The Los Angeles Lakers have officially kicked off the JJ Redick era, as the former NBA sharpshooter makes his debut as a head coach. There were initial doubts about whether the Lakers made the right decision by hiring Redick, but the team’s players seem fully on board. D’Angelo Russell, in particular, believes this season could be a special one under Redick’s leadership.
Russell is coming off one of the best seasons of his career, and he’s looking to build on that success. When asked about his thoughts on Redick taking the helm, the Lakers guard expressed his excitement.
“Hell yeah. Yeah, it excites me,” Russell told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I haven’t really had the opportunity to — and I’m not throwing shots at anybody, obviously, I know it kinda spins like that — but I’ve never really had the opportunity to build a relationship with a coach over a long period of time.”
Russell elaborated on how he’s been impressed with Redick’s approach to teaching the game. “For me to see how JJ is trying to bring the play calls and just level of IQ into each practice and each film session, to see how he’s prioritizing that,” Russell said.
“I’ve always been a guy that wants to prioritize high IQ, high verbiage, high film sessions… like, let’s rise to that. And he’s obviously doing that. It’s something to look forward to,” he concluded.
Redick speaks out after preseason loss
Despite the excitement surrounding Redick’s debut, the Lakers’ preseason opener didn’t go as planned, as they fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves. After the game, Redick didn’t shy away from addressing what frustrated him the most in the Lakers’ performance. Speaking to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, Redick criticized his team’s execution on defense, specifically their switching schemes.
“I think the thing I was most disappointed with was our one-through-four reds, which is our switching,” Redick said. “I just was really disappointed. We didn’t execute that at all.”
Redick continued, “Like, we maybe executed it less than 10 percent of the time. It’s something we’ve drilled, and it was very clear in the pregame meeting that that’s what we were doing. So you certainly question, like, am I not making this clear? Is it something I’m doing?”
As Redick works to implement his vision for the Lakers, players like Russell seem eager to learn from the former NBA veteran. Whether this new partnership can lead to success on the court will be one of the top storylines to follow in Los Angeles this season.