Head Coach JJ Redick Discussion: Spazzing Out

I saw that fool’s face at the end of the game and then immediately thanked God that he’s no longer our coach.
He was just clueless.

 

Accurate assessment

 

I like JJ and think he is doing a good job in a lot of areas, but he hasn't learned from last playoff's overusage mistakes. We finally have a nearly fully healthy team*, and he plays Luka and Austin for 40 min in Utah. I shudder to think what he's going to do in the playoffs...repeat Game 4 no 2nd half subs every game?!

Meanwhile, he only played game high +18 Smart just 17 min. Even though he used to overuse Smart up to 37 min if he needed him. Man, it's not hard, just shave 4 min each off of Luka and Austin to bring them down to 36, and give them to Smart for 25 min. I bet if he does that, the game doesn't even get close in the 4th.



*other than Ayton, but Ayton, Hayes, and Kleber combined for 44 min, plus Rui for 3 min at C, so we were not lacking for minutes there.

 

Wow it is indeed. JJ must be doing some things right.

On a similar note, I heard on a podcast (might have been the Hoops Tonight with Jason Timpf, but I'm not sure) this week that the Lakers are currently No. 1 in the league in crunch time defense. That's very encouraging anf honestly pretty surprising (to me at least). Good defense in end game situations is one of the critical elements in being an elite team, and the other end of the court should not be problematic with this squad.

Considering the lack of real defensive talent on this team, I would say this early success is also to a significant extent on the coaching staff.

 

So, if they can play it in the crunch, then let’s see it throughout the majority of the game!!!

 

I'm not sure if we have the horses to be an excellent defensive team for 48 mins a game over the regular season. We showed spurts last year where our effort and the 4 headed beast of Goodwin, Gabe, Vando & DFS off the bench really clamped down on other teams. But we were too small and that kind of effort is hard to keep up without something or someone breaking down.

I think a combination of Smart, Lebron, LaRavia, Gabe, Vando, Ayton, Maxi and Hayes are all good defensively. Reaves and Luka are passable too. Rui is a bit of a negative but can be decent as a small ball center. Knecht is a weak link and Adou, Bronny, Timme, Manon and Nick Smith are development pieces not to be relied on.

If we could get two more defensive pieces it would be nice.

 

Heard it in game and didn't know where it was coming from.



Talking to the refs, Gotta love it!

Spoiler: NSFW: Swearing

 

He's done a good job this year: seems to be balancing finding winning lineups with giving players chances to prove or fail so that everything seems fair.
The second half units all play their a** off on defense and everyone playing their roles.

I'm not play tracker so can't comment on the scheme fit for playcalls vs defenses but outside of that I've been impressed

 

When we've been short handed, he's done a good job of having the team and the next man ready.

Raptors are the exact type of team that kicks our a**. We squeaked it out.






Wonder how many laps Austin had to run for that Luka lob

 

I don't think this team will reach a higher ceiling until JJ goes hard on Luka and LeBron.

He's trying to be their friend and treating them like a podcast guest rather than a coach.

LeBron shouldn't have been taking that technical FT and JJ let it happen. b******* he didn't see what was happening.

He's gotta tell Luka to play smarter basketball. I get that those are shots Luka takes and that's part of his game but dude is just tossing up hail mary stepback 3's.

And I can't understand why the Lakers choose to run down the shotclock with a lead in the closing minutes of the game to take a bad shot when what they were doing to get the lead all game was working. Just run your offense... if you're going to run down the shotclock and just have Luka, Reaves, or Bron take a tough shot, why don't you put Vando in to play defense since Rui isn't getting the ball anyways?

 

To be fair, from memory we had Ayton, Lebron, Luka, Smart and Rui on the floor. It’s not like Luka doesn’t miss free throws either.

Agree on everything else.

 

Another thing JJ has to do IMO is get Vando and Adou into the games much more. There are times we have teams running up and down the court embarrassing us like we have cement in our shoes and these guys are just watching from the bench. It isn't like we run some amazing offense, for years it was LeBron dribble dribble shoot and now it is often Luka doing the dribble dribble shoot. If we aren't going to run an offense we might as well put defenders around the gunners. Turn it into a scramble fest that is at least entertaining to watch. Let Jax run the court and do amazing dunks and block some shots. We need to keep LeBron down to 20 minutes any way for his health and to let him build up gradual. Get creative man!

 

fully agree. if our offense is simply luka or reaves draws the double, then you better get defenders out there. if we were doing something more interesting on offense, i'd have more sympathy for not playing thiero and/or vando. and if we were more serious on defense, i'd have more arguments against nick smith playing (though he's been probably as good as gabe, lol).

anyway, fully on board with the sentiment that if we're to justify playing ill-fitting vets, we need to be looking better than we have. we've actually earned a bit of cushion to where jj could shut me (and rob/walter) up by playing the youth and watching it blow up like he thinks it will.

 

LeBron is shooting 61% from the charity stripe. I bet Jax has a better percentage.

 

From what we’ve seen of Thiero so far, he’s not going to be making a lot of bone headed plays and will stay with his man, unlike Rui and Smart against the quicker ball handlers. Smart’s still good, but is too old to stay attached to the quicker guys.
Also, Nick Smith will give us a lot more than what cardio-Gabe has.