Upon news of the Los Angeles Lakers hiring JJ Redick as the franchise’s new head coach, one of the first things to be reported was his desire to further utilize superstar big man Anthony Davis. It was believed that Redick wanted to get Davis more involved offensively, especially late in games, and the coach expounded on that at his introductory press conference.
First and foremost, Redick noted the need to have a buy-in from each individual player about the vision and role the coach has for them and plans on having conversations with all of the Lakers players.
“I think the first thing is with any player, Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, any player on the roster, I can have a vision for how I want to use them, but there has to be buy-in and collaboration, right?” Redick said. “So I can sit up here and tell you how I would like for them to play, but if there’s no buy-in, then it doesn’t really matter. So I think part of the next two months and I know those guys are going to be busy with Team USA, but part of the next two months is just having conversations.”
But in regards to Davis, Redick revealed that he has already had conversations with the Lakers big man on how he wants to use him as an offensive hub and adding that he doesn’t believe Davis’s abilities have been truly maximized.
“And Anthony and I already had a conversation a week ago about some ideas, both offensively and defensively,” Redick added. “And I think both of us felt really comfortable going forward with that sort of as the base starting point of how he’s gonna play on this team. One of the things I brought up with him is just the idea of him as a hub. There’s a bunch of guys at the 5 position in the NBA that sort of operate in that way. I don’t know that he’s been used in that way and sort of maximized all of his abilities. That’s the simple thing with him.
Davis was the Lakers’ best player last season on both ends of the court and he certainly has the skillset to be utilized similarly to other superstar bigs like Nikola Jokic and Joel Embiid. It sounds as if Redick wants to do just that, while also lessening the load on LeBron James.
“With LeBron, look, you have to certainly have to get buy-in and talk to him about how he wants to play,” the Lakers coach noted. “Him and I have joked about this, but like, he shot over 40 percent from three this year. Like, I want him shooting threes. He’s gonna have his three or four bursts every game where he gets out in transition and does things that no one at his age should ever be able to do, but he does it. It’s really just figuring out in the halfcourt, putting him in different spots, both as a scorer and a facilitator. That’ll be part of the conversation over the next couple months.”
Many have spoken about lessening the workload on LeBron and having him operate more off the ball, but it has yet to materialize. Hopefully Redick will be able to implement the proper systems to truly bring the best out of Davis and James and ultimately take the Lakers to the next level.
JJ Redick feels coaching Lakers with Anthony Davis, LeBron James was best opportunity
JJ Redick certainly has some ideas going around in his head about how to get the best out of this roster and it makes sense as this was a job he viewed higher than any other. Redick made it clear that coaching the Lakers, with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, was an opportunity unlike anything else.
“This job was about the Lakers. This job was about the Lakers,” Redick said. “And it was about LeBron James, Anthony Davis, two of the greatest players ever […] I’ve gotten to do some amazing stuff in my life. This might be the best. And when I think about this job in particular, it’s not just about getting the job. What I wanted to do was do the job. I wanted to coach the Los Angeles Lakers. And so that was where I landed on pursuing this versus potential other opportunities.”
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