Speaking about JJ Redick publicly for the first time since his hiring, Anthony Davis shared his excitement to have JJ Redick as head coach.
Hiring a first-time head coach will naturally lead to a host of challenges, especially with two stars and veterans like Anthony Davis and LeBron James on the team. In bringing in Redick, the Lakers are almost certainly banking on a good bit of collaboration between coach and stars.
Perhaps the first signs of that came in Redick’s presser when it was revealed that Redick had a conversation with AD after his interview with the franchise. The bigger sign of that, though, came from AD himself.
Speaking to the media at the start of Team USA training camp, Davis shared his first public comments on Redick and discussed the “partnership” this will be.
“It’s going to be, definitely, a partnership with him, his coaching staff and then the entire coaching staff with me and Bron just seeing what we like and then also hearing what he brings to the table, what he wants to do and then just trying to blend it in together,” Davis said. “We know it’s not going to be done in one day, one week, one month, but we have to come in and have this collaboration and take it one day at a time, one step at a time and continue to grow. We’re in no rush – obviously, championship is on our mind but we’re in no rush to try to get this thing figured out by the end of training camp.
He is a first time head coach and this is going to be a new system for all of us…It’s going to be a challenging experience but also fun.”
Davis having this mindset already is probably going to set a tone for the team heading into the season. A certain amount of patience will be required early in the year, but patience isn’t going to be available all season long.
Last season, the Lakers talked a lot about patience regarding injuries and waiting for the team to get to full health. But that never came, leaving the team scurrying for answers late in the year.
Now, this is a different coaching staff that will, hopefully, have a different approach that will lead to more positive results over the season. The team can not afford the slow starts that have plagued them the last two seasons.
Things will be challenging for the Lakers, but those challenges must come while the team is stringing together wins. Hopefully, the collaboration between stars and staff will be seamless and everyone will learn quickly and on the fly this season.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
