Lakers newsletter: Changes made by JJ Redick are already evident

Hey everyone, this is Dan Woike and welcome back to the Lakers newsletter, the weekly chance to check in on the organization that once gave you Antonio Harvey in the dunk contest. Things aren’t moving slowly; they’re not moving quickly. We’re in the portion of the offseason where players slowly are warming their engines from an idle.

Some early word out of the Lakers practice facility has hinted at one change in how the new coaching staff views development.

Let’s look at that and some schedule thoughts.

Work harder is smarter?

The rhythms of the summer are always at least somewhat disrupted during international competitions, especially with more than 50 NBA players representing their countries in these Olympic Games.

The Lakers had three players compete: LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura. For the ones who didn’t, mid-August is when the ramp up to training camp really gets going with many players returning to Los Angeles to go through workouts at the team’s facility.

Those workouts are the first in the formalized relationship between JJ Redick, his staff and the players, and the first impression might offer some hints as to how the new coach will operate.

Workouts have featured more live basketball — one on one and three on three — than past summers when the focus was more on individual, noncompetitive work.

This could be one step of the player development changes that Redick vowed to make when he took the job this summer, a change the organization has tied to the changing salary cap rules. But, honestly, the changes probably were overdue.

Outside of Austin Reaves, the Lakers’ homegrown pipeline has been a bit clogged. Talen Horton-Tucker wasn’t able to make the leap former coach Frank Vogel thought was imminent. Max Christie, while valued by the organization, still has to find consistent minutes. And last year’s rookies, Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis, were nonfactors.

Both Hood-Schifino and Lewis, though, have earned positive reviews during this stage of the offseason. It’s especially encouraging for Hood-Schifino, a player mostly spoken about in the context of the three players picked behind him: Miami’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. at No. 18, Golden State’s Brandin Podziemski at 19, and Houston’s Cam Whitmore at 20.

Hood-Schifino didn’t come close to contributing last season, a knee injury slowing him at the start of the year and a back injury ending it early. Finding and creating pathways for success for young, improving players is critical for Redick as he and the Lakers try to thread the needle between maximizing LeBron James’ late prime while building for whatever is next.

We don’t know if anything that’s happening inside the Lakers’ facility is going to pay huge dividends this season. We do know, though, that things are moving a little differently. And when you make the changes the Lakers made this summer, that’s kind of the point.

On the schedule

Some rapid-fire thoughts on the 2024-25 schedule…

—The month after the All-Star break is going to be rough. The Denver Nuggets three times, the Milwaukee Bucks twice, the Dallas Mavericks, the Minnesota Timberwolves, the New Orleans Pelicans, the New York Knicks, the Boston Celtics and the Phoenix Suns all in that stretch (along with a two-game series with the Clippers).

—Counting the preseason, the Lakers will play 11 of their first 14 games away from home.

—The slate of road back-to-backs is particularly rough, considering there’s no guarantee as to how the Lakers will handle them with respect to James and Davis. San Antonio-New Orleans, Utah-Minnesota, Charlotte-Philadelphia, Indiana-Chicago and Oklahoma City-Dallas are all road back-to-backs with the Thunder-Mavs coming in the final week.

—Only one trip to New Orleans bums me out. It coming on the second night of a back-to-back is just a slap in the face.

—Holiday planning for me: gone for Halloween, home for Thanksgiving, gone on Christmas, home for New Year’s and gone for Valentine’s Day. Also will miss my youngest’s third birthday but will be home for my wife’s. Always the dates I check on the schedule.

—Sunday, Dec. 8 will feature the Clippers and Lakers playing home games at the same time in Los Angeles. It happens again six more times by my count, not including two occasions when the Lakers play in the day downtown while the Clippers play at night in Inglewood.

Song of the Week

“Ground on Down” by Ben Harper

Working from the ground up is how you do player development. Working from the ground on down is how you rock.

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