Walker Kessler Says the Lakers Are Going to Have a "Nasty" Defense... In a Good Way

Two days into the Lakers season, one thing is clear: Walker Kessler is an extremely optimistic young man who believes in the inherent awesomeness of his teammates. So when Kessler said on Tuesday that he believes the Lakesr are going to have a "nasty" defense, and meant it in the most positive way possible, it definitely raised some eyebrows.

In his mind, the team's defensive quality is being underrated.

Determining whether he's right depends a little on how we're defining terms. Are the Lakers underrated in the sense that they're secretly goign to be a top five defense, taking the league by storm? Probably not.

But are they underrated in the sense that many folks feel like they could be a disaster on that side of the ball? That they're going to be worse than last year's ranking of (about) 20th, depending on who's data you use?

That's a different story.

Put last year and this year side by side, and it's actually quite reasonable to believe the Lakers are going to be better on that side of the ball this season. Mostly because of Kessler, but also because there should be a level of defensive cohesion that wasn't present a year ago.

So are the Lakers going to be "nasty" good, or "nasty" bad?

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Kessler says the Lakers are going to be nasty.

SEGMENT 2: Are the Lakers better or worse this year on that side?

SEGMENT 3: Finding a coherent style of play.

PHOTO CREDIT: Gary A. Vasquez-Imagn Images

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