The Los Angeles Lakers had a rollercoaster of a 2023-24 season. At times, they looked truly dominant, establishing themselves on both ends of the court and winning games at a championship pace. At other times, their defense looked non-existent even hemorrhaging points when Anthony Davis was on the floor. That’s something that new head coach JJ Redick must take a look at.
When the rollercoaster ended, the Lakers fell at about league average in defensive rating. They ranked 17th at 114.8 points per 100 possessions. But if the Lakers are going to improve upon a season that saw them finish seventh in the Western Conference and lose in five games in the first round, defense is where it’s going to come from.
Redick gave his honest thoughts as to how the Lakers can improve defensively without having made significant roster changes. He also cited one specific player as someone who could help change their trajectory on that end of the floor.
“Obviously we need to increase our physicality,” Redick said at a recent press conference. “We need to be a better team in terms of contesting shots. We were in the bottom third of the league last year in that.
“I think what will be big for us in sort of the player development work that we’ve done defensively is we’ve talked a lot about having elite presentation and trying to create marginal indecision. That could be in a shift, that could be with low man help, that could be the big up to touch and drop.
“The other point I would make is and Rob answered the question earlier about it, I think Max Christie has a real chance to be a high level impact player on that end as well. Having him confident and consistently in the rotation, along with hopefully Vando and Gabe, I think will be great for our defense.”
The Lakers could, in theory, raise their ceiling in the Western Conference if they can play the type of defense they were playing at their best. The starting lineup of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura had a defensive rating that would be equivalent to second place in the entire league.
But with the same roster as last season, it comes down to mentality from the players and lineup maximization from the coaches.
JJ Redick likes size and versatility of starting lineup
Lakers head coach JJ Redick announced recently that the team would be returning to their most successful starting lineup of 2023-24. That is the group that went 23-10 in games they started together last season.
Former head coach Darvin Ham experimented with several other lineup pairings, but ultimately landed on this one in the second half of the year when the Lakers desperately needed to go on a run. That lineup had a plus-5.2 net rating after Jan. 1 and was efficient on both ends of the floor.
Redick obviously likes the record associated with that lineup from last year, but he spoke specifically about what he likes when James, Davis, Russell, Reaves and Hachimura are on the court together.
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