Days Before The Playoffs, JJ Redick Is On A Warpath With His Own Players

What happens when a team is in a rush to get something done? Tempers run high, hurtful words get hurled, and everyone around them wonders what’s going on.

The Los Angeles Lakers are making haste to get into peak form before the playoffs begin next week, and from the looks of it, no Laker feels a greater sense of urgency than head coach JJ Redick. For better or for worse, Redick has made his feelings towards certain players perfectly clear.

Essentially, Reddick is saying, “Shape up. The postseason is coming.” The catch is, he didn’t use those exact words.

In the case of Jarred Vanderbilt, the Lakers coach went beyond verbal admonition (though there was plenty of that too). On Thursday, Redick watched Vanderbilt commit a number of miscues (including three consecutive missed free throws) in the early goings of the Lakers-Thunder game. So, just 16 seconds into the second quarter, Redick called timeout and benched Vando, who was not pleased one bit with this decision.

Eventually, it got to the point when Vanderbilt broke protocol and went over to Redick as he drew up plays with his assistant coaches. In this situation, Vando vented out his frustration on Redick, who barely acknowledged his presence before walking away.

As if that weren’t enough, Redick also had some words for two other frontcourt players in the post-game media session.

When asked about seven-foot center Deandre Ayton, who got his fair share of hype when he was acquired by the Lakers in the offseason, Redick put it bluntly: “He’s had trouble catching the ball. We’ve run a bunch of plays for him. He’s having trouble catching the ball.”

What about Rui Hachimura, whose benching on Wednesday night also caught the attention of fans and pundits? “I called an early timeout because Rui didn’t do his job, and so I took him out of the game.”

Adding to his criticism of Hachimura, Redick laid out his simple objective for the upcoming playoffs: “We gotta find nine guys that are all in on us fighting.”

After an embarrassing loss to the Thunder, the defending champions and the golden standard that the Lakers are pursuing, Redick had some fighting words indeed. With Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves possibly missing the entirety of the first round, Redick has to do everything he can to coax the best out of his players. Even if it means calling early timeouts and benching them to get a message across.