JJ Redick Throws Shade at Former Lakers Head Coach's Play Style
By Jovan Alford
The Los Angeles Lakers are looking for a fresh start next season as they hired JJ Redick as their new head coach after parting ways with Darvin Ham.
Redick has a tough challenge ahead of him as he has to get a team led by LeBron James and Anthony Davis back to the top of the Western Conference, which Ham couldn't do this past season.
When you have a team that features James and Davis, one would believe that there are different things you can do on offense, as both guys draw considerable attention and are all world talents.
However, Ham didn’t do a great job of putting Los Angeles in a position to succeed this past season, which played a part in the Lakers’ brass moving on. Redick wants to change that and threw some shade at Ham’s coaching style on Friday during the Lakers’ summer league game against the Houston Rockets.
“One of the things last year with this team, they played a lot of random, " Redick said (h/t Ryan Ward). “If you look at the efficiency numbers when they played random versus when they played out of sets, the sets had a much higher efficiency.”
JJ Redick on how the Lakers will look different offensively: "One of the things last year with this team, they played a lot of random. If you look at the efficiency numbers when they played random versus when they played out of sets, the sets had a much higher efficiency."
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) July 13, 2024
If you are a Lakers fan, you must be excited to hear that Redick wants to run offensive sets next season and not have James, D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, etc. playing iso ball. Iso-ball is good in some spots during a game, but for the Lakers or any team to be successful, you must have an offensive identity and run sets.
The last two NBA champions (Denver Nuggets and Boston Nuggets) have distinct offensive philosophies and run offensive sets. This past season, the Lakers were ranked 15th in Hollinger Stats for offensive efficiency (113.6) and fourth in pace (102.5).
While both numbers are great, could you imagine how much more efficient LA’s offense might’ve been this past season if they opted against playing a ton of random? It might’ve helped them get out of the first round against the Nuggets.
Nonetheless, Lakers fans hope that Redick will stick to his comments and make those changes because the fanbase doesn’t want a repeat of the Ham era this coming season.
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