Second-year head coach JJ Redick is putting together back-to-back great regular seasons for the Los Angeles Lakers. One could argue that this year brought more challenges in terms of maneuvering through inconsistent play and injuries.
This team possesses the talent to be a great team and their play in March demonstrates that. Bonding certainly played a factor, specifically with players taking on golf as a hobby. Redick, who picked up golf during his NBA career, detailed how it brought his team closer together as of late, via Arash Markazi of The Sporting Tribune:
“It’s funny cause when I first got in the NBA, there were a lot guys that golfed and nobody golfed for a long time. And I think post bubble, guys starting getting back into it and it became more common. I think for our team, we have three to five guys, at least three, I think it’s five guys that this time last year never played golf before. Bronny [James], Luka [Doncic], LeBron [James], Dalton [Knecht], I think Jaxson [Hayes] started to work on his game. It’s a good team bonding thing. For our team and L.A., I talked about this in a press conference recently, it’s really hard in L.A., I played here and I know it, it’s really hard in L.A. to bond. You live in Manhattan Beach, you live in Calabasas, you live in Westside, whatever. You’re hours sometimes away from your teammates, finding tee times, being with each other for four hours where you can shoot the proverbial s-h-i, whatever and not have to be in a high pressure moment or be on a team bus and be away from the facility, I think it’s great.”
Team chemistry plays a massive role for championship contenders. Everyone has to play for one another. So stepping away from a basketball court and enjoying a stress-free sport while bonding is a nice change of pace for the Lakers.
It looks like golfing made a difference because morale is high and L.A.’s play on both sides of the floor has taken a massive leap. Hopefully, these good vibes carry over to a looming playoff series in a competitive Western Conference.
JJ Redick gives takeaways following end of Lakers’ nine-game winning streak
The Lakers came off a nine-game winning streak and arguably should still be intact, but an impressive accomplishment nonetheless. JJ Redick provided his takeaways from Los Angeles’ longest streak since 2019-2020, notably a championship season.
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