First order of business for Lakers: Fix the help defense

alh1020 · #1 12-11-12, 02:46 PM

It�s been a pretty regular happening for the Lakers the past few games:

The opposing point guard blows past Chris Duhon without much resistance. Dwight Howard sees it coming early (there�s a reason he�s three-time Defensive Player of the Year) and rotates over to cut off the lane � but then nobody helps the helper. Nobody makes the next rotation to pick up Howard�s man, or if they do it is late. Either way a big man gets a shot at the rim or there is a wide-open guy on the perimeter for a kick-out corner three.

The Lakers defensive rotations are maybe their biggest weakness right now (outside of injuries, anyway) and if they are going to start winning that is the first thing that has to be fixed.

Howard is understandably frustrated as he tries to quarterback this thing and he said as much to Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com.

�Guys have to understand I�m going to try to block shots and I�m going to help as early as I can and I�m going to be there,� Howard was quoted as saying. �We have to get each other�s back.�

And, Kobe Bryant endorsed the frustration, saying, �He should be. He can�t do everything defensively. He�s doing as much as he can, changing shots and the things of that nature. But when teams are getting out in the break and laying the ball up so many times, there�s not much you can do.�

The thing is, Kobe is part of the problem � his rotations have been terrible at times and at other points he was busy arguing a call and didn�t even get back over half court to help in transition. Howard has barked at Kobe because of it. The bigger issue with Bryant is that he has gone back to doing a lot of roaming when his man doesn�t have the ball � he is gambling for steals and getting caught way out of position because of it. Our own Darius Soriano broke it down with video over at ForumBlueandGold.com.

We shouldn�t just single out Kobe, there isn�t a Laker who is blameless. They all are slow on rotations, get caught ball watching and when you then play a team like the Jazz that moves well off the ball you pay a serious price. But with Kobe as the team leader, more is expected of him.

While Mike D�Antoni�s offense might be free flowing, a defense is about discipline. And right now the Lakers have none on that end of the floor. That is not something the return of Steve Nash and Pau Gasol is going to instantly fix, but it is the biggest key to the Lakers turning this thing around. They are scoring points, but the Thunder, Jazz and even for a quarter Magic and Rockets exposed them on the defensive end. If the Lakers defense doesn�t improve, the team won�t, at least not to the level Lakers fans expect.

Related link: First order of business for Lakers: Fix the help defense | ProBasketballTalk

alh1020 · #2 12-11-12, 02:53 PM

Personally, I hope the Lakers are stuck with Gasol. They stole him from Memphis when they acquired him, with the league's blessing, and now they want to dump him and his bad knees on someone else. And with the Lakers playing Cleveland tonight (11Dec), I got to wonder if the Laker brain trust will be watching how the Lakers perform or be drooling at the prospect of acquiring Anderson Varejao with a slick "now you see him, now you don't" slight of the hand trick.

td4mvp2k · #3 12-11-12, 02:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alh1020

Personally, I hope the Lakers are stuck with Gasol. They stole him from Memphis when they acquired him, with the league's blessing, and now they want to dump him and his bad knees on someone else. And with the Lakers playing Cleveland tonight (11Dec), I got to wonder if the Laker brain trust will be watching how the Lakers perform or be drooling at the prospect of acquiring Anderson Varejao with a slick "now you see him, now you don't" slight of the hand trick.

Couldnt agree more.

Jose_TheGenius · #4 12-11-12, 03:51 PM

"Kobe is part of the problem"

how does the author propose to help fix the Lakers defense if the Lakers have a head coach who doesn't coach it? the final score of a game could be 120-119 Bobcats over Lakers and D'Antoni will rant about needing to play better offense. what a lot of writers and critics don't realize about D'Antoni's style is you can't lock guys down every game if you're looking to run and get a boatload more possessions in a game than in a set up offense style. they're trying to score every 7 seconds or less, that's 17 seconds left over in every one of their possessions during a game. they can't play great D, just enough defense when it's close at the end and D'Antoni doesn't know anything about that.

there's Lakers fans who say "they need time to gel". they're offense is great, they're just missing a key component in a D minded coach. Steve Nash returning will make their D worse.

fakemxcan · #5 12-11-12, 04:07 PM

it might sound bad wishing bad on things on players, but i kind of hope nash is out a while. The longer he is out, the more they will think that he is going to solve all their problems, and the less time they will have to do something about it once they figure out that he wont.

td4mvp2k · #6 12-11-12, 07:10 PM

Lakers down 15 vs Cavs at half! Ha!

alh1020 · #7 12-11-12, 07:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fakemxcan

it might sound bad wishing bad on things on players, but i kind of hope nash is out a while. The longer he is out, the more they will think that he is going to solve all their problems, and the less time they will have to do something about it once they figure out that he wont.

Report: Steve Nash out at least another two weeks, nerve irritation keeping him sidelined

Stop me if you�ve heard this before, but Steve Nash is still about two weeks away from returning to the Lakers.

Nash, still recovering from a small fracture in his fibula is progressing with his rehab, but is still not ready to join the team, according to David Leon Moore of USA Today:

D�Antoni speculated Sunday that Nash might return at some point on the upcoming road trip but Nash told USA TODAY Sports that won�t happen.
�I think it will be at least another two weeks,� Nash said. �I can move. I can shoot. I just can�t run full speed. And I�m not even in shape. I�ll probably need at least a week of practice once I start running.�

If this timeline sounds familiar, it�s because it is. Nash has seemingly been about two weeks away for several weeks now, with each update given regarding his playing status seemingly defaulting to this generic timeline.

While Lakers� fans express their frustration surrounding Nash�s delayed return, it seems there�s some clarity as to why his recovery is taking as long as it is. Mark Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports that it�s not that the fracture hasn�t healed, but that Nash has still been feeling pain due to nerve irritation in his leg:

Steve Nash�s delayed return to the Los Angeles Lakers has more to do with nerve irritation in his lower left leg than the fracture he suffered, sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Nash appeared set to return from a non-displaced fractured left fibula about three to four weeks ago. His fibula has healed well, but what caused the setback was a nerve irritation that surfaced in the leg during his rehabilitation, sources said. The nerve caused Nash pain any time he put pressure on it.

Well, that doesn�t sound good at all.

The good news is that Nash has begun to ramp up his rehab. He�s doing more conditioning work and before every game he�s doing ball handling and shooting drills. So, while he�s not yet practicing, the hope is that he�s getting closer to returning and that he�ll be able to play soon after he�s cleared.

His familiarity with Mike D�Antoni�s system should also aid in a quick return once he�s cleared medically. And while there will be more adjustments by he and his teammates to playing together in this system (rather than Mike Brown�s), the fact that Nash knows the ins and outs of the Lakers� scheme will be helpful.

Of course that won�t fully be known to be true until Nash is back on the court. Which won�t be for another two weeks. At least.

Related link: Report: Steve Nash out at least another two weeks, nerve irritation keeping him sidelined | ProBasketballTalk

td4mvp2k · #8 12-11-12, 07:40 PM

Just got word that Metta got a hold of the guy that started the brawl in Detroit and are set to have dinner together! Ha!

SleepyAdamII · #9 12-11-12, 07:42 PM

I have to admit, I can't help myself but go to lakersground and troll their forums. It messes with your mind the amount of mental gymnastics their fans do to explain why the Lakers suck.