The Los Angeles Lakers players will arrive for Media Day on Sep. 28. Before all of them prepare themselves to field questions from the media, JJ Redick and Rob Pelinka took the first round of inquiries on Thursday.
One thing was clear from listening to the Lakers head coach in particular: changes are coming.
Lakers defense will evolve with Walker Kessler joining the team
One thing that has been a point of curiosity throughout the summer is how Walker Kessler's arrival would impact Redick's tactics on the defensive end. The Lakers coach did actually offer clarity on the subject.
Redick praised Kessler's ability to serve as a defensive anchor and rim protector. He described those abilities as big parts of the equation with relation to what makes Walker a 'perfect fit' next to Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. Having their new center is going to change the approach on the back end.
"We have switched a lot, one through five, over the last two years. That has been by necessity. We look at him as someone we want close to the basket, protecting the rim."
Hearing that signals the Lakers feel a lot more confident about shifting away from the zone schemes and switch-heavy defenses they ran to compensate for the lack of talent on the back end over recent seasons. Expect more drop coverage in 2026-27.
A nine-man rotation may be a thing of the past for the Lakers
In a similar way to how the Lakers have been forced to play zone and switch-heavy coverages, the rotations have also typically been relatively shallow for Redick. Nine has been the magic number more often than not. That could be due for a change as well.
With all the added depth in Los Angeles, one of the things that was of great curiosity was whether Redick was open to deploying more players on a nightly basis. The answer to that also surfaced.
"We're gonna play more guys this year. We're just naturally deeper. We have the luxury of doing that, if we're healthy, with this roster."
Redick's comments offered intriguing insight on how much of his coaching tactics over recent years were due to adapting to his personnel and not his own preferences. Naturally, any great bench boss will have that mindset. Even so, it does dismiss some assumptions about the type of coach JJ is.
Just hearing that Redick intends to go deep off the bench has a funny callback element to it, considering JJ once played only five guys for an entire half in a playoff game. Again, it was a tactic that was demanded by the situation at hand.
JJ Redick has a Lakers cast that should better represent him this season
"We wanted to develop a roster of JJ Redick dribble, pass, shoot players."
That is what Pelinka highlighted as one of the three main pillars of this offseason. It certainly helps explain some of the major acquisitions made by the Lakers.
It also points to the fact that, after two seasons, Redick might finally be allowed to coach and deploy a team in a way that is truly to his liking. That is an absolutely wild thought considering that JJ has started his career with back-to-back 50-win seasons.
If those were imperfect circumstances, what comes next with a better-fitted roster?
A clear takeaway of the day should be that an offseason of change will only result in a regular season filled with even more evolution. Redick will be at the front and center of that.
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