How Redick Transformed Lakers Into Offensive & Defensive Juggernauts

After Anthony Davis’ initial injury and before Luka Doncic’s trade, JJ Redick had already implemented a series of strategy changes that would magically transform the Lakers’ pre-Luka offense and defense into top-5 juggernauts.

The Lakers were already top-5 offense and defense before trading for Luka. During the 5 wins after Davis’ injury, the Lakers’ 125.9 offensive rating was #3, their 106.4 defensive rating #3, and their +19.5 net rating #2 in the NBA. The 25-year old Euro superstar Luka Doncic is without question the best possible LeBron James clone the Lakers could have hoped to be able to get. Like always, the Lakers somehow miraculously found their next legend.

For Lakers fans, this offseason has been a 4-ring drama circus that opened with the JJ Redick/Dan Hurley act, followed by the DLO/DFS trade, then the AD/Luka trade, and closed with the rescinded Knecht/Williams trade.
All this noise has overshadowed and hid how much better the Lakers have been playing on both sides of the ball starting last January and peaking during the 5-game win streak after AD injury and before trading for Luka.

Right now, the Los Angeles Lakers have won 6 straight games, 9 of their last 10 games, 12 of their last 14 games, and are essentially tied with the Denver Nuggets for 3rd place in the West with just 19 losses against their 32 wins.
The Lakers are clearly the hottest team in the NBA. They led by more than 20 points in 9 of last 11 games. Over last 6 games, the Lakers were #1 in league in Team FG%, Team 3P%, Opponent FG%, and Opponent 3P%.

Let’s take a closer look at the key strategic changes JJ Redick made to the Lakers’ offense and defense to catapult them to top-5 status, transform them into juggernauts, and prepare them for playing with Luka Doncic.

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Embracing 3-Point Shot & Vertical Spacing

JJ Redick knew when Anthony Davis left the Sixers game that it might have been his last game for the Lakers and that it was now time to start running a new double point guard offense with LeBron James and Austin Reaves.

While the Lakers had enjoyed success using an offense built with Anthony Davis as its hub, there was an unrequired desire by the front office to play faster and shoot more threes than they could do with a Davis hub offense.
Redick’s offense had already been emphasizing elite playmaking and shot making so he immediately started running his double point guard offense with Austin Reaves playing the role of Luka Doncic next to LeBron James.

Over the last 6 games, the Los Angeles Lakers have simply been the hottest team in the NBA, leading the league by shooting 54.1% from the field and 41.6% from deep, both the highest shooting percentages in the entire NBA.
They’ve been blowing opposing teams out, averaging close to 30 assists per game, and simply shooting lights out from everywhere on the court. Over the last 6 games, every single role player on the Lakers had a positive +/-.

While trading Davis exacerbated the Lakers thin center rotation, Hayes and an array of speedy and lethal small ball lineups featuring LeBron, DFS, and Vando playing the five have Los Angeles rocking and rolling on offense.
There are no better switch hunting offensive geniuses in this league than LeBron James and Anthony Davis and the Lakers will have at least one of these generational superstars on the floor for all 48 minutes of every game.

The NBA has never seen a Playmaking Big Three like LeBron James, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves. They will open and close games with all three and stagger and have at least two of them on the court for all 48 minutes.

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Building Elite Defense Around Luka Doncic

Knowing his superstar rim protector was likely gone, Redick had to figure out not only how to replace AD but also how to upgrade a defense that had not been elite even with Davis and also had several huntable defenders.

While switch-hunting will be a major offensive strategy by LeBron and Luka, avoiding switch-hunting has to be a major objective of Redick’s new defensive strategy, especially if he is starting LeBron, Luka and Reaves.
The Lakers new defensive strategy calls for more trapping and doubling rather than switching, especially when opposing scorers are hunting a weak defender, and trusting their ability to make timely smart rotations.

During the Lakers current 6-game win streak, we’ve seen this strategy work beautifully against the Knicks’ Brunson and Towns, Clippers’ Harden and Leonard, Warriors’ Curry and Hield, and Pacers’ Haliburton and Siakam.
Over the last 6 games, the Lakers used this new defensive strategy to force opposing offenses to shoot an NBA second worst 41.0% from the field and NBA worst 29.5% from deep and to post a 3rd best 106.2 defensive rating.

The beauty of the new strategy is it replaces the passive switch-everything approach Redick tried out earlier in the season with a legitimate alpha-dog aggressive approach that focuses on team rather than individual defense.
It’s a system that demands more energy, communication, and rapport by everybody on defense, which is something that also takes advantage of the continuity the Lakers have built by retaining most of their rotation players.

The Lakers anti-switch-hunting defense is a better match for the mentality and skill sets of the Lakers’ rotation players and is a perfect match for their new high speed, 3-point and vertical spaced double point guard offense.