Heading into the 2024-25 season, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick was expected to go through a learning curve given that this was his first time doing this. And after an impressive year last season from D’Angelo Russell, he would become an interesting piece to Redick’s puzzle.
It may not be fair but it is human nature to compare and contrast Redick to previous head coach Darvin Ham. Under the previous regime, Russell’s role was constantly changing and minutes were not set in stone.
Coming into this season, Redick would have to try new things to get better results with essentially the same roster. A big part of that has been finding set rotations, although Redick would make a rotation tweak during the Lakers’ game on Friday night against the Toronto Raptors by playing Russell more in the first quarter alongside Anthony Davis.
With it coming on short notice, the Ohio State product admitted that there was an unusual timing to it but he is bought into what his head coach is trying to do, as seen on Spectrum Sportsnet:
“The timing of it was more something that I was just not used to. I’m playing a little longer. Every team I’ve been on, I’ve always been the first guy out and go back in type of thing. So it was just different. It is what it is, I’m all about Coach’s trial and error with whatever he’s doing.. I’m fully bought in to what’s going on here. AD played well, Bron and all of those guys are happy, so that’s all that matters.”
Under Redick’s system, there is more on and off-ball movement, which results in less on-ball creation for Russell. So it has taken some getting used to for the 28-year-old, but he is committed to making it work:
“Yeah. I was committed to doing it the right way before the summer even ended. I was just like I’m gonna do it the right way no matter what the outcome is of individual whatever. So for me o slowly but surely find it, every game I feel like I’m finding it a little bit more and we’re winning as well. That’s all I really care about.”
It has been evident that Austin Reaves is going to be the de facto point guard, which makes Russell’s role on offense a bit tricky. But perhaps this adjustment to the backcourt’s minutes could unlock Russell’s scoring and playmaking going forward.
D’Angelo Russell credits JJ Redick for having Lakers prepared every game
As the regular season chugs along, there seems to be a breath of fresh air with head coach JJ Redick in the building. D’Angelo Russell recently gave him and his coaching staff credit for having the team prepared for each game they have played so far.
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