Last year, the Los Angeles Lakers had a few speedy and tough perimeter defenders such as Marcus Smart and Gabe Vincent.
But head coach JJ Redick rarely asked them to apply full-court pressure on the opponent’s best perimeter scorers because his overall defensive personnel was mediocre. The main issue was a lack of quality rim protection, with Deandre Ayton allowing his matchups to score over 59.3% at the rim after getting blown by.
This year could be different. Walker Kessler, the Lakers’ new center, averaged 3.4 blocks PER36 in his four years with the Utah Jazz, establishing himself as one of the league’s best rim protectors. He also consistently had one of the best individual OPP FG% against his matchups, posing problems for even the likes of Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic and Chet Holmgren when guarding them in 1-on-1 situations.
Lakers Defense Gets Huge Lift
LakeShowLife’s Tyler Watts has urged Redick to assign Quentin Gimes the role of a full-court “pressing” defender due to the insurance of having Kessler protecting the rim.
“The NBA has seen teams picking up fullcourt more and those squads have largely seen their defense be better than the sum of its parts,” wrote Watts.
“The Lakers finally have a rim-protector on the backline and should look to wear the opponent down by letting Grimes press.”
Further to Watts’ point, the Houston Rockets (with Amen Thompson), San Antonio Spurs (with Stephon Castle), Oklahoma City Thunder (with Cason Wallace), Detroit Pistons (with Ausar Thompson) and Knicks (with OG Anunoby) did a lot of full-court pressing during the playoffs, which yielded productive results for the most part.
Watts believes the 6-foot-5 Grimes can perform a similar role for the Lakers, while citing a defensive possession against Jaylen Brown from last season.
“He will draw the toughest defensive assignment on most nights and is at his best as a pesky option,” Watts wrote of Grimes, who signed four-year, $60M deal to sign with the Lakers this offseason.
“It is possessions like this one where he wreaked havoc on Jaylen Brown that show Redick should lean into Grimes picking up fullcourt when Walker Kessler is anchoring the defense.”
Lakers Projected to Compete
Watts highlighted that Grimes was not known as a tough defender during his time with the Philadelphia 76ers, but showed flashes of a perimeter stopper in his early years in New York. Sometimes, the situation and role matters.
“The defensive metrics have been inconsistent for the 26-year-old,” Watts wrote of Grimes. “He was a plus option in 2023 when he started for the New York Knicks, but has dropped off the last two years.
“The Lakers will be Grimes’ fifth team in four years, so it is difficult to judge. A lot of defense is being in the right role and scheme.”
Not many scouts and analysts are as optimistic as Watts about the Lakers’ defense, projecting Redick’s team to finish int he bottom half of the league. However, Grimes himself has warned critics against underestimating the new-look Lakers.
“I feel like we’re going to surprise some people for sure with how good we are and clicking on all cylinders, I think,” Grimes told ESPN’s “Mason & Ireland” in July.
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