The JJ Redick era is off to a fine start. The new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers has breathed new life into his new team, a welcome change after last year’s squad too often felt flat and uninspired under former coach Darvin Ham.
Redick has pushed all the right buttons through the season’s first two weeks, and despite a difficult early schedule, the Lakers are sitting pretty at 4-2 after racing out to a big early lead against the Raptors on Friday night, then hanging on in the fourth quarter.
Lakers fans have to like where their team is at, as only the Suns and Cavs have beaten LA so far. Those two teams are a combined 10-1, with the Suns’ only loss coming to the Lakers in the second game of the season.
Redick has the Lakers playing good team basketball, but despite positive contributions from much of the roster, Anthony Davis has still stolen the spotlight thanks to the strongest start of his career. Davis has unquestionably been the best player on the team, and his 30.6 points per game average is third in the league behind only Nikola Jokic and Tyrese Maxey.
Any new NBA head coach tinkers with the lineup in order to build a strong rotation, and Redick has been no different. He’s only six games in, so we’re likely to see much more experimentation, but before then, we have some suggestions that he may want to put into play.
Cut back on Max Christie’s playing time
Max Christie is only 21, and he’s under contract through at least 2027-28, with a player option that could add one more year.
He’s a player that the Lakers have invested in, and he has room to grow, but these aren’t good enough reasons to be giving him more than 18 minutes a game on a team that looks to be a contender.
The Lakers need willing and able shooters around LeBron James. Even with a new coach, that fact is and always has been irrefutable.
Christie shot 41.9 percent from three in his rookie season, but that’s looking more like beginner’s luck every day. Last year, he dropped to 35.6 percent, and he’s only 3-12 to start this season. Until he figures his outside shot out, he doesn’t need to be eating up so many minutes.
Per NBA Advanced Stats, every Lakers two-man pairing that involves Christie has a negative net rating, with the exception of nine random minutes he’s played with Cam Reddish. Gabe Vincent hasn’t blown anybody away either, but he’s at least done well when paired with Dalton Knecht or Austin Reaves.
Christie has a good defensive reputation, but he’s not Tony Allen or Marcus Smart. If he was, we might be able to excuse the fact that he’s averaging only one made basket per game. As it stands, he’s just not bringing enough to the table to justify this much playing time. Give Cam Reddish some run, or better yet…
Give the people what they want — more Dalton Knecht
I know I’m not alone when I say that I love me some Dalton Knecht. The former Tennessee Volunteer was one of the most impressive players in the nation as a collegiate player, and then he won over many NBA-centric fans with his gonzo scoring performance against the Suns in the preseason.
Knecht is only a rookie, but Redick already trusts him enough to play him more than 16 minutes per game. That’s a start, but it’s not enough. Knecht’s ability to provide instant offense off the bench should make him the team’s primary sixth man, and the more minutes he gets now, the more they’ll pay off later in the season.
We’re still working with a small sample size since the season is only six games old, but Knecht is present on six of the 10 best Lakers five-man lineups according to net rating. He’s played the most minutes with LeBron James, D’Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes beside him, and that lineup has excelled on both ends of the court.
Knecht is playing less than Max Christie, but he’s been a much more impactful player when he’s been on the court. Give him some of Christie’s minutes and watch the second unit take off.
Let Anthony Davis get a bit more rest
This suggestion might turn some heads. Sit a guy who’s having an MVP-caliber start to the season? Yes, that’s what I’m suggesting. Redick has made Davis the focal point of the Lakers attack, and it’s clearly been the right move.
The Brow is knocking down jumpers, getting to the line and finishing in the paint. He’s doing it all, so why would we want to take him off the court?
Davis stayed remarkably healthy last season. The 76 games he played in was a career high, and he’s looking even stronger this year as he’s slightly upped his minutes per game to 36. That’s all the more reason to not overwork him, though.
Davis hasn’t averaged this many minutes since the 2017-18 season, and also don’t forget that he played on Team USA in the Olympics this summer. All this basketball takes a toll on the body, especially for a big man with a troubling injury history.
The Lakers don’t want to win the regular season, they want to make a real run in the playoffs. Burning AD out is not the way to accomplish that goal. Redick needs him fresh if he’s going to be at his best against Nikola Jokic, Chet Holmgren, Rudy Gobert and Dereck Lively II in the postseason, and that means giving him an extra couple of minutes to rest each game until then.
Luckily, Jaxson Hayes has proven himself eminently capable of stepping in and holding down the fort. Hayes is happy to do the grunt work when surrounded by the rest of L.A.’s starting lineup, which is just fine since L.A. has more than enough offense out there with LeBron, Reaves, Russell and Hachimura.
Hayes can lock up his man, clean up the boards, and put back a dunk or two, all while AD catches his breath.
