Over the last two years, head coach Mike D’Antoni hasn’t exactly made an impression in terms of getting the Los Angeles Lakers on track defensively. D’Antoni has always been an offensive-minded coach and it shows, but he claims that 75 percent of practices are focused on improving the defense according toBen Bolch of the L.A. Times:
Mike D’Antoni said he spends 75% of practices on defense. “That’s our main focus of every practice,” he said.
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) February 21, 2014
With the Lakers giving up 106.2 points per game (29th in the NBA) this season, they are arguably one of the worst teams in the league defensively. D’Antoni claiming that 75 percent of practices preaching defense is questionable with the team clearly not responding during games.
At this point in time, it’s safe to say that the Lakers simply aren’t a good basketball team and seriously lack any intensity on the defensive end of the floor. Although the Lakers may have a few promising young players with Kendall Marshall leading the way, the majority of the players on the current roster, outside of Kobe Bryant, probably won’t be retained in the off-season.
It remains to be seen if D’Antoni will be with the Lakers long-term. Currently, D’Antoni is under contract for next season with a team option for a fourth year giving the Lakers flexibility heading into the 2015-16 NBA season.
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