Even though the Los Angeles Lakers still have the fourth-best record in the Western Conference, things are not going smoothly at the moment. They have lost three games in a row, six of their past 10 and had their effort called out by head coach JJ Redick on Christmas Day following a tough loss to the Houston Rockets.
That resulted in a team meeting on Saturday that Redick admitted would be “uncomfortable.”
Lakers looking for ‘recalibration and reconnection’
While Redick was upset with the team’s effort on Christmas and their recent stretch of games, he said Saturday’s meeting was not about finger-pointing but rather recalibrating and reconnecting with the team.
When asked if it was uncomfortable, he said the truth can sometimes be uncomfortable.
“The truth is uncomfortable,” Redick said, “and so you have to put everything out there, that’s all it is.”
Rather than finger-pointing, Redick said it was a day of “recalibration and reconnection” for his team that still sits No. 4 in the Western Conference standings.
“We had a great meeting as a staff this morning,” Redick said. “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.”
While this might seem a little over the top for a team that is in a really good position in the standings in December, these types of conversations and questions are important and understandable.
The Lakers have high expectations. Any team that has LeBron James and Luka Doncic on it is going to expect wins and expect to be contending for a championship. Especially when it is one of the NBA’s most prominent franchises in one of its biggest markets. Any time that team starts to fall short of those expectations, some difficult conversations need to be had to make sure things do not start to snowball and slip away.
Redick might feel like his team is starting to inch toward that and needs to have direct conversations with them.
That can go in a couple of different directions.
On one hand, it could serve as a wake-up call and lead to the type of spark they need to get back on track. Or it could annoy veteran players and future Hall of Famers to have a second-year coach call them out as this and things could trend in a very different direction. Time will tell.