When the Los Angeles Lakers hired JJ Redick to become their new head coach, the move was met with skepticism as the former player never had coached in the league before but was now thrust into one of the most pressure-filled positions in the NBA.
Redick showed off his basketball mind via his podcast career and time as a broadcaster with ESPN, but how that would translate onto the floor and locker room was anyone’s guess. However, Redick has silences some of his critics as he’s got the Lakers playing some solid basketball during the early part of the 2024-25 season.
Despite their recent loss to the Detroit Pistons, the team already seems bought into Redick and what he’s preached to the group on both ends of the floor. Offensively, Los Angeles has much more direction on a possession-by-possession basis while defensively there’s been some encouraging early signs.
Redick was lauded for his ability to communicate and relate to players and that was display when he was mic’d up for a team practice during training camp, via the Lakers’ official YouTube:
The clip opens with Redick joking with D’Angelo Russell about wanting the team to execute the first play he draws up before transitioning to a defensive drill. Redick pulls aside Maxwell Lewis and breaks down how to correctly execute what’s being asked and the second-year forward nods after the explanation.
The next scene Redick is praising Austin Reaves for his job in the drill before the video cuts to a conversation between Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka. The two joke about how long assistant coach Greg St. Jean’s voice will last after he had been barking out instructions during practice.
From that point, Redick can be seen talking to Russell and LeBron James, with the latter joking with his head coach about how many times he’s run a shell drill in his career. Toward the end, Redick pulls aside multiple players and tells them it was a good first day of practice.
From the video, it’s clear that Redick’s got a knack for communicating with people which is why analysts like Matt Barnes fully believe he’ll be successful as an NBA head coach.
JJ Redick says Lakers need to start games with more pride defensively
The Lakers’ most recent loss to the Detroit Pistons was a tough one and afterwards, JJ Redick said that the team needs to start games with more pride on the defensive end.
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