Let’s take a closer look at the dynamic between the Lakers head coach JJ Redick and veteran guard D’Angelo Russell.
New Lakers head coach JJ Redick continues to face obstacles early on in his tenure with the Lakers, most recently dealing with very up-and-down play against the Nuggets, namely in the third quarter, which lost them the game and, less recently, defensive woes in transition.
One of the earliest obstacles, or opportunities depending on how you frame it, Redick faced was tinkering with the starting lineup and bringing more balance to a woeful bench unit. To accomplish that, he decided to move veteran guard D’Angelo Russell to the bench.
It was a move that brought along many murmurs of “Well, this is what Darvin Ham did, so what is JJ doing any different?” On the surface, that may have been correct.
However, key differences emerge when you look deeper at it, especially the relationship between Redick and D’Angelo. I explained this in the following video.
It’s always a tricky situation moving a veteran, highly-paid player like D’Angelo Russell to the bench and there are different ways to handle it. The reality is we are not privy to many of those touch points and conversations and building that trust with the players is one of the main roles of a head coach.
From the information we do have, whether it’s interviews or at postgame pressers, the Redick-Russell relationship is certainly different than the Ham-Russell relationship and there seems to be a certain bond built around basketball IQ, communication and detail.
Hopefully, it’s one that continues to develop. In the meantime, lets hope the Lakers can figure out their defensive woes and D’Angelo can figure out his perimeter shooting.
Dr. Rajpal Brar, DPT has a doctorate in physical therapy from Northern Arizona University, and runs his own in-person and online sports medicine and performance business, 3CB Performance, in West LA and Valencia, CA in which he further combines his movement expertise and fitness training. Prior to entering into the physiotherapy field, Brar graduated from Cal-Berkeley in Business Administration and spent multiple years in the corporate marketing and strategy field, culminating in managing his own business unit in New York City and being a direct liaison for client management.
Brar is additionally training at UCLA’s mindful awareness research center (MARC), has a background in youth basketball coaching and analyzes the Lakers from a medical, skills, and leadership/organizational culture perspective for Silver Screen and Roll and on his own YouTube Channel. You can follow him on Twitter at @3cbPerformance.
