Los Angeles Lakers: Three biggest questions heading into next season
By Jason Reed
2. Can the Los Angeles Lakers defend better in the paint?
Last season, despite not having a dominant rebounding center lacking size in some areas, the Los Angeles Lakers were actually quite good at rebounding the basketball. Of course, that was helped by having great rebounding guards but the big men on the team did not do a bad job, either.
The Lakers finished fourth in offensive rebounds and second in both defensive and total rebounds last season.
However, the Lakers did lose two huge pieces down low in Julius Randle and Brook Lopez. While Lopez is not a proficient rebounder, Randle was huge for the Lakers in the second half and was grabbing 10 or more rebounds on a nearly nightly basis.
It is not the rebounds that the Lakers struggled in down low, it was the point allowed in the paint. Defensively, the Lakers were not great last season and a large part of that was due to how many points the team allowed in the paint. The Lakers allowed 51.9 points in the paint last year, the third-most in the NBA.
Now, the Lakers boast a big man core that is arguably worse than last season with JaVale McGee and Ivica Zubac eating the majority of the minutes at center with LeBron filling in as well. The rebounding should not go down too much as LeBron can rebound and Ball and Hart will be a huge help.
However, the interior defense could get worse unless the Lakers take the offensive sacrifice of having McGee on the court for long periods of time to serve as a rim protector.
In today’s age of three-point shooting, limiting the three-point shot may be the Lakers’ best chance of beating the Warriors. However, allowing easy baskets close to the rim certainly won’t help and will only eventually open up that three-point shot.