A quick examination of the Lakers’ current roster headed into next season leads to a simple conclusion: this team has the potential to be awful on defense.
As has been covered ad nauseum, the Lakers lost both Dwight Howard and Metta World Peace in the off-season, both of whom were lynchpins to whatever defensive success the team did have last year. Those two have been “replaced” by Chris Kaman and Nick Young, two players who, while useful in many ways, aren’t exactly known for playing high level defense. Shifting from giving MWP and Dwight big minutes to playing any other group of Lakers currently on the roster is a downgrade defensively. There’s no positive way to spin this.
When given lemons, you make lemonade. Enter, Kurt Rambis.
What Rambis’ role will be next season is an unknown. Yes he’s an assistant coach, but in a conversation with ESPN LA’s Dave McMenamin, Rambis relayed that it’s not yet clear how he’ll be deployed and whether or not he’ll be a “defensive coordinator” of sorts:
“(D’Antoni) said that all assistant coaches will be involved in all areas in our initial conversation,” Rambis explained. “Not that we have etched everything in stone, but to come back as a defensive coordinator, you can talk to Mike about whether there’s going to be any sort of designation on that. By my understanding, there isn’t going to be, but he just kind of wants all of the gaps to be covered so everybody is responsible for working with players and being involved in practices and being involved with games. But to have myself associated with the defense, that means that area is going to be covered.”
Before Rambis had his unsuccessful run as head coach in Minnesota, he stewarded the Lakers’ defense in the 2009 championship season. That year the Lakers ranked 6th in defensive efficiency (points allowed per 100 possessions) and did so by switching up their defensive philosophy from man-to-man all the time to a hybrid scheme that incorporated a lot of strong side zone. That scheme was a very aggressive approach to defense and was, in many ways (whether outright stated or not), a response to the way the Celtics defended the Lakers in the season prior when they defeated them in the Finals. Rambis (and Phil Jackson), seemingly, saw a defensive scheme that, with the personnel the Lakers had on hand and rules the league had in place, would work well for the team.
They were right. The Lakers used that scheme as a way to funnel the ball into areas of the floor where offenses were less dangerous and then they used their superior length and above average quickness to force steals and disrupt their opponents sets. The Lakers ended the season ranked 2nd in steals and were 11th in forced turnovers overall. Not a bad showing at all. (As an aside, this past season when the Lakers were 25th and 23rd in steals and forced turnovers respectively.)
All of this is to say, that with Rambis’ return, I’m hopeful the Lakers will dust off some of their old schemes and return to running more strong side zone on defense next season.
As noted at the top, the Lakers don’t have a particularly strong group of individual defenders. Whether due to age, limited athleticism, commitment, or any number of other factors, several key rotation players next season aren’t going to stop their own man without assistance from their teammates. Last season this was also true, but the help that was supposed to be there wasn’t always there and that led to problems. Severe problems. Again, from Rambis:
“Their defense never really gave them a chance to win,” newly hired Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis told ESPNLosAngeles.com. “It was very erratic at best. In a lot of ways, when you bring in a lot of players from a lot of different systems, it takes awhile to get everybody connected and on the same page, how you have to defend a myriad of offensive NBA sets and you have to defend talented offensive people, it takes all five guys. They’ve got to be connected, and they’ve got to make the correct decisions at the correct time, and for the Lakers last year, it was clear that they just never really got connected on that end of the floor. You could see throughout most of their games, guys would turn their palms up to the sky, and it was like, ‘Is that my responsibility? Is that your responsibility? Who was supposed to do what?’ So, we’ve got to do a much better job of getting them so they can cover each others’ backs at that end of the floor.”
A return to running more strong side zone should help in addressing some of these issues. Simply put, the SSZ is a scheme that’s meant to put players in help positions early; it moves players to the spots on the floor where they should end up, without them having to get their by using their own reactions. Said another way, it’s a paint by numbers approach to defense that allows lesser defenders or players who may not have elite defensive instincts to be where they’re supposed to be when they’re supposed to be. Last season, the Lakers were awful at this regardless of who was on the floor, any help they can get in improving at it will be accepted with open arms.
All of this sounds good on paper, but we need to also acknowledge that it’s not as simple as it sounds. The 2009 Lakers had defensive versatility and quickness at multiple positions and played to those strengths with this scheme. Lamar Odom at PF, Trevor Ariza at SF, and a younger Gasol at C were all crucial to making this scheme work. They had the mobility to move from the lane line to the opposite side corner relatively easily and it was on the strength of those recovery skills that kept the Lakers in the top 5 of defensive 3 point field goal percentage.
Next year’s Lakers don’t have a Lamar Odom (Jordan Hill will try to approximate what he did and his athleticism will help, but Odom moved like a SF in a PF’s body, Hill, though in possession of good wheels for a big man, does not), Nick Young isn’t anywhere near Ariza’s level in terms of anticipation on D, and Gasol is 4 years and nearly 12,000 minutes of game time older now. Add in Kobe’s recovery from surgery and the downgrade from Fisher to Nash defensively, and the potential starting lineup isn’t as talented defensively.
But, ultimately, that’s really the point of transitioning to this type of scheme. This group of Lakers will not be able to defend effectively if playing a straight man-to-man style that relies on their individual abilities to get stops. They need help from teammates and that help needs to come in the form of a scheme that helps compensate for those individual failings. The more the scheme can help put players in the right positions, especially early in possessions, the better. The more the scheme can help the defense dictate to offenses where the ball should go rather than allowing them to put limited defenders into reactionary roles, the better.
Even if the Lakers do end up running this scheme, there will still be problems. They’ll likely give up loads of three point attempts on the weak side and, if they’re not careful, will leave the middle of their defense vulnerable to quick hitting cuts and slipped screens with relatively slow footed big men tasked with stepping into to try and protect the rim after showing that strong side help. There are holes in any defense and, with smart coaching, offenses will take advantage of those holes. Add in the limitations of the players executing the scheme and there will be problems.
All that said, the Lakers need a plan on defense and as Rambis has shown, he has the ability to install one and have success with it. I’m hopeful he’s allowed try and do it again next season. Because if, and it’s a big if, the Lakers can be anywhere close to league average on defense with this roster, it’s a win for them. And if they can reach that level, they’ll be much better than many think they will be next season.
Snoopy2006 says
Great post. I feel like NBA offenses have also gotten much more sophisticated since 2009; as more and more teams have started loading up the strong side defensively, more teams use misdirection and movement to prevent the defense from becoming set. Executing this type of defense has become harder.
In addition, the 5th-to-last paragraph is the key to me. Without a prime Odom’s incredible combination of swift feet and length or Ariza’s ball-hawking skills, the SSZ will open us up to getting reamed on the weakside. None of our personnel can recover fast enough. It could turn out to be a disaster. With that said, I don’t have a better alternative, so I’m interested to see how much improvement the system can bring. One thing Rambis said was dead-on – there was too much confusion last year. Whatever defensive system the Lakers choose, there has to be more practice time and commitment to that system. And I’m also interested to see how Rambis tweaks the system to adapt to this very different personnel.
Chris J says
Best line: “and the downgrade from Fisher to Nash defensively”
When late career Fish is viewed as an upgrade to your defense, hell, why not just ask Nash to cherry pick on each opponent’s possession?
(I imagine Aaron nodding somewhere as he reads this.)
Slap Dog Hoops (SDH) says
Howard and Peace were defensive lynch pins? I think that’s overstating their roles. If they were so good on the defensive end, the Lakers would have performed far better in that regard. i doubt that the defense would get worse than it already has been.
Darius Soriano says
Slap Dog Hoops,
Yes, they were defensive lynchpins. Their on/off numbers say as much and speak to the team “performing better” in that regard, specifically when they were on the floor.
Braziman says
The post makes a thorough case for the players’ limited potential to play quality defense.
Should we wonder if the Rambis hiring is to immunize D’Antoni from complaints about the defense — an area where D’Antoni already has a weak reputation, but hasn’t been given many players who could make a difference even if he wanted?
rr says
Good post.
The further in the rearview his Lakers career gets, the more I think that Lamar Odom was doing stuff for the team defense that I missed at the time, and that I didn’t give him enough credit for it at the time.
Darius Soriano says
Chris J,
At the time, Fisher wasn’t nearly as bad defensively as he was in his final season or so with the team. Also, Fisher was always a very good defender in the P&R due to his ability to shade his man in the direction he wanted to go (using his physicality as a tool). Those same skills aided him in the SSZ. Nash, for what it’s worth, is a fine team defender and I think he’ll be good at being where he’s supposed to be in any scheme. Where he’ll have issues is keeping his man going in the direction he’s supposed to because he lacks both the athleticism and the physicality to keep guys to one side of the floor. Fisher, for all his warts, could at least muscle guys off their spots (and he also had good anticipation) and that’s why I wrote that sentence.
Tra says
Whether it’s Man to Man or the SSZ Defense that’s incorporated by the coaching staff, it’ll be interesting to see how much of the teams’ offense will be sacrificed for the sake of their defense. Worded differently, IMO, in order for the squad to have any type of relative success, it’ll probably be imperative to have Farmar, Johnson and Hill on the floor at the expense of Nash, Young and Kaman.
Keeping in mind that, according to Dave Mac’s ESPN article, ‘The coach also thinks that Gasol and newly acquired center Chris Kaman will be a natural fit together in the starting lineup.’ (D’Antoni: “I just see them kind of blending in together pretty easily .. A lot easier than it was last year (with Howard), let’s put it that way”). Not sure if having 2, slow-footed 7 ft’ers in the starting lineup is the smartest way to emphasize defense, but we’ll see how the lineup is constructed when games are on the line.
fifth_rune says
I think one thing that deserves mention is that the SSZ we saw with the 2008/2009 Lakers will likely not be the version we see with the 2013/2014 Lakers. All good coaches (and Rambis is a good coach, at least defensively) adapt their schemes to their personnel. A lack of a ball-hawking Ariza or a fast-footed LO certainly make executing the ‘original’ SSZ difficult for this team, but that just likely means we’ll see a modified version that can play to our new roster’s strengths. What that means remains a mystery, but I’ll trust in the coaching team to make smart decisions that maximize advantages and minimize disadvantages as best as they are able.
PurpleBlood says
Heck of a write-up, that next to last paragraph is quite ominous and I certainly hope our squad can progressively buck that prognostication in the right direction as the season plays out.
(so I guess I´m reflecting fifth_rune´s optimism here)
phalic baldwin says
Lets also remember Rambis ran the SSZ in Minnesota. It wasn’t a good fit and didn’t work out. If they can defend at a league average it will be minor miracle. Everyone is a liability except for Gasol (better in final run after being boarder-line liability most of the year), Hill (solid) and Kaman (adequate) and Blake (adequate) . Kurt’s an upgrade but Thibs he aint.
trianglefan says
The defensive side is much more a team effort than the offensive side. How the coaches and the players gel (a lot of new faces this year) will probably play a significant role in how well (or how average – as Darius excellently suggests) the defense will be. Rambis has said before that how you play offense (positioning on the court and your role) greatly influences your defense. Not sure I agree…but I hope that everyone comes to training camp healthy, because that will be a crucial time for players to learn the offensive and defensive sets.
P. Ami says
Wow, I am in shock. I can’t believe that MD’A actually sees Kamen spending much time on the court with Gasol. I mean, coupled with the defensive liability that Pau is at the 4, how can he justify keeping Pau so far from the basket again? I have actually found an offseason event more irritating than NBATV running a loop of Corndog Howard talking about his clean slate.