The Los Angeles Lakers are entering their second season with JJ Redick as head coach, their first full season with Luka Doncic on the roster as their top superstar and legitimate championship aspirations. L.A. is by no means seen as the favorites, but they are seen as improved from last season and among the better teams in a crowded Western Conference.
Redick was applauded for the way he handled his first season at the helm of the Lakers. But after a playoff series that saw the Minnesota Timberwolves do whatever they wanted en route to winning in five games, Redick is under some pressure to show his offensive and defensive schemes can work consistently over a whole season.
Part of that is the habits the Lakers build early on in training camp and throughout the offseason. That was a major component of Redick’s conversations with the roster going into the offseason, expressing that he wants everyone to be in championship shape.
Now that the offseason has come and gone and Redick held his annual press conference ahead of training camp, he gave an update on how his request went.
“Well, I’ll say this, we’ve asked all our guys to be in championship shape,” Redick said. “And not starting on Tuesday. And so, the commitment level across the board from our team has been very high this summer.
“We’ve had organized workouts. The guys have played pickup, really every day. We’ve added conditioning at the end. They’ve all been committed to it. I think for me, that’s probably been the biggest thing. It’s not a basketball thing that he can or cannot do. It’s just all of us being in elite shape.”
Redick again emphasized commitment to all phases of the game when talking about turning the roster the Lakers have now into a championship contender from a postseason contender.
“It’s actually really simple, just a daily commitment,” Redick said of what he is asking of his team. “I’ll share this with you guys, my team already knows this because it’s all I’ve talked about all summer. But we’re gonna ask guys to be in championship shape, have championship communication, and championship habits.
“That’s a daily commitment to that. Our guys this summer have been awesome, I know LeBron is always committed to those things, Luka has been committed. So to me, that’s what it is. It’s a daily commitment. (Nick) Saban has this thing where it’s ‘Don’t tell me, show me.’ So that’s what we’re asking of our players.”
Purely based on the roster and its talent level, the Lakers are one of the best teams in the West. They should be able to get into the playoffs just by being what they are on the surface. However, Redick is hoping for more than that from this team, and believes they are capable of it.
But, like he says, it all starts with the habits that form during the offseason and into training camp.
Rob Pelinka announces contract extension for JJ Redick
Going into last season, arguably the biggest question surrounding the Lakers was whether JJ Redick would be able to handle the pressures that come with the job of leading the premier franchise in the NBA as a first time coach at any level.
Redick proved himself to be more than up to the task as he handled injuries and a massive midseason trade that forced a complete shakeup in how to best utilize the roster to lead the Lakers to the third seed in a stacked Western Conference.
By all accounts, the Lakers have found their head coach for the present and future and their actions say the same as general manager Rob Pelinka announced at their recent press conference that the franchise has extended the contract of Redick.
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