Los Angeles Lakers will probably be better at defense than you think

The Los Angeles Lakers underwent a roster overhaul this season but still appear to have one weakness: defense, although that may not be the case.

After missing the playoffs for the sixth consecutive year in a disappointing first season for LeBron James in LA, the Los Angeles Lakers had a complete roster overhaul and now find themselves as one of the top contenders in the NBA.

Highlighted by Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins, the Los Angeles Lakers have built a deep enough roster that goes hand-in-hand with the talent on the team. They aren’t just talented, they are built to withstand an 82-game season.

Everyone knows what the Lakers are going to be good at in 2019 as the team has the talent to play a revolutionary style of basketball with LeBron, Davis and Cousins all sharing the court. There is also one thing that every NBA fan seems to accept as a weak point for the Lakers: defense.

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The Lakers were not great defensively last season and lost arguably their best defensive player in Lonzo Ball in the Anthony Davis trade. With no elite defensive guy to guard the other team’s best player, in conjunction with the Los Angeles Clippers having three of them, not many people are expecting much out of the Lakers defensively.

However, if you break down the roster and who brings what to the table, the Los Angeles Lakers have a fairly good chance of exceeding expectations defensively. Granted, they could also play down to their current expectations, but the team will probably still be better than you think.

Let’s start with Anthony Davis. He may not be the defensive backcourt guy that can guard the other team’s best guy but he is an All-Defensive-caliber player who has come damn near close to winning Defensive Player of the Year and has led the league in blocks three times.

So the team has rim protection in Davis. DeMarcus Cousins is no chip off the old block either (pun intended) as when healthy, he is also a stout rim protector and an above-average defender. With JaVale McGee off the bench, the Lakers are set there.

Alex Caruso was one of the better defenders in the G League last season and has the size and physical style of play to at least be disruptive at the point guard position. He is no Ball, but he too will be above average defensively in whatever role the team gives him.

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is textbook three and D guy and has played worse than he is capable of in his two years in Los Angeles. With an added emphasis on the defensive end, at the worst, he will be an average defender.

Danny Green brings the three and D dynamic that KCP could bring but is much more of a surefire thing. Throw in Avery Bradley off the bench, who wasn’t great for the Clippers last year but is still a two-time All-Defensive player and is still only 28.

There is a lot of defensive upside in that group. Finally, we take a look at LeBron James. LeBron’s defense was atrocious last season as he really did not seem like he could be bothered to play defense.

He is no longer the defender he once was but he certainly can be an average defensive player at worst and an above-average help defender, especially on the fastbreak. He has the physical tools still to be good defensively, he just hasn’t really given a damn on the defensive end the last two years.

Two years ago he had to conserve his energy to carry the Cleveland Cavaliers offensively and last year he played on a team riddled with injuries with no real shot at the title. With offensive help in Davis and some defensive playmakers around him, I guarantee we will see more effort out of James defensively.

There still are some guys that lack defensively. Kyle Kuzma, for example, could be a burden at times on the defensive end.

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However, the Lakers’ defensive situation is not nearly as bleak as some people are making it out to be.

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