LeBron James loves that the Los Angeles Lakers are filled with a bunch of “defensive-minded guys.”
The Lakers have above good defenders everywhere you look. The elite defenders on the roster are Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard, Avery Bradley and JaVale McGee, while Danny Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and LeBron are guys who play high-level defense as well, just not as consistently as Howard, Davis, Bradley and McGee:
LeBron James: "Defense will create the best offense for you, & we have a bunch of defensive-minded guys. You know, Dwight has been Defensive Player of the Year, JaVale has always been very good defensively, [Anthony Davis] as well, Danny was 1st-Team All-Defense last yr,…"
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) October 28, 2019
LeBron: "I've been on a couple of Defensive teams as well, KCP has always been solid. We've got Rondo when he comes back. Everyone is just buying into that, & if we can do that & just be on the string through the course of a game, it's only going to give our offense better opps."
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) October 28, 2019
In early September, Davis said he’s going to hold LeBron accountable on defense. James wasn’t his usual self on defense last season for the Lakers.
Davis, who also said he wants to be Defensive Player of the Year this season, wants to make sure he does everything he can to help LeBron make an All-Defensive team with him.
The Lakers, through three games, have been hard to defend with LeBron and Davis leading the charge on offense. If Davis can keep James engaged on defense all season, the Purple and Gold could cruise through the rugged Western Conference since they’ll be difficult to score on, although the Clippers look like they are going to be tough to handle once Paul George comes back and joins Kawhi Leonard in the lineup.
The Lakers are giving up 99.7 points through the first three games of the season. That's good for sixth place in the NBA.