The Lakers are at a teetering point on the season, but JJ Redick is determined not to let things fall off the edge of the cliff.
After a series of losses the Lakers experienced over the last week, teams run the risk of breaking apart. Wednesday’s loss, in its own right, was historically bad, and pairing it with a blowout defeat to the Timberwolves on Monday made it the worst back-to-back defeats in franchise history.
In short, things are going bad for the Lakers!
Things can snowball quickly, as the Lakers saw last season. A series of poor results after the In-Season Tournament derailed things and proved costly at season’s end. Head coach JJ Redick seemed acutely aware of all of that when speaking postgame of being routed by the Heat.
In discussing the fact that players must own up to what is going wrong, he also acknowledged how this could split the group.
“There has to be some ownership,” Redick said. “I think when a group is not performing well, which happens…you can splinter and it’s easy to not want the ownership. Particularly when it’s embarrassing.”
This is one of those moments where, despite being a first-time head coach, Redick’s experience as an NBA player proves vital here. He knows how things can go awry in a locker room and how to approach things.
And to that point, when asked how to avoid the team from splintering, Redick said he plans on meeting with coaches and players alike.
“Something I’ll talk about with my staff, certainly talk with the group, certainly talk individual guys,” Redick said. “We have good guys and we have guys that want to win and guys that want to play the right way. Figuring out how to do that together, I think that’s the challenge for almost any team. When you can do it – and we’ve done it, we’ve shown we can do it – you just want to get back to that and we will.”
This is also the value of having a good communicator as a head coach. Redick has done a great job throughout the season being clear with players on their roles, highlighted most by D’Angelo Russell moving to the bench seamlessly.
Now, while there’s value in being a clear communicator, the team also has to respond to things as well. As Redick said, he is taking the appropriate amount of ownership but it also falls on the players as well.
This is a pivotal moment in the Lakers season. Right now, everyone is saying the right things about it, but actions speak louder than words.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
