Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton is very pleased with how his team has defended thus far this season. Walton even went so far as to say he’s happiest about the Lakers' new-found defensive consistency.
Luke Walton: “what I’m happiest about is the defensive consistency.” #Lakers
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) November 20, 2017
Walton certainly has a good reason to like how his team has fared on that end of the court. After finishing dead-last in terms of defensive efficiency over the last couple of years, the Lakers are surprisingly fourth in the NBA in that category, ahead of the Golden State Warriors, the San Antonio Spurs, and the Utah Jazz.
The additions of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Lonzo Ball have certainly helped shore up their backcourt defense, which was a major weak spot last season, while fourth-year Julius Randle has finally shown some significant improvement on that end of the court.
It’s surprisingly been the offense which has let them down this year, in large part due to Ball’s shooting struggles.
However, the defense has been able to bail them out in the meantime as Ball continues to work out some of his issues. If they can continue to play as well defensively when Ball does figure things out offensively, Walton should have even more reason to be happy.
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