Per Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Lakers head coach J.J. Redick has the team participating in more live basketball in its offseason workouts compared to past summers.
“Those workouts are the first in the formalized relationship between J.J. Redick, his staff and the players, and the first impression might offer some hints as to how the new coach will operate,” Woike wrote.
“Workouts have featured more live basketball — one on one and three on three — than past summers when the focus was more on individual, noncompetitive work.
“This could be one step of the player development changes that Redick vowed to make when he took the job this summer, a change the organization has tied to the changing salary cap rules. But, honestly, the changes probably were overdue.”
Redick was named the Lakers’ newest head coach a few months back. Darvin Ham served as the team’s leader from the sidelines in each of the previous two seasons, but his tenure came to an end after Los Angeles fell to the Denver Nuggets in five games in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.
Ham coached the Lakers to a 90-74 regular-season record as well as a 9-12 record in the playoffs. Arguably his most impressive accomplishment as the head coach of the Lakers came when he guided the team to the Western Conference Finals in the 2023 NBA Playoffs. Los Angeles eliminated the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round and Golden State Warriors in the second round.
The Lakers have seemingly been high on Redick’s coaching ability for quite some time, as a report surfaced in May that indicated the organization thinks Redick could be like Pat Riley. Riley coached the Lakers to four titles during the 1980s, when the team was led by star point guard Magic Johnson.
“Leaguewide, Redick — a former player and media analyst — has garnered buzz for the position,” Shams Charania and Jovan Buha wrote. “The Lakers are infatuated with Redick’s potential, according to league sources, viewing him as a Pat Riley-like coaching prospect who could both help the franchise in the short term and lead it for years.”
Redick will try to help the Lakers improve upon what was an underwhelming 2023-24 campaign. The Lakers employ two players who are widely perceived as among the best in the league today — LeBron James and Anthony Davis — yet the team almost missed out on the playoffs entirely.
Los Angeles won 47 of its 82 games and squeaked into the 2024 NBA Playoffs as the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference after the Lakers picked up a four-point play-in victory over the New Orleans Pelicans back in April.
Perhaps the notion that Redick has the Lakers doing more live basketball during their summer workouts relative to years past will pay dividends during the 2024-25 regular season and translate into a more successful season for the squad, which is seeking its 18th title in franchise history.
