When the Los Angeles Lakers appointed JJ Reddick as their new head coach, the NBA world was up in arms. Now it's dead silent as the Lakers sit at fourth out west with a 10-6 record. A small sample size to judge from, but we are all seeing flashes of what's to come. JJ was prepared for this.
Before getting paid millions to stand near the bench and shout out orders, Reddick made millions playing in the NBA as one of the premiere shooters in the league. Through his 15-year NBA career, he shot 41.5% from three and made 914 three-pointers (leaving him at 15th all-time).
Despite his decent career, no one could've seen him take this jump into the coaching world. That potential was realized when he made that shift to the sports media landscape. Whether it was his expert analysis of the game on ESPN, or his excellent attention to detail on the “Old Man and the Three” podcast; his basketball IQ was on full display.
Still, it never came across anyone’s mind that Reddick would venture into coaching at the highest level. Our eyes opened up to that possibility when he launched the “Mind the Game” podcast alongside LeBron James. All it took was nine episodes and the rest was history.
Instead of imagining what offensive sets he would run, he’s been putting those same sets to use. Just watch any Lakers game and you can see Reddick’s fingerprints all over. The off-ball movement. The two-man game that spawns from his sets. The Lakers are hooping and looking like a completely different team than last season.
Reddick getting the best out of Anthony Davis is one of the bigger revelations for the Lakers so far this season. Davis is looking like a perennial MVP candidate. So far Davis is averaging 30 points, 11 rebounds, 1.3 steals, 1.9 blocks on 55-40-75 shooting splits.
As Reddick has turned Davis into the focal point of their offense; he’s managed to get LeBron to play off-ball more. As a result, Austin Reaves has stepped up to share the facilitating responsibilities that solely belonged to LeBron.
Those are just some of the changes that immediately jump out. There are still many other changes that Reddick has brought to the table. We could talk about how his benching of D’Angelo Russell has changed the team for the better. Better yet, we could get into the plays he's been running for rookie Dalton Knecht. We’d be here for a while. Point is, Reddick is bringing the best out of his players; a refreshing sight for Lakers fans.
The season is still young, but anyone with eyes can see that JJ Reddick knows what he’s doing. He was ready for this.
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