With Lonzo Ball sidelined, the Los Angeles Lakers have looked a side devoid of not only their best ball handler, but also arguably their best defender. Ball is certainly the team’s best perimeter defender and his abilities are hard to replicate with no other player on the roster coming close.
After practice on Monday, Lakers head coach Luke Walton talked about Ball’s defense and the struggles in replacing his production.
“He allows us to switch a lot. If they want to run any pick and roll minus the center, the 1-5 pick and roll, we can just switch it. And we feel confident Lonzo can guard most of the other players there. We have Lonzo picking up full-court the other team’s points guard. He’s great at instincts, getting deflections. A lot of the schemes don’t change but our aggression and a few of the switching schemes change without him out there.”
James also recently commented on Ball’s absence from the lineup defensively, saying the Lakers were missing a ‘huge piece’ of the lineup. With Ball on the court, the Lakers can be aggressive in their coverages on players and in their switching, as Walton said.
In his younger years, Rondo may have been decent at switching onto bigger defenders but his best years as a defender on long behind him. Ball does not face those hurdles and, as a result, is a more apt defender particularly in a switching scheme.
Ball’s absence is a microcosm of the problems the team has faced this year. Without having a fully healthy lineup, the Lakers are in a constant state of flux as new players revolve in and out from the trainer’s room to the court. Josh Hart is the latest expected to miss time, joining classmate Ball on the bench.
