The Los Angeles Lakers have dropped to 19-9 following a 132-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns at the Mortgage Matchup Center on Tuesday. This was the second straight blowout loss for the Lakers, who came into this game on the back of a 103-88 defeat at the hands of the Los Angeles Clippers.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick was understandably not in great spirits after this defeat and made some interesting comments in his press conference. Most notably, Redick called out one of his players for not knowing what the “Flood” action is in basketball.
“We had a guy the other day who hasn’t played a lot who didn’t know what a ‘flood’ was in the middle of a game,” Redick said.
That’s certainly not ideal for an NBA player. As for what the “Flood” is, it involves three players moving to one side, leaving one player on the other. This is done to exploit mismatches, especially against zone defense.
Redick was speaking from a defensive standpoint, so you assume the player in question was told that the opposition is running this action, but he had no clue what it was. As for who the player might be, Lakers fans think it’s Dalton Knecht.
“So I think everyone knows this was Dalton. JJ also threw a jab at Dalton after that Clippers game, too. He said he ‘appreciated the effort from 90% of the guys.’ I’m pretty positive that other 10% was him lol,” said one fan.
“Gotta be Dalton because his minutes been incredibly short,” said another.
Knecht has played a combined 28 minutes in the last two games, but had only played about five minutes total in a four-game span prior to that. He isn’t exactly a defensive specialist either, so it could be possible that Redick was indeed talking about him. While it’s not a good look on him, Lakers fans made it clear it is also not a good look on the coaching staff.
“If someone on an NBA roster doesn’t know what a ‘flood’ is, that points to gaps in communication and development, not just the player being called out,” stated one fan.
“I don’t even like Dalton, but this is terrible coaching,” stated another.
“JJ is a good coach, but still inexperienced. If your player isn’t retaining the concept, change your teaching or spend more time with him. It’s the pros I get it, but it’s your job to be a teacher, that’s part of coaching,” said one fan.
There is enough blame to go around. You could also certainly argue that no coach should say this out loud, but Redick has shown he isn’t the type to mince words. He has called out his players plenty of times in the past and will continue to do so.
Now, that approach works when you’re winning games more often than not. Redick led the Lakers to a 50-32 record in 2024-25, and they’re on pace to surpass their win tally this time around. The team hasn’t really gone through a truly awful stretch under him, but if the losses start piling up at some point, then he might have to change his approach a little bit.
The Lakers are in action next against the Houston Rockets at Crypto.com Arena on Thursday at 8 PM ET. Another defeat there would lead to the alarm bells starting to blare.
