Originally Posted by
Pelicanidae
Part of it was personnel, in fairness. For large parts of the year, several players seemed either entirely disinterested in defense, or to actively have something against it. Lonzo took a huge step back on defense from when he was in LA. Ingram did not take the step on defense that he did on offense. Redick hasn't been a positive defender for a good while now. Jax improved as the year went on, but he was still an inexperienced rookie and it showed. When Zion returned, he was clearly a step slow and I think also quite hesitant to really go for it, which meant his defense was pretty poor too.
We had Jrue, who was really good 1v1 but did take a step back as a team defender, Favors who spent most of the year either injured or recovering from injury such that his mobility was slashed, Kenrich who barely played, and Hart who was quite good but also massively undersized for the guys he ended up guarding. That's about it. That's not enough for a good team defense.