A new era of Los Angeles Lakers basketball is here as a huge focus for head coach JJ Redick and his staff is on analytics and data.
Redick has spoken before about how he plans to look at the analytics surrounding his team and address their weaknesses through that.
It appears that includes practices as well as Redick revealed on Wednesday that they are tracking everything, from miles ran to shot efficiency and everything in between. And some of his players seem to be embracing the same mindset.
“It’s funny, because I went over to Bronny before practice and I was like ‘Dude, you ran six miles,’ and he was like ‘Yeah, I already know.’ Someone had already shared it with him. I think my experience as a player was very helpful because I got to come in at the tail end of all of this tracking stuff and especially as I got older, that was important in terms of measuring just my capacity and my load,” Redick said.
“If a guy is having a strong build up and feeling good, that’s important information for him, important information for the coaching staff. Dr. Leroy Sims, who we hired this offseason as our director of player performance and health, he’s on top of things and always available for the players. It’s something we’ll use throughout the course of the season.”
Redick expects this to be the new norm for the Lakers, stressing it to the members of his coaching staff before hiring them.
“The more information the better. Every person we’ve hired, that’s been a key thing I’ve told them,” Redick added.
Not all players are used to approaching the game from an analytical standpoint though. Some are willing to learn and embrace it, but others, like Lakers star Anthony Davis, simply do not care.
“I don’t even know what some of that stuff means. It doesn’t matter to me,” Davis said after practice. “What matters is if we have more points than the other team at the end of the game. That’s all I care about. These things that they come up with as far as analytics, these categories and stuff like that, it doesn’t even matter. It has no influence on my whatsoever… I don’t care about numbers. Numbers don’t mean anything. You can averaged 50 (points) and be in last place.”
The league as a whole has been shifting towards Redick’s approach, focusing more on stats that go beyond a traditional box score. Some of the younger guys are used to it having grown up with that approach, but others like Davis may resist until their careers are over.
Is Anthony Davis not being into JJ Redick’s analytics an issue for Lakers
The big question here is if Anthony Davis not being into the analytics and data will be an issue for JJ Redick and the Lakers.
The short answer for me is no. And the reason for that is because Davis has already put together a Hall of Fame career without it. He is routinely one of the most efficient players on both sides of the ball and has natural instincts that no numbers could ever match.
Even if Davis isn’t into analytics, the analytics have general supported his style of play.
If this was one of the younger players on the roster trying to make it in the NBA, there would be a different sentiment here. But at the end of the day, if Redick and his staff want to take an analytical approach, that is fine, but it falls on them to explain it to the players in ways they are able to understand.
For example, if Redick goes to Davis and tells him that the numbers show he is most efficient when he gets the ball at the elbow as opposed to the post and takes fewer dribbles, then Davis surely would be willing to embrace more elbow touches and less dribbling. Redick could even take it a step further by calling plays that put Davis in spots where he’s most efficient.
To me, that is the best balance when it comes to data and analytics. If coaches just bombard players with numbers, then not only will it confuse most of them, but it could affect their comfortability level on the floor. Most players are at their best when they’re not thinking too much.
So even if Davis isn’t studying numbers all night to get ready for games, his coaches will be doing that for him to put him and the Lakers as a whole in the best position to succeed.
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