Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick spoke frankly about what he’s learned as a rookie head coach for the franchise through the six preseason games. Redick had a thoughtful response about increasing his comfort in the role and providing value to the players under him when Jovan Buha of The Athletic asked him how he’s improved as a coach.
“This is all simultaneously familiar and new if that makes sense. There’s a duality to this for me right now. I’m just trying to be open-minded and self-critical at all times. That’s also some duality there as well. So I can’t really say, like, specific things where I’m like, ‘Oh, l’ve already grown here.'”
“But I think being comfortable recognizing mistakes and things you could do better, whether that’s an ATO or how you teach something at practice, whatever it may be. The biggest thing for me is to provide as much clarity as possible to our players. And I think our coaching staff has done that so far.”
Redick led the Lakers to a 2-4 preseason record, showing off a different philosophy on both ends of the court than what we saw from Darvin Ham. The clear difference is perimeter play, with Redick pushing his players to be more aggressive as scorers and defenders from beyond the arc compared to Ham’s focus on the inside.
Redick is taking bigger risks given the roster at his disposal, so he’ll have to hope his new three-point shooting mantra for the Lakers doesn’t end up backfiring on him.
JJ Redick’s Offensive Philosophy Is Becoming Clear
The Lakers went 2-4 in their six preseason contests, with a clear new offensive philosophy on display under Redick’s coaching. It seems three-point shooting efficiency might make or break Redick’s rookie head coach season. The former three-point specialist made it clear he wants the team to shoot more threes this season.
“I would like us to average five or six more 3s a game. But you have to be conscientious about how we’re generating those 3s. I actually think we’ve done a pretty good job of getting good looks. … I like the mindset overall to shoot when set — and shoot good 3s.”
The Lakers’ emphasis on three-point shooting saw them attempt 38.5 attempts per game across their six preseason matchups, ranking 18th in the league. This is a massive improvement from last year, where the Lakers ranked 28th in the NBA in terms of three-point attempts while being a top-five efficiency team.
This preseason shows a reversal of that trend, with the Lakers attempting a lot more threes but converting at a very low rate, making 11.5 per game (29.9%). Though the shots aren’t falling, it’s an encouraging sign for fans who want the players to shoot more threes. This might create a variance in results as the Lakers will be dependent on hot and cold shooting nights, but it might increase the team’s ceiling considerably.
Unfortunately, the Lakers were a bottom-five offense through preseason, primarily due to the inefficiency of backcourt players. LeBron James sat out half of these games while Anthony Davis shined as the team’s No. 1 option, with Redick putting his versatile skill set to good use, as compared to the defense-first role he had been boxed into the last few seasons.
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