One of the Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest weaknesses last season was defense. While they eventually found their footing on offense, they finished 17th in defensive rating, and after the All-Star break, they were just 23rd in defensive rating.

One particular bone of contention for them, not just last season but in the last three seasons, has been transition defense. In both of the last two seasons, they ranked 27th in opponents’ fast-break points per game allowed.

New head coach JJ Redick has talked about and emphasized being more physical on defense in order to improve on that end of the floor. LeBron James said that a point of emphasis for this season will be transition defense.

Everyone on the Lakers, especially James, who doesn’t play much defense at this point in his career, will need to step things up when it comes to transition defense. They need to immediately stop the ball and find a way to get more favorable defensive matchups early in the shot clock.