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Interesting article from Silver Screen & Roll especially with some possible implications to this year's Lakers defense.

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2013 ... ncorrectly

Some stats mentioned in the article:

Total Defensive Efficiency: 1.066 points per possession (ranked 20th in the league)
Opponent Fast Break Possessions: 9.1% of total possessions (ranked 28th in the league)
Opponent Fast Break Efficiency: 1.868 points per fast break (ranked 27th in the league)
Opponent Fast Break Points: 15.9% of total points (ranked 29th in the league)
Defensive Efficiency in Set Defensive Possessions: 0.986 points per possession (ranked 9th in the league)

Clearly we were terrible in transition and I think there are many contributing factors:

1) We had didn't have athletic guards/wing players; also we mostly used an un-athletic front court with Gasol or Jamison at the 4
2) We shot a lot of 3s while not shooting at a particularly high percentage (3rd in the league in attempts but 19th in the league in 3p%)
3) We turned the ball over a lot (23rd in the league, Kobe primarily but Dwight also in the top 15)
4) Lack of a good/consistent defensive system (hard to really measure how much this can help but I know people were complaining about this)

I think it is premature to predict that we will be "worse" at defense this year. Our transition defense will be (hopefully much) improved with the addition of Johnson/Farmar/Henry/etc and overall quicker lineup and our turnovers will be reduced playing through Pau in the post instead of Dwight. Of course our half court defense will suffer from the loss of Dwight and Metta, however, if we implement Rambis's defensive system well we may be able to offset the drop.

If you want to be optimistic: I feel like there is so much room to improve in transition defense that our overall defensive efficiency will actually be higher this year than last year.

If you want to be pessimistic: half court defense is still the most important and was one of the reasons why we were able to win so many close games last year. An improvement in overall defensive efficiency might not actually translate to wins.

ArC_man wrote:Interesting article from Silver Screen & Roll especially with some possible implications to this year's Lakers defense.

http://www.silverscreenandroll.com/2013 ... ncorrectly

Some stats mentioned in the article:

Total Defensive Efficiency: 1.066 points per possession (ranked 20th in the league)
Opponent Fast Break Possessions: 9.1% of total possessions (ranked 28th in the league)
Opponent Fast Break Efficiency: 1.868 points per fast break (ranked 27th in the league)
Opponent Fast Break Points: 15.9% of total points (ranked 29th in the league)
Defensive Efficiency in Set Defensive Possessions: 0.986 points per possession (ranked 9th in the league)

Clearly we were terrible in transition and I think there are many contributing factors:

1) We had didn't have athletic guards/wing players; also we mostly used an un-athletic front court with Gasol or Jamison at the 4
2) We shot a lot of 3s while not shooting at a particularly high percentage (3rd in the league in attempts but 19th in the league in 3p%)
3) We turned the ball over a lot (23rd in the league, Kobe primarily but Dwight also in the top 15)
4) Lack of a good/consistent defensive system (hard to really measure how much this can help but I know people were complaining about this)

I think it is premature to predict that we will be "worse" at defense this year. Our transition defense will be (hopefully much) improved with the addition of Johnson/Farmar/Henry/etc and overall quicker lineup and our turnovers will be reduced playing through Pau in the post instead of Dwight. Of course our half court defense will suffer from the loss of Dwight and Metta, however, if we implement Rambis's defensive system well we may be able to offset the drop.

If you want to be optimistic: I feel like there is so much room to improve in transition defense that our overall defensive efficiency will actually be higher this year than last year.

If you want to be pessimistic: half court defense is still the most important and was one of the reasons why we were able to win so many close games last year. An improvement in overall defensive efficiency might not actually translate to wins.

I'm optimistic and having some athletic younger wings and 4's makes ALL the difference in transition defense. Metta and Kobe never got back in transition. And even though Nash got back he can't stop anybody so you need to get others back. Dwight also was terrible in transition.

And don't forget chemistry and team play in 1/2 court basketball. A lot of defense is just playing hard and players didn't really enjoy playing with each other last season...and that results in less effort, chemistry, and cohesiveness.

You mentioned Rambis as well. Having a full training camp also helps.

We need to take a page out of Tom Thibodeau's book and not concern ourselves with offensive rebounds. Once a shot goes up our guys need to make they're way back and be in position to slow/prevent fast breaks. Gasol and Hill will just have to play it smart. If they're not in good position to get an offensive rebound then they need to be aware of it so that they're not caught under the basket and chasing the play from behind.

This has been a big issue for us for years now and I'm surprised we haven't managed to address it yet.

Turnovers are also an issue and I think we'll be able to do a better job this year as I expect the spacing and ball movement to be much better. Our half-court defense is likely going to regress so limiting transition opportunities is key if we hope to be average (at best) defensively.

Couldn't agree more. I wish there were someone looking at these forums or someone watching the games and replies from fans? Sometimes it's best to get an outside opinion and not just listen to the Pro's ...

Notice when watching games on the TV you hear the commentators explaining what the losing team needs to do, maybe someone should listen to these guys and explain to this at halftime - things could be different?