The Los Angeles Lakers’ biggest splash during the off-season was replacing Darvin Ham with first-time coach JJ Redick. Many are curious how the former Duke Blue Devil will handle the Lakers, as he was mostly prominent on social media, doing podcasts alongside LeBron James.
Coming into the 2023-24 season, the Lakers didn’t add many players but more rookies with Dalton Kinecht and Bronny James. This lack of activity during the off-season puzzled many fans of the organization since the team had a subpar first-round exit at the hands of the Denver Nuggets.
With that, all eyes are now on an unproven coach with JJ Redick at the helm on what to do with the current crop of players.
In an interview with Zach Lowe, Redick revealed on which starting five he would work on entering the 2024-25 season.
“Yeah, it’ll be the starting five that went 23-10 last year,” Redick answers Lowe’s question on his starting five.
Have you settled on a Starting Five?
“Yeah. It’ll be the Starting Five that went 23-10 last year.”
DLO, Reaves, Rui, LeBron, AD.
“Yup.”
– Coach JJ Redick on the latest @ZachLowe_NBA Podcast pic.twitter.com/FcxX8A1W13
— Lakers Legacy (@LakersLegacyPod) September 25, 2024
The ESPN analyst then clarified that Redick is referring to the starting five of LeBron James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, and Rui Hachimura. Other players suiting up for the Lakers this season are Gabe Vincent, Max Christie, Cam Reddish, Jalen Hood-Shifino, Jarred Vanderbilt, Christian Wood and Christian Koloko.
JJ Redick wants to preach ball movement and more three-point shots for the Los Angeles Lakers offense
The Los Angeles Lakers last season had a first-round exit, and that lowlight overshadowed that the team won the first-ever NBA Cup in December 2023. Knowing this current crop of team players, JJ Redick hopes to unlock their potential by moving, promoting ball movement, and more ways to shoot three-pointers.
“I think in terms of what the offense looks like, there will be a decent amount of movement. The shot profile will hopefully improve. You know, we’ve talked about ways to create more paint touches. We’ve talked about ways to shoot more 3s,” said Lowe.
The Los Angeles Lakers are set to play six preseason games against the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Milwaukee Bucks. This team opens its 2024-25 campaign on October 22, matching Anthony Edwards‘ Timberwolves at the Crypto.com Arena.
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