protect the rim.

The new combination of Lonzo Ball and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope have been fine on the defensive end. We knew that Caldwell-Pope was a fine defender, even after a down season in Detroit, but Ball’s defense has been good to start his career. He’s not a great athlete or a solo defender yet, but Lonzo at least shows his basketball I.Q. on that end.

While none of the defensive plays in the video above is at an elite level of shutdown possessions, Ball against a lighting-quick John Wall uses his intelligence and wingspan to bother and pester Wall as he drives to the basket. On the perimeter, Ball’s length forced Wall to adjust on jumpers and kept him right in front.

Again, Ball will never be an elite defender, but he can be a smart team defender who can leverage his size against his opposing guards.

Success on the defensive end also trickled into the frontcourt. Brandon Ingram is coming along as a defender, but he’s still far away as an on-ball defender. Both Ingram and Kyle Kuzma provide intrigue on the defensive end because of their length and ability to pester on the perimeter. In time, I can envision both as fine perimeter defenders.

Where Los Angeles’ biggest improvement defensively has come from is ending possessions. The Lakers are currently third in the league in defensive rebounding and 12th in defensive rebound percentage. Part of that is because of their improved frontcourt combinations:

Brook Lopez is an unheralded defender, especially at the rim. Allowing him to man the rim helps Los Angeles with its guards allowing penetration. As far as the power forward position, both Larry Nance Jr. and Julius Randle have been fine defensively, providing enough defensive plays and ability on the perimeter to make the combinations work.

In the first six games of the season, the Los Angeles Lakers have looked fine on the defensive end, a far cry from the last two seasons where teams initiated alley-oop contests and season-highs in scoring against them. While the Lakers don’t appear to be the 11th-best defense in the league, they could be moving from the bottom of the league to a respectable defense.

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The more interesting dynamic is the young players who have provided defensive value. Guys like Ball, Ingram, Kuzma, Nance Jr. and eventually, Josh Hart, could all be effective defenders who can contribute to the next Lakers team. For now, it’s a blip, but in order to turn the Lakers around, they’re hopeful it evolves into a trend.