{"id":516412,"date":"2026-09-18T07:33:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T05:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/?p=516412"},"modified":"2026-09-18T07:33:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T05:33:23","slug":"nba-scout-the-lakers-will-have-a-problem-defensively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportando.basketball\/en\/nba-scout-the-lakers-will-have-a-problem-defensively\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA scout: \u201cThe Lakers will have a problem defensively\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Los Angeles Lakers made significant changes to their roster during one of the most important offseasons in recent years, putting the keys to the franchise in the hands of <strong>Luka Doncic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An NBA scout, speaking anonymously to <em>Sports Illustrated<\/em>, discussed the Lakers\u2019 roster and believes the team should have plenty of offensive talent, but could face significant questions on the defensive end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u201cWho is going to defend?\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think the Lakers will have a problem defensively. Kessler is known for his shot blocking, or basically known for his defense, but he is a good shot blocker. I don&#8217;t think he&#8217;s generally a good defender. But he can protect the paint. So the first step is to not give up layups. I want to see how he does.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe Jazz always wanted him to be like Rudy Gobert and it never happened. But he&#8217;s very good either in pick-and-roll or drop coverage. If he gave help, he was pretty good at protecting the paint, but he doesn&#8217;t do that something extra. He will help them with defensive rebounding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cBut looking at their roster, they&#8217;re going to need help defensively. Offensively, Doncic and Reaves are excellent. But who is going to defend? The answer is easy: Reaves, because Doncic isn&#8217;t going to do it. So will defending the best opposing player make things more difficult for Reaves? Will they find someone else who can defend the best opposing player? I don&#8217;t know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Reaves and Doncic provide offensive firepower<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scout believes the Lakers should have plenty of options offensively, particularly once defenses begin making adjustments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOffensively, they have enough talent, especially when the adjustments start happening. Reaves will have a lot of touches. And with the attention Doncic draws and his ISOs, there will be many times when the ball goes to Reaves and he does what he does best.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vanderbilt and Mamukelashvili<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scout expects <strong>Jarred Vanderbilt<\/strong> to be one of the Lakers\u2019 most important defensive players, while also discussing <strong>Sanders Mamukelashvili<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI imagine they believe Jarred Vanderbilt will be one of their best defenders. I&#8217;m a big fan of Mamukelashvili, but he can defend a certain type of player. He can&#8217;t defend most of the players in the NBA that you need someone special for.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Will the Lakers rely on their offense?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The anonymous scout believes Los Angeles could ultimately try to compensate for its defensive limitations by simply outscoring opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMaybe the Lakers will try to score more than everyone else. But they&#8217;ll have to hope Walker will be the rim protector they&#8217;re betting everything on.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An anonymous NBA scout believes Los Angeles has enough offensive talent, but questions who will defend the opposition\u2019s best players next season<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":516413,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_spbk_hide_featured":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[399],"tags":[],"rumors":[],"typology":[],"posizionamento":[],"class_list":["post-516412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - 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