The Los Angeles Lakers may finally have discovered the winning formula to transform their offensively talented but defensively flawed roster into a team with a juggernaut 3-point offense and aggressive team zone defense.
After losing 3 straight including 2 straight ‘clutch’ losses, the Lakers were playing like the Lakers always had, guilty of not sharing the ball enough, turning it over too much, and taking and making too few 3-point shots. The Lakers 116.0 offensive rating season-to-date was #11, their 116.8 defensive rating #24, and their -0.7 net rating #19. Their 25.2 assists was #21, their 14.8 turnover #19, their 11.7 3PM #23, and their 33.2 3PA #25.
During their last 7 games, the finally healthy Lakers have been playing like the offensive juggernaut everybody expected they would be with Luka, LeBron and elevating their defense by deploying smart zone defenses.
Over the last 7-game stretch, the Lakers’ 121.1 offensive rating was #5, their 107.3 defensive rating #7, and their +13.8 net rating #2. Their 28.3 assists was #6, their 12.3 turnovers #6, their 14.9 3PM #6, their 39.0 3PA #14.
While the sample size is small, the Lakers underwent an astonishing transformation over a 7-game period to make giant leaps from #11 to #5 offensively, from #24 to #7 defensively, and from #19 to #2 in net rating.
The Lakers transformed their offense by increasing assists from 25.2 to 28.3, cutting turnovers from 14.8 to 12.3, raising 3PM’s from 11.7 to 14.9, and upping 3PA’s from 33.2 to 39.0 while deploying smart zone defenses.
The big questions are what’s behind the Lakers’ dramatic turnaround on offense and defense, is this new level of performance sustainable, and what does it say about the Lakers ceilings offensively and defensively.
TRANSFORMING LAKERS INTO JUGGERNAUT OFFENSE
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Heading into the last month of the regular season, the Lakers essentially have transformed what was a Bottom-10 NBA offense into a 3-ball powered offensive juggernaut that’s now playing like a Top-5 offense in the league.
So what’s behind the Lakers sudden meteoric offensive jump from the middle of the pack to the 5th best offensive rating in the league the last 7 games? The answer is more assists, fewer turnovers, and more threes.
Basically, the Lakers simply transformed their offense into a juggernaut.
In the last 7 games, they created 3.1 more assists, had 2.5 fewer turnovers, took 5.8 more 3-point shots, and made 2.5 more 3-point shots per game.
The result was a 5.1 points per game increase in the Lakers offensive rating for the last 7 games vs. the first 3/4 of the season primarily due to taking 5.8 more 3-point shots and making 3.2 more 3-point shots than earlier in year. Behind the scenes, two things happened to open the door for the Lakers to transform their offense into a juggernaut. The first was the trade for Luke Kennard and the second was the new stable starting lineup and rotation.
JJ Redick has to given credit for doing a fabulous job keeping this team motivated and together, especially since many players are on expiring contracts and unsure of what their future will be in purple and gold.
Redick has smartly focused on playing two starter-quality 5-man lineups with strong positive analytics results. The first is a Doncic and Reaves offense-first lineup and the second is James alone in a defensive lineup.
There’s no question the Lakers have transformed their offense into a juggernaut the last 7 games. If Redick can keep the Lakers playing offense anywhere close to the level of the last 7 games, LA will compete for a ring.
TRANSFORMING LAKERS WITH SMART ZONE DEFENSE
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Finally healthy for the last quarter of the regular season, the Lakers have transformed their defense from a Bottom-10 defense to a Top-5 defense by integrating a smart zone defense with their other team defensive tools.
So what’s behind the Lakers sudden and surprising Top-5 team defense? After a frustrating first 3/4 of the season, JJ Redick has finally figured out how to get his talented offense-first roster to play inspired defense.
Redick’s solution was to add a 2/3 smart zone to their defensive toolkit to provide a different look, disrupt opponent offensive rhythm, eat up clock early in possessions, and simplify roles for weak individual defenders.
The gratifying result has been a 9.5 points per game reduction in their defensive rating, going from a 116.8 defensive rating (#24) for the first 3/4 of the season to a 107.3 defensive rating (#6) for the last 7 games.
While the Lakers must prove over the 17 games left in the regular season that their enhanced defense is real and sustainable, both the eye test and the analytics numbers confirm that LA’s defensive improvement is for real.
Part of why the Lakers players are playing better defense are the savvy moves Redick made to share the ball more and get everybody involved on offense so they feel like they’re again playing for their Lakers future.
While everybody expected Redick to be an excellent offensive head coach, nobody really expected him to be able to get the Lakers players defending with multiple efforts at the elite level they have performed last 7 games.
There’s no question that using an innovative new smart zone defense 20% of the time has transformed the Lakers’ defense into a Top-5 unit that enables them to better protect the rim and defend the point-of-attack.
TRANSFORMING LAKERS INTO CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM
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Offense and defense in basketball are synergistically connected. Good offense leads to good defense and good defense leads to good offense while bad offense leads to bad defense and bad defense leads to bad offense.
Right now, the Lakers are reaping the synergistic benefit of transforming their offense into a juggernaut and their defense into a smart zone defense. Their good offense and defense are synergistically improving each other.
Eliminating bad offense from turnovers and low percentage shots clearly helps the Lakers defense just as eliminating bad defense that allows fast breaks or offensive rebounds can make their offense be more efficient.
Right now, much of the Lakers’ big improvement in offense and defense has been due to Redick and his staff finding the right combinations of personnel with enough offense and defense to win minutes on the court.
There are still challenges with what to do with LeBron when all three play together, how to better protect the rim without any elite shot blockers on the roster, and how to have better point-of-attack defense playing man.
Functionally, Redick has opted for an offense-first starting lineup led by Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves and a second defense-first starter-quality lineup led by LeBron James with several of the team’s best defenders.
Two defenders who have been crucial is getting the Lakers new smart zone defense to provide better point-of-attack defense and rim protection are Jarred Vanderbilt and Jaxson Hayes, who have ignited the zone defense.
While the Lakers still have a ‘flawed’ roster, Redick and his coaching staff have done a fantastick job transforming their offense into a juggernaut and their defense into a Top-5 unit boasting an innovative smart zone defense.
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