Patrick Beverley will lead the Los Angeles Lakers in steals.
Our first new leader in a category, and it is a place where Beverley is sure to thrive. LeBron led the Lakers in steals last season with 1.3 per night, but the hope is that he will be asked to do a little less defensively during the regular season. If we were doing this exercise for the playoffs, James would once again be top of the pile here.
But Beverley will be eager to put his stamp on the rotation, especially if he is coming off the bench to start the season. What better way to do so than to bring a defensive intensity and willingness to get into passing lanes and poke balls free before theatrically diving for them?
Intensity and a willingness to work without the ball were sorely missing for the Lakers last year. They ranked in the bottom third of the league in defensive efficiency (112.8), and although a steal a game from Beverley won’t help that much, it will engage the crowd and have a positive impact on teammates as well.
In doing so, it will become too hard for coach Ham to not have Beverley start games and play significant minutes with the main group. As it stands all he needs to do is hit some shots and make it difficult for opponents, and Beverley is going to be closing games alongside James and Davis. Also worth mentioning is Juan Toscano-Anderson, who was an irritant for opponents and popped up with some steals for the champion Golden State Warriors last year.
Another intriguing player to look out for here is Scotty Pippen Jr. Signed to the Lakers on a two-way deal, he displayed some impressive defensive IQ and play during Summer League play. Any chance he gets to play for the team, he is going to do all he can to stick. Being a ball hawk and defensive specialist would go a long way toward helping him to achieve this. Ultimately Pippen Jr. won’t play enough games to lead this category, but he will have an impact.