One of the standout players for the Los Angeles Lakers during the preseason was Jarred Vanderbilt. Finally healthy during the offseason, Vanderbilt put in a lot of work on his game and there were even thoughts that he could start in place of LeBron James.
So it was a bit of a surprise that Vanderbilt played just 12 minutes in the Lakers 119-109 season opening loss to the Golden State Warriors.
It was certainly a disappointing outcome for the Lakers, but one that head coach JJ Redick was not too hard on his team for after the game, believing many of the things that needed fixing were smaller, controllable things. And after film session on the contest, Vanderbilt agreed.
“That it wasn’t as bad as we thought it was,” Vanderbilt said when asked what the film study revealed. “It’s a couple things that we can clean up on that can easily change the way of the game and it’s things that are controllable. Even though we got down a lot in the third, we fought back and we cleaned up some stuff. Just tryna put a game plan together for 48 minutes. Some of those things are just super minimal that can change the outcome of a game so just locking in, focus on those.”
When asked what those controllable things were, Vanderbilt got more specific. “A lot of em were just getting into the body, being physical, locating the shooters: Steph, Buddy Hield, guys like that,” the forward added. “Rebound and sprinting back in transition, just stuff that we’ve been harping on that’s pretty much controllable.
“That kind of changed. We went on a great run I think in the third, to come back. We ended up getting a wide open three to Buddy Hield just cuz, we were all back, but nobody, just communication, just little stuff like that. Clean communication could’ve saved us three points or whatever the case may be. But I think little stuff like that’s easy to clean up and be more on top of.”
Even though the first game wound up as a loss, the Lakers feel they played well enough to win if it weren’t for a few minor things that can have major implications. Now that they have identified them, it will be up to the players to make sure those things don’t kill them again when they take the floor next.
JJ Redick credits LeBron James for helping in Lakers film session
While LeBron James isn’t able to take the court yet for the Lakers, he is still helping out however he can, and that included during the team’s film session as JJ Redick credited him for.
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