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I am back!!

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Hey everyone, it’s been a while since I last checked in on the blog. I wanted to share with you all why I’ve been absent for the past month and a half. Unfortunately, my mother-in-law passed away on August 12th, 2024, and just six days later, my own mother passed away on August 18th. It’s been an incredibly challenging time for my wife, as her mom was her best friend. On a more positive note, my mother lived to the impressive age of 104 and would have turned 105 this November, so instead of mourning her passing, I chose to celebrate her remarkable life. Following my mother-in-law’s funeral, I traveled to my home country of The Gambia to take care of family matters. I’ve just returned, and I reached out to Tom to let everyone know what I’ve been dealing with. I hope he was able to relay the message. Despite the slow summer, I’m grateful to be back and not to have missed much in the Lakers’ world during this offseason. I’m looking forward to starting this new chapter with my wife and immersing myself once again in following our team. It’s good to be back!

How Five-out offense could transform Lakers into offensive juggernaut

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Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick is something an enigma heading into his first year at the helm. A recent clip offers a promising sign.

Regardless of how people feel about the hiring of JJ Redick, few dispute his knowledge of the game. Redick played a long and productive NBA career, transitioned to an analyst role that saw him evolve as an educator, and will now join the Los Angeles Lakers with the expectation of translating his success.

One of the primary reasons many are keeping an open mind despite his lack of experience is the simple fact that Redick has intriguing ideas about how to transform the Lakers’ stagnant offense.

Los Angeles finished the 2023-24 season ranked No. 15 in the NBA in offensive rating. There were peaks during which the Lakers looked the part of an elite team on that end of the floor, but the general tone of the season was inconsistency across the board.

In an appearance on Hasan Minahj Doesn’t Know, Redick explained what a five-out offense is meant to be—and hinted at how that might apply to the Lakers.

“I think it’s a little more nuanced than just saying it’s five-out. And every team is different. In the NBA, you want to maximize spacing. That’s what it comes down to. So for the Denver Nuggets, they want to score in the paint. So when they go five-out, it’s to get to the paint.

Redick continued:

“I think when people say, ‘Oh, everybody’s just spaced five-out!’ And people think it’s this guy going to his bag every single time and jacking a three. That’s not what it is. Five-out is just a way to maximize spacing so that whatever your particular team likes to do and wants to do, and can do well, you can run different actions out of five-out.”

The Lakers may or may not play five-out on offense, but Redick’s recent comments about the team suggest it could be a big part of what the team does.

Five-out offense could transform Lakers into offensive juggernaut

Los Angeles was its own worst enemy on offense in 2024-25, seemingly deprioritizing areas of strength. It ranked No. 8 in the NBA in three-point field goal percentage, yet made the conscious decision to shoot at such a low volume that it finished at No. 28 in three-point field goal attempts.

A five-out offense wouldn’t necessarily entail that the Lakers shoot more threes, but Redick has made it clear that he wants his team to attempt outside shots with a brighter green light.

With an increased emphasis on three-point shooting, spacing will already improve—and Anthony Davis will be at the heart of what happens from there. Redick has informed Davis that he will be the hub of the offense, which makes the five-out approach even more likely.

Davis isn’t necessarily known for his three-point shooting, but he buried 33.3 percent of his 2.7 attempts per game between 2017-18 and 2019-20, and has the skill to work the perimeter.

As Redick describes it, the five-out offense would not only emphasize three-point shooting, but the Lakers’ ability to run any action they choose. He used the Denver Nuggets as an example, citing how their goal is to generate points in the paint.

The fact that Redick has already diagnosed how Denver manages to do so bodes well for Los Angeles’ defense against its rival, as well as its own offense with Davis as a focal point.

Los Angeles has a surplus of playmakers and shot creators between Davis, Rui Hachimura, LeBron James, Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell, and Gabe Vincent. It’s also added shooters such as Dalton Knecht and the all-but-new Max Christie, who re-signed after previously struggling to secure sufficient playing time.

Redick’s offense will be more nuanced than prioritizing a single outcome, of course, but this thorough breakdown of a five-out approach offers an intriguing insight into how the Lakers can dominate with Davis at the heart of what they do.

Any team with Davis and LeBron James already has that potential. It’s up to the coach to unlock it—and Redick is saying the right things to imply he can do so.

Redick Could Make Big Change to LeBron’s Game This Season

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After two disappointing endings during the NBA Playoffs at the hands of Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets, the Los Angeles Lakers elected to make a head coaching change that took the basketball community by storm. The firing of Darvin Ham came as no surprise as there was a clear disconnect between him the fans, players, and front-office. When is was announced that NBA veteran turned ESPN analyst JJ Reddick would be taking up the mantle as Lakers’ head coach, fans and media alike took to social media to react to such a polarizing decision.

Despite this being his first time in a head coaching position at any level, the Lakers’ front office is confident in their decision to take a chance on Redick. In an interview with the Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times, general manager Rob Pelinka commented on their decision to go a different route and plunge on Redick in the offseason.

“It was just really important to us as we made this hire to find a head coach that could sit across the table from some of the smartest and best players in the world,” Pelinka said. “This is the stage for those players to be able to relate to, coach, hold them accountable, lead them, inspire them. And we felt like JJ was very unique in holding all those qualities to do that.”

A season ago the Lakers’ were very dependent offensively on the creation that LeBron James could provide for them. This led to a number of games where the 39-year-old superstar had to play an extended number of minutes which was expected to be under heavy monitoring as the Lakers headed into the postseason. James averaged 35.5 minutes per game during the 2023-24 NBA season, which felt like a necessity as the team’s plus-minus would plummet when he wasn’t on the floor.

With the start of the 2024-25 season around the corner it will be hard to imagine Redick having the same gameplan as Ham when it comes to James’ minutes per game. For fantasy owners this should be a great season to consider adding some of the Lakers’ role players to their rosters. There is no doubt that Redick will find a way to create consistent offense while James’ is off the floor. Expect players like D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves, and Max Christie to be given extended roles this season as this team attempts to optimize the next two years they have with James under contract.

What should Lakers fans expect from Christian Koloko?

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Christian Koloko is a fun “project big” that can provide rim protection, solid screens, and an active vertical threat. Koloko’s combination of size, length, agility, athleticism, and, perhaps, untapped potential offensively and defensively will ensure that he will show a flash of his potential here and there whenever he sees the floor.

As mentioned earlier, he’s a “project” at this point, but if the Lakers are in a pinch, Koloko should be able to give them 5-10 solid minutes of paint protection.

What are his strengths and weaknesses at this stage of his career?

At this point of his career, Koloko’s NBA-ready skill set is his rim protection. You can’t teach height, but he’s got great coordination to alter, if not block, shots around the rim.

Aside from that, the main reason a team would be — and should be — interested in Koloko is his potential. Pre-illness, he looked like he could develop into a decent modern-day big. That said, he’s not a non-shooter at this point in his career, but on a Lakers roster with lofty expectations, we might as well treat him as one this season.

Koloko had already turned 22 years old when the Raptors drafted him, and despite being one of the older rookies, his game looked very raw during his stint with the Raptors.

It’s unfair to ask him to be “raw but effective” like how Derek Lively II did in his rookie year, as aside from his “Swat-ability,” he doesn’t present the same “will player” type as Lively II.

I’m not sure if it’s about the processing speed, effort, or lack of fundamentals, but he’s often beaten in 50/50 plays; that’s why his rebounding rate, especially OREB, is subpar.

Offensively, Koloko’s no more than a vertical threat, and based on what I mentioned above, I’m not counting on him to pick up a lot of garbage points for my team.

He wasn’t good at finishing around the basket if it didn’t end up with a dunk, and his passing leaves a lot to be desired. However, he would occasionally show flashes of good offensive moves and passing, but not often enough for them to happen and be considered as a threat.

Were you surprised he was cut? I know he had the health issue, but Masai Ujiri also had a lot of praise for him when he was cut. Did Raptors fans want to keep him around?
The Raptors fanbase tends to overvalue our players way more than their actual value should be, so the overall sentiment was disappointment when he was released.

The Raptors FO’s inability to find a decent big cost them the “compete window” of their “Run it back core,” so it’s safe to say that they saw Koloko as part of this team’s future, and to Koloko’s credit, he’s shown flashes that got the fanbase optimistic.

So yeah, just like everybody else, it’s a surprise to see him get cut, but once the news of his blood clot came out, it felt reasonable at the time.