Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick finally got to see what his roster looks like at full strength as he had his full assortment of players available against the Utah Jazz.
The Lakers had been missing LeBron James, who was out to start the regular season for the first time in his career due to a sciatica issue, but the team was also without players like Gabe Vincent, who had been dealing with an ankle injury. Fortunately, James returned to the starting lineup and sparked a fourth-quarter won that allowed Los Angeles to take home a convincing win.
Throughout training camp and preseason, Redick was non-committal about his starting lineup but against the Jazz he started Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, Deandre Ayton and James.
While this seems like a logical starting five, Redick emphasized that this could be a fluid unit the rest of the season.
“It was good. I think there were stretches that were really good, there were stretches I didn’t think were great,” Redick said of that lineup. “We’re gonna make decisions based on how the team is playing and how the groups work together. I’m not like beholden to one thing throughout the season. But I feel comfortable with that lineup, they played a ton of minutes together at the end of last season minus DA. So we’ll continue to build on that.”
As Redick pointed out, the foursome of Doncic, James, Reaves and Hachimura logged plenty of minutes together last season and Ayton is the logical starting center. Unless another wave of injuries occur, it would be fair to expect this to be the starting group for most of the season.
Hachimura seemed to be the most debated player in the starting lineup this past offseason due to his defense, but the forward has been one of the most consistent contributors on both ends of the floor. It’ll be hard to dislodge him as a starter, though players like Marcus Smart and Jake LaRavia could fill in when needed.
The starting group long-term doesn’t matter as much as the closing group, so it might be worth paying attention to those units more than who starts games.
JJ Redick discusses what goes into deciding starting lineup
JJ Redick explained that he puts a lot of thought into all of his lineups, including the starting one. While deciding on the starting group is important, Redick believes it makes sense to maximize all of his lineup combinations.
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