JJ Redick Must Improve Lakers’ Defense to Enjoy Successful Season, Claims Brian Windhorst

After weeks of deliberation, JJ Redick was recently announced as the next head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers. Now that he has got the job, there’s a mammoth task ahead of him and several NBA experts have put forward their opinions on how he should work towards it. On a recent episode of Get Up, Brian Windhorst was asked whether a successful podcast stint with LeBron James can translate on the basketball court.

Windy seemed very positive about Redick’s stint. He said that the primary area that Redick should focus on from the beginning should be the Lakers’ lack of control on the defensive end of the court.

When he was asked if Redick’s friendship with LeBron James would be of any use during his coaching tenure, the 46-year-old said that it would only be effective as far as breaking the ice is concerned. The ESPN analyst thinks that day one at the camp will be a lot easier because of it but as they go deeper into the season, it won’t matter anymore.

However, Windy seemed to believe that Redick comes with a prepared plan on what to do to improve the Lakers’ roster efficiency. His experience in closely covering not just the Lakers but other NBA teams as well in the past few years will come in handy. As wild as Redick’s Head Coaching candidacy is, there’s no denying that he has done his research on the league for the past two years or so.

Windy told ESPN, “Where I think that the Lakers have a big challenge and where JJ is really going to have to do his best work is on the defensive end of the floor. That’s not where people focus but for the Lakers, that’s exactly where their seasons have been defined.”

The Lakers are offensively one of the best teams in the league but the burden of carrying their defensive end has largely been on Anthony Davis’s shoulders.

"If you're going to take [The Lakers] from seventh place to sixth or fourth, you gotta do that on the defensive end and that starts with JJ Redick."

—@WindhorstESPN on JJ Redick and the Lakers pic.twitter.com/IpeFfJWsan

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 24, 2024

With a new and fresh leader in Redick, the Lakers would look to acquire players who can help them become better on the defensive end of the court.

Windhorst seemed to put a lot of emphasis on the upcoming free-agency. It’s pretty certain that Redick will be unable to save the LA side’s season if they fumble key defensive pieces when the trade market opens. Rob Pelinka, therefore, takes the hot seat once again, with the drama of the 2024 Draft looming ahead.

Brian Windhorst talked about the initial struggles for JJ Redick

The Lakers appointing Redick as their head coach has been dubbed as a gamble at best. The reason behind such a harsh opinion on Redick is the fact that he has never coached a team even at the collegiate level.

So, it won’t be an easy road for him. During an appearance on ESPN’s SportsCenter, Windhorst talked about the first challenge Redick should look to tackle.

He said, “What they do with their roster, how they address the holes in their team, that’s what’s gonna give JJ Redick a chance…They’ve got to find some defensive wing players, otherwise, I don’t care who is coaching them, they’re gonna struggle.”

So Windy has been repeating the same thing again and again on ESPN. However, with Bronny James reports flooding the LA market, the Lakers seem to be moving further and further away from adding key defensive pieces.