JJ Redick exposes Lakers players for ‘soft’ mentality despite green signal to foul rivals

Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick is working on fixing the lack of effort from his players after a series of humiliating losses.

JJ Redick exposes Lakers players for ‘soft’ mentality despite green signal to foul rivals

JJ Redick revealed his Los Angeles Lakers players could not execute his instructions in blowout losses

The Los Angeles Lakers’ brutal loss to the Miami Heat has sparked debates all across the sporting world. On one hand, some are asking if head coach JJ Redick could not bring his players to play competitive basketball, while on the other hand, many are questioning if LeBron James and his teammates quit.

The former has been clarified by many analysts who felt that that abomination at the hands of the Heat had nothing to do with JJ Redick. In fact, the first-year head coach had a gameplan in mind just as he does in every game, but his players did not execute.

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In the game against the Miami Heat, former players felt the Los Angeles Lakers simply did not look interested in playing basketball—some even going to the extent of suggesting that partying in Miami may have played a hand in that embarrassment.

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JJ Redick did take the blame on himself, but it was evident he was not the one to blame. Lakers beat writer Jovan Buha approached the first-year head coach to seek further answers about the debacle, to which Redick cited an example.

JJ Redick said he gave the Lakers permission for each player to pick up three off-ball fouls in the second half of the Miami loss to increase their physicality and they were unable to do it.

Jovan Buha quoting JJ Redick

This revelation suggests that the Los Angeles Lakers players looked soft, as they were unable to impose their physicality against a Heat team known to play physical basketball. Maybe Redick wanted his players to inflict some emotional damage through their physical play in order to turn the game around, but it did not work.

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JJ Redick will enforce some rules going forward

The Los Angeles Lakers have looked downright horrible defensively in their past few games. Knowing that, Jovan Buha asked JJ Redick how he plans to fix the defensive communication breakdowns his players have shown off late, to which he replied:

You take them out of the game.

Jovan Buha quoting JJ Redick

For the former player to suggest means he is probably looking at enforcing tough rules going forward. Such a situation first played out in the third quarter of their loss to the Denver Nuggets. In those 12 minutes, players stopped executing what their 40-year-old head coach had asked them to do. In fact, they executed it in the first half, but did not bother to do it in that third quarter.

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That defensive breakdown was due to a lack of communication and effort. The effort part might come back, but without communication, it will be difficult to execute it. All of this sounds as if the head coach is starting to figure out what is wrong with this squad.