JJ Redick has the Lakers finally prioritizing shooting more 3-pointers https://t.co/rGNm47tIlE
— LakerTom (@LakerTom) October 15, 2024
LeBron James waved off Rui Hachimura and subtly called for a screen from Anthony Davis.
As Davis made contact with James’ defender, Kevin Durant, on the right wing, Davis’ defender, Mason Plumlee, retreated in a deep drop. James drove around the screen and into Plumlee as Durant tracked him from behind. Davis, recognizing he had an opening, popped beyond the 3-point arc.
James fired a no-look pass to Davis, who swished in a 3-pointer without hesitation.
The sequence was emblematic of the Lakers’ offensive shift in approach under new head coach JJ Redick. He wants the Lakers to modernize their shot profile and, specifically, increase their 3-point volume.
“He’s been on me all summer about shooting 3s,” Davis said at media day on Sept. 30. “Even the Olympics when I make a 3, he’ll text me, ‘That’s what I wanna see,’ things like that. So for him, it’s definitely gonna be just shooting more 3s.”
The Lakers have been a low-volume 3-point team in the James-Davis era. They have ranked in the bottom 10 in 3-point attempts per game in four of their five seasons together, including just 28th last season.
Los Angeles has thrived offensively despite its archaic approach, ranking third in offensive rating over the final 42 games of last season. The Lakers excelled as one of the league’s best finishing (second in paint points) and free-throw-generating attacks (second in free throws attempted). That will always be their strength, but Redick and his coaching staff hope that better organization and structure in their new offensive system will optimize the group’s shot selection and make them even more dynamic.
Through three preseason games, the Lakers have averaged 38.7 3-point attempts per game, which ranks 17th in the league. The Lakers have attempted at least 32 3-pointers in all three preseason games — more than they averaged last season — and more than 40 in back-to-back games.
Redick even joked that he could envision the team eventually attempting 50 3-pointers in a game.
“I think 40 is a lot,” Redick said after Los Angeles’ second preseason game. “But if you’re generating good ones, that’s a great number.”
I think it’s mildly absurd to have a target number of any shots in the game as a goal. It just ends up being arbitrary and it creates an unwinnable premise. Shoot 50 and lose every game and you get roasted. Shoot 20 and lose and you’re getting toasted. Search out quality shots from anywhere and you’ll score enough to win. But to simply assign an number is arbitrary and doesn’t account for much in terms of personnel or how the other team is defending us. It’s nice to hear Reddick start to focus more on the quality of the shot attempt and less about where it comes from.
Tonight was, in my opinion, one of those games that perfectly illustrates my point. Guys were jacking up pretty bad shots over and over. Early shot clock, no inside out ball movement and with nobody really crashing the glass on the shot. The result was unsurprisingly pretty ugly basketball.
It’s going to take some time for the Lakers to become a bigger volume 3-point shooting team. There were some threes that were not good shots last night. We also did not move the ball to create wide open threes. Lots of run-and-gun threes by guys who aren’t our best percentage 3-point shooters.
Offense needs to run smoothly, which is going to be a work in progress. Hard to see any cohesion in a preseason game when players are not going full bore and are not yet in shape and learning new system. This will take a couple of months to make the transition.