JJ Redick is seemingly as excited about the Lakers’ chemistry as he’s been since becoming head coach.
“For the first time in my three years with the Lakers, this is probably the first time I feel the pieces actually fit together,” Redick told the media.
Redick then likened the Lakers connectivity to the Lord of the Rings – he’s clearly a fan of the franchise.
“I think if you look at ‘Lord of the Rings,’ all the guys from ‘The Hobbit,’ those guys had to be connected,” he said.
“They had to embrace the fact that they were allies. Us coaches, we’re the guides. There has to be a connection between coaches and players. Not to say there’s not disagreements, but looking at your teammates as allies and being connected to those guys, you’re not going to get through the journey without that, or the journey’s going to be even more tumultuous than it is because, the reality is, there will be ordeals and trials along the way. That’s just the nature of 82 games.”
Redick added: “So I think just embracing each other, to me, is the definition of being connected.”
Many Lakers players signed multi-year contracts in the offseason, so its clear the purple and gold are confident with the group they assembled.
The most notable being Walker Kessler, who joined the team on a four-year, $130 million contract via sign-and-trade.
Lakers GM Rob Pelinka shared Redick’s confidence on connectivity and continuity within the group.
“If you look at the teams that we’re wanting to go shoulder to shoulder with, the Thunder and the Spurs maybe in the West,” those teams went through dry spells where they had to lose many seasons to get high picks. And we just don’t have the luxury of that here,” Pelinka explained.
“Again, the expectations are, every year, win, get in the playoffs, make a run. … Since I’ve been in a leadership position here, we’ve been a playoff team, and we have to continue to be that. And this was just an opportunity this summer with the space to get guys on multiyear deals. And JJ and I feel really confident that there is continuity in this group, especially with our sort of big three of Austin, Luka and Walker, and how those guys fit together, and then getting the role players around them.”
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