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johnschuhmann · Joined: 16 Jan 2008 Posts: 25

Kevin did a great job of looking at the Lakers' new identity as the best defensive team in the league on Monday: http://www.basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=831

That same morning, I touched on the same thing in Power Rankings. Today, for a Christmas preview, I looked at both sides of the ball during the course of Kobe Bryant's career.

In comparison to the league's average efficiency, this is both the worst offensive and best defensive team the Lakers have had in Bryant's career.

Offense
2009-10: +1.3
1996-97: +1.5
2004-05: +1.8

Defense:
2009-10: -7.4
1999-00: -5.6
2008-09: -3.6

Overall (Off. Diff - Def. Diff), this is the second best Lakers team of Bryant's career...

Overall:
1999-00: +9.0
2009-10: +8.7
1997-98: +8.5

I imagine the offense will improve by April, but it will be interesting to see if they can stay at the top defensively.

More tidbits on tomorrow's games: http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/john_schuhmann/12/24/numbers.game/index.html

The Celtics' rebounding fall-off is pretty interesting too.
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Serhat Ugur (hoopseng) · Posted: Thu Dec 24, 2009 12:55 pm Post subject:

This season's SOS might have an influence on Lakers current success. It would better get factored in your analysis.
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back2newbelf · Joined: 21 Jun 2005 Posts: 266

The Lakers' schedule will, on average, be about 3 points harder *per game* from now on, so I doubt they'll hold first place in DRTG for long.

I'm not really surprised by the C's rebounding. They shipped off their best rebounder and brought in one of the worst offensive rebounding big men in the league.

deepak · Joined: 26 Apr 2006 Posts: 665

A couple trends from last year that I think are relevant.

The Lakers defense started very strong and tapered off as the season progressed. This is a general trend for the league (as offenses tend to struggle early on), but the effect was particularly strong for last year's Lakers.

Notice also the difference in defense at home and on the road. Here were the home/road splits last year:

Serhat Ugur (hoopseng) · Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 2:04 am Post subject:

johnschuhmann · Joined: 16 Jan 2008 Posts: 25

True about the SOS with respect to their defense. And good points by deepak_e.

At one point in December last year, when their defense starting falling off a bit, I asked Derek Fisher about it. Basically, the Lakers had tweaked their defense that season to be more like the Celtics, loading up on the strong side. But as the season went on, their opponents adjusted and looked to attack early and attack the middle of the floor.

And obviously, the addition of Artest is a factor this season. So I wonder if we'll see the same trend defensively.

But it's the offensive end that I find most fascinating. The SOS and road-heavy schedule the rest of the way would seemingly keep the offense down, but we also have to account for Gasol's absence for the first 11 games and Artest making the adjustment to the triangle.

Anyway, something to keep an eye on.
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