Originally published by LakersNation.com
Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has done a good job of steering the team throughout the 2025-26 season.
The Lakers remain in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race despite not having their roster fully healthy for most of the year.
Redick has been forced to shuffle his lineups and rotations due to injuries, but the team is finally getting healthy and looks ready for the second half of the season.
After their last practice before resuming the season, Redick detailed his message to the players.
“There’s only so much you can control,” Redick said when discussing the team being full healthy for the first time. “As a coach, you have zero control on that. As a player, what you do to prepare and what you do to recover can give you some level of control, but ultimately the basketball gods and the game are gonna dictate health. It’s funny, we were talking before the season about building continuity with those three guys and we’ve had them available together for 10 games so it’s just the situation we’re in.
“We’re not the only team that’s had a bunch of health issues throughout the season and had to manage that but my messaging this morning to the players was this is gonna be a sprint these last 28 games. It’s another segment of the season where starting tomorrow we won’t have more than a day between games until the end of March so we’ve got an opportunity to, I think, to play our best basketball after the All-Star break. And we’ve got a number of indicators on both sides of the ball that we’re doing some things that are trending in the right direction and I think it’s coming at a good time as we’re getting fully healthy.”
Redick also explained the positives he and the coaching staff have seen from the group.
“Well, I mean defensively since we went to zone the last 14 games. We’ve been much better when we have been in our zone, started possessions in our zone we’ve been the number one half court defense. Our transition possessions allowed are going down. I think a lot of that has to do with sprinting back into our zone.
“Offensively for us, we’ve had some of our highest paint touch rate games and we’ve proven when we touch the paint we’re elite. We’ve got to continue to build on that and I think we’ve shown when we pass the ball and we trust each other and we generate not just potential assists but assists and connect that way we win basketball games.”
Redick admitted in his assessment of the first half of the season that they desperately needed a break, but after getting some rest they’ll need to shift to full throttle to get to the playoffs.
JJ Redick not taking LeBron James for granted
LeBron James perking back up as the season went on was a positive sign for the Lakers. JJ Redick has done nothing but praise for James what he’s been able to do in Year 23 and emphasized he doesn’t take the star for granted.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick has done a good job of steering the team throughout the 2025-26 season.
The Lakers remain in the thick of the Western Conference playoff race despite not having their roster fully healthy for most of the year.
Redick has been forced to shuffle his lineups and rotations due to injuries, but the team is finally getting healthy and looks ready for the second half of the season.
After their last practice before resuming the season, Redick detailed his message to the players.
“There’s only so much you can control,” Redick said when discussing the team being full healthy for the first time. “As a coach, you have zero control on that. As a player, what you do to prepare and what you do to recover can give you some level of control, but ultimately the basketball gods and the game are gonna dictate health. It’s funny, we were talking before the season about building continuity with those three guys and we’ve had them available together for 10 games so it’s just the situation we’re in.
“We’re not the only team that’s had a bunch of health issues throughout the season and had to manage that but my messaging this morning to the players was this is gonna be a sprint these last 28 games. It’s another segment of the season where starting tomorrow we won’t have more than a day between games until the end of March so we’ve got an opportunity to, I think, to play our best basketball after the All-Star break. And we’ve got a number of indicators on both sides of the ball that we’re doing some things that are trending in the right direction and I think it’s coming at a good time as we’re getting fully healthy.”
Redick also explained the positives he and the coaching staff have seen from the group.
“Well, I mean defensively since we went to zone the last 14 games. We’ve been much better when we have been in our zone, started possessions in our zone we’ve been the number one half court defense. Our transition possessions allowed are going down. I think a lot of that has to do with sprinting back into our zone.
“Offensively for us, we’ve had some of our highest paint touch rate games and we’ve proven when we touch the paint we’re elite. We’ve got to continue to build on that and I think we’ve shown when we pass the ball and we trust each other and we generate not just potential assists but assists and connect that way we win basketball games.”
Redick admitted in his assessment of the first half of the season that they desperately needed a break, but after getting some rest they’ll need to shift to full throttle to get to the playoffs.
JJ Redick not taking LeBron James for granted
LeBron James perking back up as the season went on was a positive sign for the Lakers. JJ Redick has done nothing but praise for James what he’s been able to do in Year 23 and emphasized he doesn’t take the star for granted.
If you love our reporting, choose LakersNation.com as a preferred source on Google.
