JJ Redick Wants Walker Kessler To Be ‘Relentless’

The Los Angeles Lakers debut of center Walker Kessler went about as good as it could have gone as the big man finished with 11 points, nine rebounds, one steal and one block in 16 first-half minutes against the Golden State Warriors.

Kessler showed off the impact he will have on both sides of the court and head coach JJ Redick felt he had an excellent showing.

“Yeah, I think he’s a great fit for our team,” Redick said after the contest. “I thought he did a nice job of running the floor, crashing, had some terrific rebounds in traffic, protected the rim. Just [a] really, really good first half from him.

“I think I mentioned this, they [the Warriors] had two offensive rebounds at halftime and they had 13 in the second half. He [Kessler] didn’t play in the second half. That’s an area of concern through the four preseason games. We’ve got to do a better job of rebounding in general, whether he’s on the floor or not. But I thought overall, just really good for someone who didn’t play for whatever it is, 10 days.” 

There was a very clear difference in the Lakers’ ability to protect the paint and clean the glass when Kessler was on the floor as opposed to when he was off. But the most important thing Redick wants from his big man is for him to be relentless on the court at all times.

“The word I’ve used with him, the challenge is just being relentless,” Redick added. “Just in terms of the motor on both ends. Running the floor, diving, screening, crashing the glass. Playing off Luka and AR, he’s gonna have opportunities to playmake in the pocket, that’s just the nature of how teams guard those two guys.

“His stats are gonna naturally come just from playing hard. I thought he did a great job of that and that’s a very encouraging thing when you have multiple guys on the team that you feel like are gonna do the little stuff that maybe doesn’t always show up in a box score but helps the team.”

Kessler would echo those same sentiments about what Redick expects from him.

“Yeah, JJ and I talked, and that’s what we came up with this year: relentless,” the big man said.

“And for me, that means just crashing every time, trying to be a presence in the paint, outside, run [and] play hard. Don’t take plays off on the offensive, defensive end. So, that’s gonna be my goal for this year.”

The Lakers gave up a lot of draft capital to bring Kessler in and his play will be critical for how good this team will be. His first showing gave plenty to be excited about and having that type of mindset will serve him and the Lakers well this season.

Walker Kessler was nervous before his Lakers’ debut

Kessler’s debut in purple and gold was his first game in nearly a year and the Lakers center admitted to being nervous prior to taking the court, but was still happy to be back out there.