Luka Doncic’s guarantee about LA’s defense

LOS ANGELES – The The Los Angeles Lakers were one of the better teams in the Western Conference at the start of the regular season with a record of 11-4. While the Lakers’ offense is solid, the team’s defense could improve as the season progresses. After the Lakers practice on Thursday morning, Luka Doncic talked about how he’s seen the team’s defense develop over the first month of the regular season.

“I feel there is a lot of improvement. We talked about it today before training,” said Doncic. “I think we’re doing a really good job, but the good thing about this is that we still have a lot of room for improvement.”

Luka Doncic would be right if he assessed that the Lakers’ defense has room for improvement. Through the first 15 games of the season, the Lakers are in the middle of the pack at 17th in the league in defensive rating at 115.3. But in an interesting development, Doncic did one of the best on the team in defensive rating.

The top five players on the team in defensive rating in terms of the regular rotation are Jared Vanderbilt, Doncic, Deandre Ayton, Marcus Smart and Bronie James, according to StatMuse. Doncic’s defensive rating is 111.7. Back on November 5, after the Lakers’ victory against the San Antonio Spurs, Doncic admitted that the effort he put into the defensive end this season.

“First of all, just communication, bringing people to the right place. Many times I’m a short person, so I have to communicate that. I have to put people in their place,” said Dončić. “I think it’s better, more focused, so just go with it.”

Increased communication on the defensive side of Dončić is something that Rui Hachimura has also noticed. After that Spurs game earlier this month, Hachimura talked about the difference he saw in Doncic defensively.

“He’s trying to be louder than last year. I can see he’s loud on defense,” Hachimura said. “He’s trying to break through, he’s trying to be physical, more aggressive … that’s what we need from him as well. He’s embraced it so it’s been great.”

While the Lakers’ defense can certainly improve, after the team’s most recent win against the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, Deandre Ayton talked about how to stop the defense often gets the team going and how that momentum carries over to the offensive end.

The Lakers embark on a short one-game road trip against the Jazz on Sunday before closing out the month with three home games against the LA Clippers, Dallas Mavericks and New Orleans Pelicans.