Analyzing our defense, and its gradual decline.

[DubaLakers]

Semi.... the defenses gradual decline it's so inconsistant did we ever really have it? Like Kobester said it's a work in progress, it's really just one thing dicipline as well as starting the worst defender in the NBA over from scratch.

Defense 101..."Roll Call"..."Vladamir Radmonovic"..."Here!" "OK great, let's get started."

[semi-sentient]

Semi.... the defenses gradual decline it's so inconsistant did we ever really have it? Like Kobester said it's a work in progress, it's really just one thing dicipline as well as starting the worst defender in the NBA over from scratch.

Defense 101..."Roll Call"..."Vladamir Radmonovic"..."Here!" "OK great, let's get started."

We had it the first month of the season, and after that we had it every other game or so. After playing the Celtics, we completely lost it.

If it were a work in progress, I'd expect to get better, not worse.

As for Radmanovic, he isn't our main problem. Our main problem is our PG(s) are allowing easy penetration and our big (Bynum) is not covering their mistakes. Certainly he can't cover every mistake, but there are too many easy opportunities as a result of him not paying attention. That, and his rebounding is still sub par. Other than that, I can't understand why we double team so much. It's clear that we are giving up far too many 3-pointers, so one would think that we'd try to avoid over-doubling. We seem to do this on every single play, and most of the times a double isn't even needed.

[what would jack bauer do?]

I'm kind of sick of people picking on Bynum just because of the stat sheet. The dude is our biggest player and he closes out on shooters harder than most of our roster. When Bynum is in the game he's guarding the toughest big man matchup to make the game easier for Gasol. I don't see why we're complaining about Bynum's rebounding when Gasol, Kobe, Ariza, and the rest of our roster is cleaning up the glass after Bynum plays solid D protecting the rim. Besides its really hard to rebound off of 3 pointers, which we give our opponents all day.

If I'm going to be disappointed in a big's defense it would have to be in Pau Gasol, he takes the easier matchup most nights and the only reason nobody is calling him out is because he's so efficient on offense. When Gasol has to play center he invites the opponent to the rim with very little resistance. If we're talking about hustle on defense Bynum has Gasol looking like Brian Cook.

We're not talking fantasy league here, just because Bynum isn't geting gaudy numbers doesn't mean he's not producing. Bynum had a 2 week lapse like a month ago, but pretty much all season he's been playing good defense. Give him a break man you can tell he's hurting by the way he just can't finish half of his lobs. Physically his knee and ankle are nowhere near where they were last year, he's got bone spurs and he's still probably battling back from surgery.

[what would jack bauer do?]

The thing that bugs me is we're going to give Kobe all the praise in the world for playing through a sore finger, but Bynum will get no respect for battling uphill through his injuries all year.

[TylersLakers]

Our problems defensively are..

1) Effort: Not enough effort, not enough hustle, not enough scrappiness.

2) Derek Fisher, PG Defense: Leaves the whole defense in "scramble" mode, exposes the bigs to foul trouble, allows easy layups. Allows opposite PG's to shoot open three's all the time.

3) IQ: We have players who know how to play basketball. Kobe, Ariza, Gasol, Lamar. But some are too stupid to realize that you have to cover for each other at all times. Hustling your ass off to close out shooters, rotations, etc.

[semi-sentient]

The thing that bugs me is we're going to give Kobe all the praise in the world for playing through a sore finger, but Bynum will get no respect for battling uphill through his injuries all year.

What injuries are you referring to?

I've read nothing regarding any injury to Bynum or that he's having problems coming back from last seasons. Even if that were the case, why has his rebounding and shot-blocking steadily declined as the season has progressed? If he was struggling as a result of last seasons surgery then wouldn't it be the other way around?

Code: Select all

Oct/Nov: 9.1 REB, 2.2 BLK

    Dec: 7.7 REB, 1.5 BLK

    Jan: 5.5 REB, 1.3 BLK

Is it really too much to ask that he consistently put up those same Oct/Nov numbers throughout the season? We should be the best rebounding team in the league (as far as differential goes) with all the size we have. Yet, we're 5th behind Boston, Portland, Philadelphia, and Cleveland. What's the point of having all that size if it doesn't make us any better on the glass (or on defense in general)?

We're about to start paying Bynum a fairly large sum of money, so I don't think it's too much to ask that he gives us what we ask. When I say we, I'm not just referring to the folks here at RealGM either. Lakers staff, as well as game announcers, have mentioned Bynum's lack of rebounding and protecting the basket.

[semi-sentient]

BTW, you seem to be overly offended that we are harping on Bynum's short-comings. I don't see why you would be. No one here wants to see Bynum fail. Heck, I don't want to see any of the Lakers player fail or play poorly. However, just because he's Bynum and had everyone excited last season doesn't mean that he's immune to criticism.

I certainly don't recall anyone giving guys like Radmanovic a break when he struggled defensively after the eye injury, or Walton for his lack of shooting, or Vujacic for just being a peanut-brain. Understand that recently there have been some serious disappointments on this squad and it seems to come just after a contract extension -- which is what Bynum just received -- so I'd rather bitch up a storm about a lack of effort (and I'm glad they are bringing up these same points on national TV) instead of handing out ass-pats for no good reason (such as our record being 32-9, which is irrelevant in the grand scheme).

[microfib4thewin]

The thing is Bynum isn't providing the same kind of defense. In the last 10 games this team has given up 104 points, while Gasol provided little help on defense, this team just cannot get stops with either Bynum or Gasol at the 5. The reason why we are not as hard on Pau is because we didn't expect him to be a great defender, and what he does on the offensive end far outweighs what Bynum does on both ends. If our defense is still as good as the first month I wouldn't mind that Bynum is only averaging 5 boards, but he's often late to help out causing the defense to scramble and eventually it ends up with an open 3. Bynum certainly is not the only cause for the lackadaisical defense, but he is certainly a factor.

[what would jack bauer do?]

The injuries I'm talking about are the ones that were there from the start of the season. It was revealed at the start of the regular season that Bynum told Jermaine O'neal that he's been having swelling and pain in his surgically repaired knee. At the end of November Bynum had a bone spur in his right foot. They said it would take two weeks to heal and he'd have no pain, but I doubt that's been the case. The Lakers doctors have been completely wrong about injuries in the last few years for us to know its not a sure science with these guys. I mean we were told Bynum improved his vert by two inches over the summer, but clearly his vert is only getting worse and worse by the look of his inability to finish more than half of his lob passes. That seems like the opposite of what should happen since Bynum's conditioning is much better. He runs the floor just as good as he did last year, but he's missing that little extra lift.

I just feel like his struggles have been blown way out of proportion on tv and here on the board, if you look at the actual game he plays and not the stat sheet he's playing hard on defense except for maybe a two week stint where he lost it. If you ignore that two week stint, Bynum is there to protect the rim nearly every time we force someone into him. You can't say the same about any other big on our team. If you're going to look at stats Bynum is the only starter on our team that that has a good defensive on/off the floor statistic (-3.2).

As far as Gasol goes, I expect him being an allstar making 16 million a year to produce on both ends. His shotblocking is nearly non existant this season. You would think he'd have much more energy to expend on defense since he's playing a less physical game at PF and Bynums been taking all the toughest assignments.

[Sedale Threatt]

I don't think Andrew's struggles have been blown out of proportion at all.

I'm glad that the commentators have noticed and called him out on it. He needs to hear it over and over again, from somebody, that rebounding and shot blocking is his primary role on this team. If you honestly think he's been doing an adequate job in either category, you simply haven't been paying attention.

I'm quite sure he's not 100 percent just yet. Nobody is within a year of major knee injuries. I'll say this, though: He looks pretty damn spry when he has an opportunity to put the ball in the basket. Put the same kind of effort into contesting shots and pulling down boards, and this whole debate would be totally moot.

And even though bringing up Gasol is a classic B-Scott red herring aimed at deflecting criticism, I'll say that I don't hold him to the same standards as Andrew as a defensive player because he's nowhere near as gifted. He doesn't have the bulk, or the strength, or the hops, or the wing span that Andrew does, so I don't expect him to provide the same kind of presence. It's an apples and oranges comparison.

Besides, Pau is also giving us 17-18 points a night, with outstanding efficiency, as well as more rebounds despite not being nearly as athletic as Andrew is. I can probably count on one hand the number of games he's had this year where I felt he didn't perform up to par. With Andrew, that's gotten to be every other night.

I still think he's a top 10 center. I'd take him over a lot of guys. I've just been really disappointed with his effort and performance over the past month in regards to defense. He can do better, and we as fans should expect better.

[what would jack bauer do?]

I'd have to disagree Bynum is doing just as good a job as anyone in the NBA against guys like Yao, Duncan, Shaq, and maybe Dwight. Bynum just had a monster night numbers-wise yet in my opinion he played one of his poorer defensive games in the last 3 weeks. Does that 15 rebounds equal better defense? NO. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying Bynum isn't making mistakes, but Kobe, Fish, Ariza, Gasol are all playing worse defense than Bynum in my opinion. During our bad games it's been collectively bad as a team, but the problem certainly doesn't start with Bynum.

And you can't say that pointing out Gasol's defense is a distractor. If we want to be a great defensive team everyone has to be held accountable. If you're going to let guys attack the bucket without any providing resistance you deserve to be called out more than Bynum, especially at this point in the season. You can't expect one player to carry the load. It takes Garnett and Perkins to anchor that Boston defense. Gasol shouldn't get a pass, just like Radman doesn't get a free pass just cause he can shoot it.

[Dr Aki]

yeh except he is trying to challenge on the majority of the entries into the paint by oppositions

and you can't expect bynum to turn them all away, all the time and not expect bynum to pick up fouls

and you cant expect that teams will stand pat and shoot jumpers all day because you want them to. teams come in with their coaches telling them to drive into the paint, make the lakers collapse and make the right pass

its always push-pull, we want to play defense this way, they want to play an offense that doesn't play into our defense

and that will only improve in our favour (until someone finds a way to make our defense obsolete), we've only had half a season of playing this way, and our franchise center is only 21

we want to be a top defensive team?? we gotta work at it and know it doesnt happen in half a season

[Sedale Threatt]

I'd have to disagree Bynum is doing just as good a job as anyone in the NBA against guys like Yao, Duncan, Shaq, and maybe Dwight. Bynum just had a monster night numbers-wise yet in my opinion he played one of his poorer defensive games in the last 3 weeks. Does that 15 rebounds equal better defense? NO. Don't get me wrong I'm not saying Bynum isn't making mistakes, but Kobe, Fish, Ariza, Gasol are all playing worse defense than Bynum in my opinion. During our bad games it's been collectively bad as a team, but the problem certainly doesn't start with Bynum.

And you can't say that pointing out Gasol's defense is a distractor. If we want to be a great defensive team everyone has to be held accountable. If you're going to let guys attack the bucket without any providing resistance you deserve to be called out more than Bynum, especially at this point in the season. You can't expect one player to carry the load. It takes Garnett and Perkins to anchor that Boston defense. Gasol shouldn't get a pass, just like Radman doesn't get a free pass just cause he can shoot it.

Points well taken about Pau, whom I think is generally underrated but is obviously not an all-world defender. I acknowledge that singling out Bynum isn't fair as defense is such a collective issue. I'm certainly not trying to blame him and him alone for our shortcomings. There isn't anybody I would excuse at this point.

Unfortunately for Andrew, he plays a position that carries a huge amount of responsibility. Not only does he have to handle his man -- at which he's been adequate -- he's also got to cover for his teammates as well. Not single-handedly erase all of their mistakes, which is impossible, but at least provide some sort of consistent resistance. That's part of the job description of being a big-time center, which is what he's getting paid to be.

I and many others think it's pretty plain to see that Andrew has done a marginal job in this particular responsibility. If you think otherwise, we're just going to have to disagree. Do our defensive woes start with Andrew? Of course not. But he's pretty damn high up on the list in my opinion, almost hand in hand with our inability to prevent perimeter penetration.

I do agree that rebounds don't equal good defense; far from it. I thought he was again mediocre at best last night in terms of paint protection. But I'm willing to cut him some slack because he at least made some effort to control the backboards. After the Eddie Curry impression he's been doing over the past month, that was refreshing.

Last night did underscore an unfortunate aspect of Andrew's mentality. I don't think it's any coincidence at all that he had his best rebound total in 37 games and his best block total in 10 on the same night that he set a career-high for points. Unfortunately, his effort in relation to dirty work seems to directly correlate with the number of touches he gets on offense.

On a team that desperately needs some sort of interior presence, yet is exceptionally deep in terms of scoring punch, that's not an attitude we can afford to indulge.