This season may not be going how some may have thought it would for the Los Angeles Lakers. They currently are not a playoff team (six games back of eighth seed) and Lonzo Ball is unlikely going to win the Rookie of the Year award. However, this team has improved in one major statistic that could go a long way down the road, defense.
While the Lakers may not be the Boston Celtics who have the number one defense, they have shown vast improvements from a season ago. The Lakers are currently 13th in defensive efficiency which is a huge jump from being 30th last season per Team Rankings.
Defense has been a point of emphasis for this young team which comes as a bit of a surprise. It is common knowledge that young teams in the NBA regularly struggle to play defense for multiple reasons.
They sometimes lack motivation to play defense, misunderstand defensive principles or foul a lot. However, Lakers head coach Luke Walton has kept his ship above water in that department this year.
It shows in some key defensive stats as well. The Lakers are fifth in opponent’s three-point percentage which means they are rotating and getting out to contest shooters.
They are also 12th in blocks and sixth in steals. Their placing at 12th in blocks is particularly impressive since they do not have a resident shot blocker on the roster.
Arguably their most impressive defensive stat is that they are ninth in opponent’s effective field goal percentage. That means they are defending well in all modes of scoring excluding free throws.
There is room for improvement when it comes to defending without fouling for this team. They are 17th in opponent’s free throw attempts per game.
Defending without fouling is huge for this Lakers team because of their fast pace of play. They lead the league in pace of play per Basketball Reference. Fouls slow down the pace of a game which works against he Lakers who want to push the ball on offense.
Once they can get it to all come together they will start stacking up a lot more wins. They have won eight out of their last ten games as a result of their solid play.
This team may not have a playoff worthy season but it has definitely taken a step in the right direction.
Brendan Abban is the host of the KBR Sports podcast. Follow him on Twitter @BAbban24 or email him via [email protected]. This articles was originally written and published on SB Nation.
