Why key stat provides optimism for Lakers’ defense

The Lakers aren’t where they want to be defensively. 

But they have reasons to be optimistic that they can be a lot better on that end of the floor.

The Lakers entered Friday’s home game against the Trail Blazers ranked No. 16 in defensive rating according to Cleaning The Glass, which filters out garbage time. 

Not quite the “nasty” defensive team starting center Walker Kessler said the Lakers would be. Or even a “pretty good” defense, as coach JJ Redick put it, saying the team elevated its expectations for that end of the floor after preseason. 

But the small sample of the Lakers’ first nine games showed a defensive area that the team is prolific in that can help them maximize their defensive potential: forcing turnovers.

The Lakers entered their 10th game of the season ranked No. 2 in defensive turnover percentage at 18.8, just behind the Raptors (19.1%) at No. 1.

“It shows that we have a lot of potential,” Kessler said. “A couple of things we gotta clean up, but it shows that we’re willing to be aggressive and turn guys over, especially in the half court.”

The Lakers entered Friday having forced at least 14 turnovers in every game they played, including 16 or more in seven of those nine games. 

It has provided a spark to their league-best offense, with the Lakers leading the league in points scored off turnovers (23.4).

“Got guys that fly around, play the defensive end the right way and are in the right spots,” Austin Reaves said. “Matisse [Thybulle], [Ziaire Williams], Jake [LaRavia], [Quentin Grimes], you can go down the line. So good defensive players that are in the right spot at the right time that stick to our schemes.” 

That last part is key. 

The Lakers entered Friday ranked No. 8 in half-court defense, in part, because they don’t have to compromise their defense to create turnovers. 

“I’ve talked about this before as it relates to giving offensive players freedom and creativity as long as it’s done within our system and our rules and our structure: It’s no different defensively,” Redick said. “[We] want to disrupt, but we want to disrupt within our schemes. So, you can be a defensive playmaker by doing our defense versus gambling — there’s a big difference.

“You’ve got to give those guys freedom, too.”

Forcing turnovers isn’t the be-all, end-all of good defensive teams. 

But it helps.

Six of the top-12 defensive teams from last season were also top 12 in defensive turnover percentage. And it was seven of 12 the previous year. 

The Lakers have other areas they need to clean up to make their defense pop: defensive rebounding (especially when Kessler isn’t on the floor) and their own turnovers (which leads to easier scoring opportunities for opponents) are among them.

But they’ve found an aspect of defense to be proud over during the first 2 ½ weeks of the season.