After another disappointing postseason loss, the Los Angeles Lakers felt that a coaching change was necessary this past offseason.
They ended up bringing in JJ Redick, who is a first-time head coach which inherits risk due to a potential learning curve. In a competitive Western Conference, there is little time, if any, to try and figure things out for Redick.
A crucial downfall to the Lakers last season was their stretch after winning the In-Season Tournament. L.A. would go on two separate four-game losing streaks through December into early January.
Seeing how the purple and gold won the first NBA Cup and didn’t reap any benefits other than some extra cash, perhaps not going all out to win it would be a better course of action this season. However, Redick is not concerned about the possible ramifications of winning the NBA Cup as he wants to win every game he coaches.
“Not concerned about the second part,” Redick said. “I would like our team to win every single game we play, including preseason games. So I thought the In-Season Tournament was awesome last year, as a fan. We called a bunch of the Friday night games for ESPN, I was out here for the semifinals and did some studio work the next day. So I appreciated it as a fan. I think the feedback from players and teams was pretty good. They’ve altered the schedule a little bit this year just to give a little bit more time in between games. So I think that potentially could help with the teams that do end up playing all the way to the championship game.”
While L.A. struggled after winning the NBA Cup, the team took their play up another level when a trophy was on the line due in part to Anthony Davis and LeBron James, who are a duo built for high-stakes environments.
One can anticipate that happening once again this year, but Redick is going to have to avoid long losing streaks if the Lakers want to avoid the Play-In Tournament. Now that teams are familiar with the scheduling of the In-Season Tournament, time will tell if L.A. is prepared for what is coming in their second go around.
JJ Redick: Lakers are ‘ready’ season opener despite poor preseason performance against Warriors
With the regular season kicking off for the Lakers in less than a week, head coach JJ Redick needs to utilize these final two preseason games wisely. Despite a poor shooting performance on Tuesday, Redick believes his team is ‘ready’ for their season opener against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
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