“Despite the chatter” indicates that Bryant has probably heard the talk about a lack of defensive mentality from D’Antoni-coached teams. Even during the most successful seasons of D’Antoni’s career, his Suns teams never ranked higher than 13th defensively, according to Zach Harper of CBS Sports:
From the 2004-05 season through D’Antoni’s exit, the Suns ranked 16th, 16th, 13th and 16th, respectively. These are not monster performances. But considering the stigma attached to those teams and the knowledge that [Amar’e] Stoudemire was their main big man, those rankings are a bit eye-popping.
As Harper points out, the defense of those teams wasn’t great but it was certainly manageable, even with Stoudemire “leading” the charge as the team’s supposed defensive anchor (Shawn Marion may have something to say about that).
Bottom line? Bryant has good reason to believe that the Lakers could be phenomenal on the defensive end despite D’Antoni’s lack of emphasis on those principles. They do have three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard, afterall.
The problem with that mentality, however, is that Howard has been a shell of himself defensively up to this point as he continues to recover from back surgery. He has been slow to react when players drive the paint and has generally lacked the explosiveness we are accustomed to seeing from “Superman,” resulting with him ending up in a number of posters this season. If the Lakers want to be phenomenal – or even good – on defense, Bryant and the Lakers better hope Howard’s timing and health returns this season.
Tweet of the Day: Jonathan Feigen