The Credits

It’s time to stop pulling our hair out over penetrating point guards. The reality is that, with the current rules in the NBA, penetration by quick guards is virtually impossible to stop. The way to defend against penetrating guards is not by expecting your point guard to be a true defensive stopper and actually be able to stay in front of them, but by bringing the help with the bigs when that penetration does occur.

Look at the potential strength of our defense at the other four positions, and then take into account that PG penetration is to be expected, but in many other ways Fisher is still a good, savvy defender, and I don’t think it is at all unlikely for us to have the best defense in the league this year.

That doesn’t make it likely, either. Especially statistically speaking. But this is where there is a big difference between stats and skill/ability. Consider last year: in a dozen different ways, according to a dozen different statistical metrics, the Lakers were not the best team in the league last year, statistically speaking. The big difference was that when the time came, when the rubber met the road, when it was do or die, the Lakers were the best team in the league.

It’s a question of practice versus ability. The Lakers were not the best team in the league last year in practice, over the course of the whole season. But they were the team with the greatest ability, and when the time came to put that ability into play, then the 82-game history of the season, and all the statistical metrics that said this or that, didn’t matter.

I expect that to be the case again this year. This is a team that plays for the championship, not for regular season records or metrics. They’re not concerned about having the highest scoring average, the lowest points-against average, or securing the top spot in Mark Stein’s rankings. They only care about holding up the trophy at the end. Therefore, I don’t necessarily expect them to try and be the best defensive team according to metrics, across 82 games.

But I do think they have the ability to be better defensively than anyone else, and I do expect them to develop that ability, not in such a way that they always use it, even against the Bobcats, and wear themselves out — but in such a way that it is refined enough to be able to go at 110% when they actually need it.

Kobe Bryant is actually a microcosm of all of this. Does he play balls to the wall defense on every play? Definitely not. And to a certain extent, it’s probably good that he doesn’t. He may get a couple more years of playing at the top level out of those legs because he hasn’t wasted them on the Clippers. But do you doubt that he is the best perimeter defender in the league when the situation calls for it? Absolutely not. When he’s dialed in, no one can defend like him. And his ability is honed well enough to have to ability to step it up to that top level when necessary.

That is what I expect this team to be able to do. And in that sense, I absolutely agree with Wondah that we will be the best defensive team in the NBA this year. Much like Kobe, they won’t play like the best defenders all the time; but much like Kobe, that won’t change the fact that they’ll be the best at defending when the time calls for it.

Oops, sorry Ben R.