The Lakers Defense Needs Jarred Vanderbilt! Plus #NBARank for LeBron, AD and Austin Reaves!

Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers

The Lakers didn't look great in Tuesday's loss to the Warriors in Las Vegas. They get two more cracks at it before the real games begin next week.

But while there were some highlights (Anthony Davis! Rui Hachimura's rebounding!) there were also some real issues. Among the most notable is defense. The Lakers really struggled. Some of it is a matter of learning a new defensive system, and a coach in JJ Redick who doesn't want the same stuff as Darvin Ham did. But it's also related to personnel, and while the Lakers have Gabe Vincent back, and are playing Max Christie - two upgrades to the defense - they're still short Jarred Vanderbilt, and the results show.

The team has said they're still thinking Vando could be back for the beginning of the season. Again, next week. Tuesday. But they play today and tomorrow, and likely won't practice again until Sunday. That's not a lot of time for Vanderbilt to get his "ramp up" to somewhere that screams "put me in, coach, I'm ready to play."

Will it be a game he misses? Two? Five? Hopefully not too much, because the Lakers badly need his presence in the lineup to reach their defensive ceiling.

Meanwhile, if it's almost the regular season, it's time for big basketball websites to start ranking players! ESPN has theirs, as does The Ringer. The issue isn't really about debating whether AD is say, 13 (ESPN) or nine (The Ringer), or if LeBron is somewhere in the top 10 (coming today, presumably) or 10 on the dot (The Ringer). What's more interesting is where the rest of the players on the roster land relative to the top 100... and for the most part they don't. What does that mean about the talent level on the team?

And for the guy that does—Austin Reaves—what does it say about how well he'll need to play for the Lakers to hit their ceiling?

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Get well, Jarred Vanderbilt!

SEGMENT 2: NBA player rankings - LeBron and AD are still really high. What about the other guys?

SEGMENT 3: The Lakers need more from Austin Reaves.

For your next listen, check out the Locked On NBA podcast, where the season never ends providing national expertise with a local perspective. Click HERE to listen now. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your Team. Every Day.

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