EL SEGUNDO — Lakers coach JJ Redick didn’t appear to be surprised by his team’s poor transition defense during their pair of preseason games against the Phoenix Suns and Golden State Warriors over the weekend.
Because in his eyes, it lined up with what he was seeing during training camp practices last week.
“Our transition defense in both games, and frankly, last week for those three practices, [was] dog [expletive],” Redick said after Tuesday’s practice. “Our transition defense, a lot of that comes from being in shape.”
Redick added: “I would say across the board we still have to continue to build our conditioning and our fitness.”
The Lakers allowed at least 19 fast-break points in the two losses – 19 to the Suns and 23 to the Warriors.
“It just wasn’t good,” guard Austin Reaves said. “[Redick] probably watched all the film and everything and he’s probably right. We can grow, we can get better. We had a little segment [on Tuesday] towards the end of practice, which he might say was dog [expletive], too. So we’ll continue to try to get better.”
One positive takeaway from the first two preseason games was the Lakers’ offensive rebounding, with the team grabbing 11 offensive boards against the Suns and 12 against the Warriors.
There’s confidence that the presence of Deandre Ayton, who has averaged 3.1 offensive rebounds per game since entering the NBA in 2018, will help the Lakers on the offensive glass after they finished last season 23rd in the league in offensive rebounding rate.
“D.A. has been a great offensive rebounder in his career,” Redick said. “I know at one point when we were scouting them … he was at the top of the leaderboard in offensive rebounds per game or offensive rebound rate. He’s been elite at that. Going back to the continuity, [Dalton Knecht], Rui [Hachimura], A.R., like those guys understanding the corner crash schemes and how that fits in with our transition defense. Those things you feel pretty confident on.”
And they’re also confident they’ll strike the balance of crashing the offensive glass without it coming at the expense of their transition defense.
“There’s a way to do it that we teach, probably everybody teaches: if you do crash, you have to have the awareness to get back at the same time,” Reaves said. “Obviously, we want extra possessions and as many offensive rebounds as we can get. At the same time, if you’re getting seven offensive rebounds a game, but you’re giving up 18 points a game in transition, it doesn’t quite work out. So you have to find a good balance of when to crash, when not to crash, how many to crash.”
NOT FOOLED
When Lakers star LeBron James, who is entering an unprecedented 23rd NBA season, posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday morning, “The decision of all decisions. October 7th. 12pm EST.” with the hashtag “TheSecondDecision” – referencing the 2010 TV special “The Decision” in which James announced he was leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat as a free agent – there was social-media driven speculation that James’ announcement would be related to his playing career.
“Obviously,” Reaves said, “people was thinking that he was retiring.”
That wasn’t the case, with James’ “Second Decision” being tied in to an advertisement for Hennessy, a French cognac producer.
“You guys are idiots,” Redick said. “We all knew it was an ad, right?”
Redick added: “Most people that [texted] me [were] also aware that it’s probably an ad, so it wasn’t … nobody was freaking out.”
But that didn’t mean James’ teammates didn’t reach out.
“I texted him,” Hachimura said. “But he was using an emoji. I don’t even know. I didn’t understand at all. But he loves to do that type of stuff. Surprises, right?”
SMART PRACTICES
Marcus Smart, who sat out the first two preseason games because of Achilles tendinopathy, participated in most of Tuesday’s practice, including some live play, according to Redick.
“He guarded me a little bit at the [start] of practice,” Reaves said. “You still feel that pressure. You feel the intensity that he brings on the defensive end. And that’s going to be big for us. We need that. We need him to be the best version of himself. With that communication that he brings, especially defensively, he’s been in the league a while. He knows how to win at the highest level, so very excited to have him.”
Redick said James and Luka Doncic, both of whom also sat out of the pair of exhibitions, mostly took part in individual work on Tuesday.
Redick responded “load management” when asked whether Doncic is dealing with an ailment or being held out for rest.