JJ Redick Addresses Issues With Reserves Late In Games

There have been some concerns with the reserves of the Los Angeles Lakers being unable to hold leads in garbage time. Against the Toronto Raptors, head coach JJ Redick was forced to re-insert his starters after they allowed the lead to fall to just four points, and in their most recent contest against the Milwaukee Bucks the reserve group again saw a huge lead cut in a short period of time.

Redick, of course, would like to be able to get his starters rest when the Lakers have the game in hand late and in addressing those issues, put some of the blame on himself and the coaching staff, particularly with the team’s young players.

“Cam [Carr] hasn’t had a ton of run because he’s had the wrist injury that he had to deal with during Summer League,” Redick said after practice Friday. “And subsequently just working through that, and then he had the oblique injury. Adou [Thiero] obviously missed some time as well. Those guys need reps so I talked with Scotty [Brooks] after the game. He took those guys for a classroom setting today. We need to coach them more, I’m not gonna put it all on them.

“They need to be able to run offense though, I think that’s the biggest thing. It’s unacceptable to just consistently be calling offensive plays and then they come down and jack a three with 18 on the shot clock. We’re trying to use time and be organized and that group just hasn’t been organized and then they’re turning the ball over and giving up a bunch of threes when they’re in there. So they just gotta be better, but we gotta take some ownership as a staff and coach them so that we put them in a position to be successful.”

For players who aren’t getting regular minutes, they sometimes are looking to show off what they can do in the limited time they’re on the court. But Redick wants everyone on the team playing the right way being able to get reps with the offense so that when they get an opportunity for real minutes they know what they’re doing and can execute properly.

Credit to Redick for putting some of the onus on the coaches and saying they need to do a better job of coaching the young guys and putting them in the right positions to succeed. Now it will simply be about putting that into action so that everyone can rest easy when garbage time comes and the bench empties.

JJ Redick emphasizes need for Lakers to continue improving after road trip

Redick has been pushing all the right buttons so far and he doesn’t want the Lakers getting comfortable after their strong start to the season. Following an undefeated East Coast road trip, the Lakers’ coach stressed the need for this team to continue improving.