Coming into this season, it was believed that the Los Angeles Lakers had a lot of potential on offense, but defense would be a major issue. Head coach Luke Walton knew his team needed to make major improvements on defense, which is why he spent most of training camp focusing on that end of the floor.
As a result, so far the Lakers defense has actually shown signs of growth in this early season, while the offense has struggled to find any kind of consistency.
Walton however, sees this as a positive, noting that he’s happy the defense is ahead of the offense considering how much they needed to improve and that offense is easier to develop via Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report:
In a nutshell, Luke Walton is happy that his team's offense is lagging behind its defense – given how much improvement was needed on D
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) October 30, 2017
The Lakers' defense, while imperfect, is keeping them in games currently – their offense a bit of a mess
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) October 30, 2017
Walton said he believes offense is easier to develop, that will come around – defense takes more of an effort to build as a unit
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) October 30, 2017
The Lakers defense has definitely kept them in games so far this season and having that as the foundation of the team is important. If the Lakers want to get out in transition, they have to play good defense, get stops, and create turnovers.
While the offense has struggled mightily so far, Walton’s squad does have plenty of potential. Brook Lopez, Brandon Ingram, Jordan Clarkson, and Kyle Kuzma can all be big-time offensive players and if the Lakers can maintain and improve their effort on defense, it’s only a matter of time before their offense catches up.