Los Angeles Lakers: How to take advantage of the team’s defense.

The Los Angeles Lakers are seen as one of the best defenses in the league but will their deficiencies in transition defense derail their title hopes?

The Los Angeles Lakers currently have the honor of being one of the top defenses in the league this season. Mike Sykes of USA Today wrote back in November that the Lakers were playing a significant role in what he believed to be a defensive boom period.

At that point, the team led the league in defensive rating (97.9). They also have great rim protection, with Anthony Davis and Dwight Howard both holding opponents to poor shooting efficiency near the rim.

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Unfortunately, this reputation can take a massive hit if an opponent decides to increase their offensive tempo and will be their demise if the season were to return.

The weakest part of Los Angeles’s defense game is in transition, as they are 21st in opponent’s field goal percentage. It allows them to shoot 51.2 percent from the field in 14.5 attempts per game.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ field goal percentage is playing a role in surrendering the seventh-highest point total in transition as opponents are averaging 20.7 per game in 18.9 possessions. The Lakers’ struggle in transition has to do with a lack of effort by players, in particular, LeBron James.

A prime example of this can be found early in the first quarter of a home game against the New Orleans Pelicans. James slowly backpedaled down the court as Lonzo Ball grabbed the rebound and threw an outlet to Jrue Holiday.

Upon receiving the basketball, Holiday was surrounded by Avery Bradley and Anthony Davis. Consequently, he passed the basketball to Brandon Ingram, who had been running down the right wing unguarded in part due to James’ reluctance to rotate over to slow him down. Ingram ended the possession with a dunk.

They can easily fix this issue if James would increase his defensive efforts. Unfortunately, James has not given much effort on the defensive end since he left the Miami Heat. In Miami, the president of basketball operations, Pat Riley, expected them to give everything they had on the court and in practice.

For instance, during James’ first year with the team, the Heat had the first few days of training campaign on a military base in Pensacola, Florida, where they focused on defensive conditioning and drills. For the remainder of his first season with the team, the Heat had intense practices regularly.

According to Brian Windhorst of ESPN, The team held full-contact practices during his entire first year in Miami:

"“For each full workout during the season, everyone wore knee pads and mouthguards. It was full contact. If you were caught grabbing your shorts out of fatigue, you were told to stand up. Needless to say, it set a tone.”"

Miami’s culture propelled him to give maximum effort on the court. In fact, early in the first quarter of a home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, James was defending Kevin Durant at the top of the key. Durant dribbled to the left, attempting to get past James.

James responded by moving his feet to the right to keep his body in front of Durant. James’ decision forced Durant to settle for a long 2-pointer. The combination of these factors contributed to James running 1.165 miles on the defensive end at an average speed of 3.86 miles per hour during the 2013-14 season.

But everything changed when he went to the Cleveland Cavaliers. He met with owner Dan Gilbert attempting to clear the air about the letter Gilbert wrote shortly after James announced he was leaving Cleveland. James was satisfied with Gilbert’s explanation that he decided to return under one condition: that Gilbert would do everything in his power to win a championship. This agreement essentially made James the foremost authority in the organization.

The lack of a respected authority figure in Cleveland allowed James to dictate his workout/practice schedule. James missed a couple of training camp practices with the pretext of a sore back during the 2014-15 season.

James’ low effort style impacted his performance as he decreased the effort he gave defensively. For example, early in the first quarter of a road game against the Atlanta Hawks, James stood near the elbow for an entire possession.

Consequently, his defensive assignment, DeMarre Carroll, was left open behind the arc. Ultimately, Jeff Teague decided to attack the basket and make a floater instead of passing the basketball to Carroll.

James’ low effort style contributed to him only running 1.135 miles per game defensively at an average speed of 3.67 mph. He maintained the little effort style for the remainder of his second tenure in Cleveland as James ran 1.158 miles per game on defense at 3.665 mph.

Unfortunately, James hasn’t changed his style in Los Angeles, partly due to the coaching style of his head coach, Frank Vogel, who told the media that the team prioritized rest over practice. With little to drive him, James has run 1.065 miles in almost two seasons with the team at a speed of 3.34 mph.

The Los Angeles Lakers’ defensive deficiency increases the likelihood of them having hard-fought playoff series with teams that thrive in transition like the Memphis Grizzlies. The Grizzlies are currently 8th in transition field goal percentage shooting 54.1 percent on 17.6 attempts per game. Memphis’ field goal percentage is third in the league in transition points averaging 18 per game in 20 possessions.