The first major rotation change that head coach JJ Redick made this season was replacing D’Angelo Russell in the starting lineup with Cam Reddish. Redick felt that Reddish’s defensive-minded nature would give the Lakers a boost while allowing Russell to flourish as the floor general of the second unit.
The early returns on that move have been successful, even though the Lakers have now lost their last two games. Reddish’s defense has helped the Lakers get off to better starts, and their offense has not dipped in production despite his shortcomings on that end of the floor.
Redick offered some comparisons for Reddish when describing how important it is for the Lakers, and any team, to have players like him on the roster.
“I think it’s big on any team,” Redick said. “You need guys that buy in to being defensive-minded, that buy in to having to guard the other team’s best player every night with truthfully just no real offensive reward on the other end.
“As a player, I think everybody’s first thought or motive is always gonna be offensively. Those guys are hard to find. Cam has been awesome for us. There’s certainly guys, like I think of Josh Hart or OG (Anunoby), those guys don’t necessarily get a lot of plays, they do a lot of things defensively but then within the constructs of their offense they’re able to get shots and score.
“I think from where we were when Cam first got into the rotation to where we’re at now, he’s starting to find some of those shots whether it’s driving a closeout, driving out in transition and playing or playing off of dribble penetration or double teams, whatever it may be, he’s starting to find some of those offensive options.”
The Lakers absolutely need as many defensive-minded players as possible given where they currently rank league-wide. Reddish is not a cure-all for their defensive issues, but things could be worse if they had stuck with Russell in the starting lineup.
Redick has shown a willingness to pull strings like this very early on in his head coaching tenure, and when the Lakers get other defensive-minded players like Jarred Vanderbilt back, there may be even more changes.
JJ Redick insists Lakers weren’t haunted by Nuggets
After losing to the Orlando Magic in heartbreaking fashion, the Lakers had to turn around and face off against a Denver Nuggets team that’s had their number the past few years.
Even though the Nuggets were missing Aaron Gordon, they had no problem blowing out the Lakers in dominant fashion in the second half. Los Angeles looked like they had solved their woes against Denver as they built a 10-point lead in the first half before completely letting go of the rope in the third quarter.
In the aftermath, Redick refused to believe that Los Angeles struggled because of their previous troubles with Denver, instead reiterating the team’s overall lack of competitive spirit in the second half.
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