Last season, Matthews ranked 2nd in the NBA in defensive rating at 98.3. (minimum 15 mpg). His new teammate Marc Gasol was 3rd (98.3), and Alex Caruso was 10th (101.0). https://t.co/45Jf9iD71J
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) November 24, 2020
Matthews 2nd in def rtg at 98.3 and Marc Gasol 3rd at 98.9 last season
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November 24, 2020 3 Comments
Enough with this BS that the Lakers only added offense this offseason. They added the second and third best defenders in the league. Wes and Marc not close to being ‘washed.’
When they can stay on the floor, especially in Marc’s case, they’re solid defensive additions. Just not going to minimize the injury concerns for both players is all. Not sure anyone has been saying “all we added is offense” but rather that the defese and grit on the team has indeed improved. The cost of that has been signing vet players who have either been recently injured (Gasol) or had a significant injury recently (Wes) but the same issue would have been there with Cousins and we just lost a player (Rondo) who was often hurt or MIA during the regular season but had the highest impact when it was needed the most.
As we said early on when the schedule was set to start in December: managing the vets is going to be a tight rope act for the Lakers, but that would obviously include every team. Health of the roster is concern #1, goes without saying but will often be saId.