The Lakers changed plenty this offseason. Walker Kessler already has an idea of what their new identity might be.
Nasty. Defensively, anyway.
Kessler came away from the Lakers’ first training camp practice feeling awfully good about what he saw, particularly from the team’s revamped group of defenders.
“Listen, I think we’re gonna be a nasty defensive team,” Kessler said, via Ryan Ward of NBA on SI. “I’m just being honest. These guys hound the ball on the perimeter, and I think (Kevon Looney’s) mind and his positioning on defense is elite too. We’re gonna be really good defensively. We have a a lot of defensive tools.”
It doesn’t take a basketball scientist to see what the Lakers are trying to build.
They added Kessler to protect the rim and surrounded him with the likes of Matisse Thybulle, Quentin Grimes and Ziaire Williams. Collin Sexton brings plenty of energy himself. Put enough guys like that together and coach JJ Redick at least has the ingredients for a defense that makes life miserable.
Kessler should be a major part of it after playing just five games last season because of a torn labrum that required surgery. No concerns there, he says.
“I feel 110 percent,” Kessler said. “My shoulder feels better than it’s ever felt.”
The Lakers obviously need him to stay that way. They acquired Kessler to give Luka Doncic and the offense something every contender needs at the other end: a legitimate defensive anchor.
Kessler seems to think they may have considerably more than that.
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