Jon Krawczynski

We can always bake more.

Yeah, I mean, I think the LeBron part of it, it's just pretty clear that having him and Luka on the floor together makes it almost impossible to have a consistently solvent defense.

Like, I just think it puts you in a positional quagmire that they don't have the personnel really to get out of.

So Luke Kennard steps in and it's all tightened up?

I mean, honestly, Luke Kennard's been a much bigger factor here than I was anticipating him being.

He's just like a real deal part of the rotation.

Yeah.

I mean, I think it is the defense.

And so you see just some of the compatibility issues with him being out.

Like, I don't know what to make of this stretch where they have gone from, um,

I don't know, just like playing fish in the barrel defense for 50 games until all of a sudden now they look weirdly competent.

And they look weirdly competent even among the lesser defenders, even guys like Luca.

Like some of the exchanges and some of the switches they were doing against Minnesota the other day just look like clean and intense and like good focused basketball in ways that I'm just not used to seeing the Lakers play.

And so is that a thing that is sustainable or not?

Because it's the difference between –

I think it's a huge part of what has made Luca and Austin and Luke Kennard especially much more difficult to target lately.

Because if it is shifting in shape in that way, isolating in the way you want isn't always an option.

And the exchanges, as I was saying, have been so clean, not just in a pick and roll kind of traditional man sense, but the baton handoff within the zone also has just been really well organized and really well communicated.

And so then all of a sudden it's like,

Yeah, the rim protection is going to be a mess for this team, generally speaking.