Jared Vanderbilt reveals a troubling trend in the Lakers’ defense

LOS ANGELES – It’s no secret that he’s as good as Los Angeles Lakers were on the offensive, they weren’t very good on defense. The Lakers’ defensive struggles it came to a head last Wednesday during their 132-119 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Cup quarterfinals. As the Lakers defense continues to falter, one player is on the roster Jarred Vanderbilt that can help alleviate those problems.

Jared Vanderbilt is mostly out of the Lakers rotation since LeBron James returned to the lineup in mid-November, and coincidentally, the team’s defense has sputtered. Vanderbilt isn’t a one-size-fits-all solution defensively, but he’s able to deliver consistently in that regard.

After the Lakers’ practice on Saturday, Vanderbilt reaffirmed his belief that he could help the team in terms of its lack of physical strength and defensive issues.

“I’m pretty anxious,” Vanderbilt said. “Obviously I think a lot of things that we’re missing, I think I can help provide on that end.”

The Lakers have averaged 120.1 points per game in their last 10 games. They went a respectable 7-3 in that stretch, but poor defense has been on the decline even during the team’s recent seven-game hitting streak.

The general concern about those recent games has been that the Lakers are simply outplaying teams with their explosive offense, rather than getting the defensive stops necessary to put teams away.

“Obviously it was a trending thing even when we were winning … the defense still wasn’t there. We just outplayed everybody,” Vanderbilt said. “Obviously, during a loss, it’s a good time to address certain things so they don’t drag on and get worse.”

And that’s exactly what the Lakers did. After the Spurs loss, the team had two days of practice where the coaching staff made it a point to highlight defensive mistakes with film sessions.

While some of the Lakers’ defensive issues can be attributed to personnel issues, the film sessions highlighted areas that don’t require major changes. Those are simple things the Lakers can control.

“They showed us our last 10 games and how we did against the rest of the league,” Vanderbilt said. “I think the main emphasis was that we weren’t aggressive, we didn’t play physical, we didn’t get back on defense. There were a lot of things we could control.”

One option on the table in trying to solve the Lakers’ defense is bringing Vanderbilt back into the rotation, something head coach JJ Redick was suggested as a possibilityaccording to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

For now, the Lakers are 17-7 and have fallen to fifth in the Western Conference standings, a race that is proving to be hotly contested as the season progresses.