New Lakers head coach JJ Redick is less than a month away from commencing his NBA training camp and preseason as a head coach on a team led by two elite players like LeBron James and Anthony Davis, who spent the summer fighting for Gold at the Paris Olympics.
Redick told the Spectrum Network Lakeshow Podcast that he isn’t worried about either player’s offseason workload heading into the season and expects them to be ready to play when the season starts.
“I mean, look, those guys are professionals in every sense of the word. My concern for them about whether or not they’ll be ready to play on Oct. 22 and be in shape, I don’t have that concern.”
“We’re gonna work with Mike and Ish, making sure that they feel like they’re in a great place to start the regular season. They’ll certainly be involved in training camp and preseason even here in September, as well as games.”
LeBron and Davis were two of Team USA’s core pieces at the Paris Olympics. While James served as the de facto point guard and led the team in assists, Davis was one of the best defenders in the tournament. Davis formed a crucial part of the USA’s second lineup while James was running the show every time he got minutes.
It’s not ideal to have two injury-prone stars not spend every minute of the offseason getting ready for the next season, but the Lakers couldn’t have stopped either one from representing the USA.
A former player like Redick understands that but he also understands that both James and Davis are professionals who still need to be ready for Lakers training camp on Day one.
Anthony Davis Is Determined To Bring Another Title To LA
The Lakers have massively underachieved in the last few years despite having James and Davis have relatively healthy seasons. The roster and coaching have been sore spots for the stars of the team, with Davis outlining exactly what he and LeBron need to ensure they can bring another title to the Lakers.
“The goal at the end of the day is still to win championships. You can’t skip steps. The first step is we’re going to hold guys accountable. We’re going to show up to work, and if something goes wrong, we’re gonna hold guys accountable, and then from there, we’ll figure it out.”
Davis averaged 24.7 points, 12.6 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks last season, arguably as the Lakers’ best player for the majority of that season. His defensive impact is nearly unrivalled while his offensive game has become more versatile.
James averaged 25.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 8.3 assists last season, proving that the best way to use him at this stage of his career is as a point guard. For that to be feasible, the Lakers must move off a guard and acquire another wing piece to not upset the rotation. They also need another big man as the quest to get out of the West becomes tougher and tougher.
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