Incoming head coach JJ Redick is setting a different tone for the Lakers this summer and is changing the way the team works out.
LA’s workouts this summer have been more focussed on ‘live basketball’ where the players are actually going to head-to-head, instead of the focus being on indivudual work – like it was under Darvin Ham, the Los Angeles Times’ Dan Woike reports.
“Those workouts are the first in the formalized relationship between J.J. Redick, his staff and the players, and the first impression might offer some hints as to how the new coach will operate,” Woike said.
“Workouts have featured more live basketball — one on one and three on three — than past summers when the focus was more on individual, noncompetitive work.
“This could be one step of the player development changes that Redick vowed to make when he took the job this summer, a change the organization has tied to the changing salary cap rules. But, honestly, the changes probably were overdue.”
Woike also went on to mention how last year’s rookies, Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis, “were nonfactors” in their first year in the league.
However, reported that the pair have both “earned positive reviews during this stage of the offseason.”
NBA fans and media alike are waiting with bated breath to see how the first-time coach fares in his maiden coaching role in the NBA.
The only other coaching experience Redick has had previously is the a volunteer 4th Grade Head Coach at the Brooklyn Basketball Academy (if that counts).
But, his 15-year experience as a player for the Magic, Bucks, Clippers, 76ers, Pelicans and Mavericks and his expert knowledge as an NBA commentator and podcaster definitely count for something.
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