The Los Angeles Lakers are currently 8-7 for the NBA 2016-17 season and they're one of those teams that don't find it hard putting the ball in the basket. However, they are having trouble stopping opposing teams from doing the same against them and it's causing them some games.
Luke Walton is not worried about their offense but admits they have to do more on the defensive end in the NBA 2016-17 season. "We're playing well enough to win games, but we're not giving ourselves a lot of outs with the silly mistakes we're making," Walton said.
It's not that they lack effort, it's just that the Los Angeles Lakers are not there yet defensively as a team. They're missing rotations and they're not protecting the paint. Along with Luke Walton, Larry Nance Jr. and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers' bigs are taking ownership of their shortcomings on defense in the NBA 2016-17 season.
They are currently scoring 109.8 points per game but they are also allowing 109.6 points per game on a league-high 47.5% from the field according to nba.com. They are also averaging a league-low 3.8 blocks per game in the NBA 2016-17 season.
They have been so up and down this season that they scored more than 100 points against defensive-minded teams like the Atlanta Hawks, San Antonio Spurs and the Indiana Pacers and then fail to reach the 100 mark against less defensive-minded teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sacramento Kinds, and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Lakers do not have anyone aside from Luol Deng that can guard elite perimeter scorers against opposing teams. Andrew Wiggins tore their defense apart by dropping his career-high 47 points on them and then the most recent is Jimmy Butler's 40 points.
The Los Angeles Lakers came into the NBA 2016-17 season expecting to rebuild but after a few games, they now believe they can make the playoffs. If they want to do so and make some legit noise come playoff time, they have to start improving their defense now. For more updates on the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA 2016-17 season, check back here in Gamenguide!