EL SEGUNDO, Calif. — There weren’t the signs of violence you might expect. No chairs went flying through glass windows, no jerseys ripped to shreds, no bloody wounds or purple and gold bruises.
After the Los Angeles Lakers were blown out for the third-straight game, JJ Redick matter-of-factly said Saturday was going to include an “uncomfortable” meeting and an “uncomfortable” practice. The way things were headed needed to change, he said angrily, and he refused to do this for “53 more games.”
So, when the doors opened Saturday at the end of the Lakers’ practice, it was notable that, at least to the trained eye, everything looked mostly the same.
“Today was, for myself, I’m always gonna look in the mirror first,” Redick calmly said Saturday. “And I think it’s easy as a player, as a coach to say, ‘It’s this guy’s fault,’ or it’s ‘We’re not doing this ’cause X, Y, and Z.’ And so … we had a great meeting as a staff this morning. Came in super early. And we met with the players, and it was very positive. And it was also listening. It was also for our staff, myself, to listen to the players and what they need.”
Instead of rage and reaction, Redick preached “recalibration and reconnection.”
One team source in the meeting termed it “anticlimactic,” especially considering the tension postgame on Christmas night. The two-way conversation between players and coaches centered on Redick taking responsibility and reorganizing his priorities.
“Priority number one for me – role clarity. I think since we’ve gotten (LeBron James) back, we haven’t been as organized offensively. Too many random possessions. That’s on me. So, it’s those three things: defensive clarity, role clarity and offensive organization,” Redick said.
The Lakers enter the final week of the month with the league’s worst defense since Dec. 1. They’ve lost six times in 10 games this month and, on Saturday, learned that Austin Reaves will be out at least four weeks with a Grade 2 calf strain.
They play the Sacramento Kings on Sunday, game two of a five-game homestand.
“Yeah, it’s tough, especially — I know calf injuries. It’s not a joke,” Rui Hachimura said. “(Reaves) has to take care of that first. But the team here, of course, we’re gonna miss him, his energy and what he brings offensively. But this happened before, too. We were missing Bron, you know, the first literally (14) games, and we have to, somebody had to step up.”
It was clear on Saturday that the plan to get the Lakers’ playing better wasn’t to scold them into doing so.
“We kind of, you know, review our goals. When we started in the season, we had the championship habits, communication and championship shape and all that,” Hachimura said. “We kind of reviewed it again and tried to make sure everybody understands what’s (the) meaning (of) this and that (in) more detail. So, I think it was a good meeting.”
Still, there are signs that some frustration is lingering. Marcus Smart and LeBron James, who both declined to speak to the media after the loss to the Houston Rockets, didn’t speak to the press following Saturday’s practice. Neither did Luka Dončić, who spoke after the loss to Houston.
“We’re fine,” Hachimura said. “We just gotta kind of reset everything. I think I’ve been in the league for seven, eight years, whatever, seven years — this always happens. It’s not always good. We have some time like this, but we can’t have it longer than it’s supposed to be. We got to kind of turn it around again.”