What I think James meant about "defense is easy" is that defense become easier when you put forth effort on defense.
I'm not going to argue with you about what DLo can and can't do on the court regarding his skills. That's easy to see. We've all seen it from day one.
But back to my point: his EFFORT is not there night in night out. His ATTITUDE about the game is leaving a lot to be desired. And for these reasons, his play on the court isn't translating to success. That's my point.
You don't have to be ultra athletic and be able to turn the corner 24-7 or even be athletic. Heck, I can name so many players in league history who weren't athletic and unable to jump over people but because they played with MAX EFFORT every time and because they hustle and have pride in their game, they were successful players and made significant contributions to their team's success.
If the only thing DLo can bring to the table are 3's, then he has no place on this team imo. You gotta be able to bring it in other aspects of the game if you're outside shot ain't falling and sadly, there aren't many other parts of the game that DLo can make an impact on if he can't hit his shots on a consistent basis.
Again, I personally don't see glaring issues with his effort. There are moments where it could be better, but you could say that about LITERALLY EVERY NBA PLAYER but even if his effort isn't up to par, he isn't the only one not bringing the effort every night.
Take some time and watch some laker film, you'll see issues with effort w/ALL the rotation guys on both ends of the floor. It's a combination of effort and piss poor fundamentals on defense, which to me isn't played up enough. Too many times we play up effort on defense (which is a factor) without acknowledging the bad habits and fundamentals that these guys have on that end. Watching the game casually, there's so much that you or I miss from a defensive standpoint that goes beyond effort and it's not just with D'Lo although you seem to be enamored with pointing out his flaws and no one else's.
And I don't think all D'Lo brings to the table his 3's but he has a pretty high ceiling and his 3's are the different between reaching his floor and his ceiling as a player.