The Los Angeles Lakers strengthened their roster during the summer by signing various skilled players who would complement Luka Doncic and LeBron James during the new season.
Still, it’s uncertain if these changes will be enough, or if the Lakers will keep struggling with a key problem.
Jovan Buha on *SiriusXM NBA Radio* referred to the problem of the Lakers in terms of defense and the need for a change.
“On paper, this has got to be a top 10, if not a top five offense. You’ve got Luka, you’ve got Austin, LeBron, Deandre, Rui—even up into Marcus Smart, Gabe Vincent. You’ve got six, seven guys who can score 15+ on a night. To me, defensively, where they need to make a change, they look at Marcus Smart, Gabe, even Jarred Vanderbilt your top perimeter defenders, it’s good, but when you look at what OKC has, what Minnesota has, what Houston has, I don’t think they’re in the same stratosphere. You’re ultimately at a disadvantage on the defensive end, and I think they need a change there,” Buha said.
Doncic, James, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Deandre Ayton – all of them are set to score a lot of points in the upcoming season of the Lakers.
Fans are excited to see each of these players, and more, go off on any particular night and light up the scoreboard.
However, that won’t cure all the woes of the Lakers because their defense has not been right for quite a while.
The loss of Anthony Davis really hurt them, and even the addition of Ayton won’t clear them of all their defensive issues. They have some players who are really good at blocking and defending, but some of them are really below standard, and that is where they are likely to fail, particularly when they are playing the stronger teams in their league, such as the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
Buha believes the Lakers need to remedy this sooner rather than later, but there isn’t a clear indication of exactly what they would do.
Up until then, the Lakers would need to make do with their current team.
They’re not a bad team by all means, but there are some genuine concerns about whether this team can defend its foes.
