LOS ANGELES – Amid the Los Angeles Lakers’ 12-4 start to the season, they are among the middle of the pack when it comes to the defensive end. The Lakers’ defense could stand to get better, but the team has had a few strong individual defenders this year, including Marcus Smart.
Lakers head coach has called Marcus Smart the quarterback of the team’s defense so far, a label that Redick often used to describe LeBron James’ effort defensively last season. As such, Smart generally has a good pulse of where the team’s defense is to begin the season, and where they can stand to improve.
Following Lakers’ practice on Saturday afternoon, Smart issued a grade for the Lakers’ defense through the first month of the regular season.
“For us, I think we have a long way to go, but we like where we’re going and the direction that we’re heading. I would probably say right now, we’re a B-. We kind of let some things slip,” Smart said. “We got to clean up a lot of things, but I like the direction we’re going. I like the attention to detail we’re trying to go into every game with, and trying to come out with an outcome of being a great defensive team.”
When it comes to defensive rating, Smart is among the top-five on the team in terms of regular rotation players with a rating of 113.5, as per StatMuse. He is the only guard in the last 30 years to have won the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Award since Gary Payton did so in 1996.
Smart has brought a level of toughness on the defensive end that the Lakers lacked last season. A purveyor of inspirational sayings, Smart has one quote in particular that he loves to use when talking about what it takes to be a great defensive team, and that is, ‘the toughest team sets the rules.’
“I live by that quote, and I think we see it every day,” Smart said. “When one team comes out and they’re more aggressive, everything goes their way. The way they get calls to the way that the ball falls, the way that they get loose balls and shots fall that probably wouldn’t fall and things of that nature.”
Smart signed with the Lakers in the offseason after agreeing to a contract buyout with the Washington Wizards. He’s appeared in 13 games, including nine starts, at a little over 27 minutes per game. He’s averaging 9.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals.
