SINCE LEBRON JAMES arrived in Los Angeles in the summer of 2018, he has been in charge of metaphorically tipping off the Lakers‘ season.
James’ voluntary, team-bonding minicamps — in Las Vegas for several years before shifting to San Diego — have given players a chance to break a sweat during the day and break bread at night before training camp officially opens.
That changed this season. With James and Anthony Davis spending their summer with Team USA for the 2024 Paris Olympics, the minicamp was scratched to give the co-captains a break before the season.
The absence created an opportunity for a fresh launch event, directed by a different voice: new Lakers coach JJ Redick. So on Sept. 30, the eve of his first training camp with the franchise, Redick gathered his group in a private downstairs dining room at Mastro’s Steakhouse in Beverly Hills — a restaurant with some Lakers history: Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan once dined there together; Nick Young’s then-girlfriend Iggy Azalea once hosted an album release celebration there — to deliver a mission statement.
The presentation included a video highlighting the tenets on which the team would be built, with Redick backing up analytics benchmarks with clips showing the players reaching them last season. “You told on yourselves,” Redick told the players, one source told ESPN, his sarcastic way of telling them he knows they are capable of what he is asking them to do.
Charcoal T-shirts were distributed with the theme of the season printed across the chest in white block letters: DETAILS (the “L” in details was the Lakers’ secondary logo in gold, for good measure). Redick and his coaching staff introduced the team identity they expected on both ends of the floor, sources told ESPN. The discussion was then opened to the players to establish team values.
Some of the points of emphasis, sources told ESPN, included:
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Respecting one another’s time.
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Playing for the same, common goal.
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Expecting elite execution night to night, no matter who is in or out of the lineup.
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Being efficient in everything, from shot selection for the players to time management from the coaches.
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Dominating the details, whether it’s the angle a screen is set on offense, or the timing of blitzing a pick-and-roll on defense.
“These were our non-negotiables,” a team source told ESPN. “Come hell or high water, we will go back to this as a team.”
The gathering was meant to establish a standard after last season ended with another play-in tournament appearance and subsequent first-round exit under former coach Darvin Ham, who was fired shortly thereafter.
“[Redick] presented a clear vision,” another source told ESPN. “There was no gray area.”
“It just showed the dedication that not just him, but the coaching staff has, in coming in and doing the right stuff,” Austin Reaves told ESPN. “Setting that foundation of we’re going to do stuff the right way and if we do that, we can be a really good team.”
The Lakers’ record this season through 10 games (6-4) is nearly identical to last season’s (5-5). The only two new names on the roster are rookies Dalton Knecht and Bronny James, who is now splitting his time between the NBA and the G League.
But from the eye test to advanced analytics, this is a different team. Here are three ways the 2024-25 Lakers have changed under JJ Redick — and one way they remain troublingly the same.
AD as the ‘hub’
While it was Ham who bestowed the “Wilt Davis” nickname onto Anthony Davis two seasons ago, referencing legendary big man Wilt Chamberlain, it is Redick who so far has unlocked the real-life comparison.
Through the season’s first nine games, Davis became just the second Laker in history to average 30 points, 55% shooting and 10 rebounds. The first? Chamberlain, in 1969-70.
Redick declared in the preseason that Davis, not James, would be the “hub” of the Lakers’ offense, and challenged the 13-year veteran to win his first MVP. And Redick has fueled that goal with more opportunities for Davis.
Davis has averaged his most touches per game and dribbles per touch since player tracking data began in 2013-14. And once he gets the ball, he is executing, averaging 1.19 points per direct touch — his best in a season in the player tracking era.
“He’s done a good job of putting me in spots to be successful,” Davis said of Redick. “My teammates have done a good job of giving me the ball where I’m most comfortable. Obviously they’re encouraging me to try to go get it, but I’m still continuously trying to play the right way.”
LeBron’s reduced role
As Davis’ touches have increased, James’ have decreased. The 22-year-vet is spending more time off the ball than he ever has. James’ 24.8% usage rate so far this season would be the lowest of his career.
Part of the strategy is to free James from expending energy initiating the Lakers’ offense; he has brought the ball up the floor 24.1 possessions per game, which would be his fewest in a season since 2015-16.
Redick has instead tasked James with using his 6-foot-9, 250-pound frame in ways other than pounding the rock. This season, James is averaging 7.4 off-ball screens per 100 possessions as the screener, significantly up from 4.4 last season and nearly double his 3.9 mark in 2022-23. And it’s working to spring his teammates for scoring opportunities. Lakers cutters are averaging 1.28 points per direct play when James is the off-ball screener, ranking 14th in the league among players to set 50 or more off-ball screens as the screener this season.
He’s also coming off screens more this season, cutting 10.2 times per 100 possessions using an off-ball screen, up from 8.2 last season and his most since 2015-16, when he was with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
On defense, the same energy-saving strategy has been implemented, starting with switching instead of fighting through screens on pick and rolls. He has switched 47% of the time he has been the screen defender against on-ball screens, the 13th-highest rate among players to defend 50 picks or more so far.
This strategy, though, hasn’t been effective. The Lakers are allowing 1.33 points per chance when James is the screener defender, the second worst in the NBA among players to defend 50-plus picks. However, James is still giving the Lakers 23.2 points on 51.5/44.4/81.6 splits with 8.9 assists and 7.7 rebounds per game, which helps offset the defensive issues.
James has already had a couple of turn-back-the-clock performances, scoring 16 of his 32 points in the fourth quarter in a win over the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 27 and leading L.A. past the Toronto Raptors with 19 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds when Davis exited because of an eye injury Sunday. But Redick knows they can’t expect these games from the 39-year-old.
“We’re not going to rely on LeBron James iso fourth-quarter ball,” Redick said. “Like, that’s not who our identity is going to be. So, I think it starts with the thing that was presented to the team on the first day: Here’s our identity offensively; here’s our identity defensively and then your system should help emphasize those things. And so that’s where we’ve been particularly deliberate.”
A new, innovative offense
After ranking 15th last season, the Lakers are No. 5 in offensive efficiency so far in 2024-25, scoring 117.0 points per 100 possessions.
The most striking difference is the way they are sharing the ball, ranking ninth in passes per game this season, up from 23rd last season. Their average touch length has dropped from the 19th shortest to the ninth shortest, while the average dribbles per touch have dropped from 14th fewest to fifth fewest. The ball is moving more and faster, player to player and side to side, forcing the opposing defense out of position.
And they are also using far more off-ball screens per game (47.8, which ranks 14th) compared to last season (27.3, which was last) to keep the offense in motion instead of constantly looking for mismatches in the pick-and-roll.
“Their execution stands out to me,” said Suns coach Mike Budenholzer, whose team played L.A. twice in the preseason and twice already in the regular season. “The force in which they’re cutting and screening and playing. Davis is bringing a lot on both ends of the court. So I think that’s a reflection of JJ as a coach, and I’m sure his staff. The players are obviously taking whatever they’re working on in practice and applying it.”
And there’s still major room for improvement beyond the arc, something the former 3-point specialist Redick emphasized in the preseason and insists will come.
Last season, the Lakers ranked eighth in 3-point accuracy (37.7%), 24th in 3-pointers made per game (11.8) and 28th in 3s attempted (31.4).
The only one of those categories that has improved through 10 games are attempts (32.8), but Redick wants more.
“The thing as a coach is you can envision a certain thing and you can have a goal for things. It doesn’t mean you’re going to get there,” Redick said last week. “I think it’s important to always emphasize the things you want. That hopefully becomes part of your identity.
“I would say when we play offense the way we want to play offense, we are generating good 3s. When we play stagnant, we can’t get two [defenders] on the ball and we can’t create marginal indecision from the defense and we’re not generating good 3s. That’s just the reality.”
Persistent, nonexistent transition defense
At halftime Sunday, with the Toronto Raptors leading L.A. 55-53, Toronto guard Ochai Agbaji revealed just how little his team respected one part of the Lakers’ game.
“Obviously, they don’t really want to get back,” Agbaji said of the Lakers’ transition defense during an on-court interview with TSN. “So if we get a rebound, we’re out and running. That’s the game plan.”
And the Raptors were right to try to exploit it.
“Last year we were horrific in transition defense,” James said after the team’s first practice with Redick.
They’re even worse this season.
The Lakers entered the game allowing 1.53 points per possession in transition, last in the league this season. They’re also defending the second-most transition possessions per game this season and allowing 20.6 fast-break points per game by their opponents, second-most in the league.
Last season, they were still defending a high number of transition possessions, fourth most in the NBA, but ranked 15th in points per possession allowed.
L.A. is also defending 6.7 transition 3-pointers per game this season — the most in the league — and opponents are shooting 52% on them, the second-highest allowed by any team. That number was 37% last year.
After the Raptors scored 12 fast-break points in the first half, Redick used halftime to once again emphasize the importance of sprinting back and identifying a man on defense after a turnover or missed shot.
Toronto scored just three transition points after halftime. The Lakers won by 20.
“They’re responsive to the things we want,” Redick said. “And I believe this in my heart: NBA players want to be coached. And our group wants to be coached.”
Source: espn.com