What we learned from JJ Redick’s press conference,

Lakers introduce JJ Redick: What we learned from press conference, with insight on Anthony Davis, LeBron James https://t.co/dvbAdc7oIH

— LakerTom (@LakerTom) June 25, 2024

JJ Redick was officially introduced as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, and the first question on everyone’s lips was whether or not he would retain his old job as a podcaster. That question was answered definitively. “I am, for the time being, and hopefully it’s a very, very long time, I am excommunicated from the content space,” Redick said. “There will be no podcast.”

As for the on-court matters? Well, those questions are a bit more complicated. Redick was clear that figuring out how this team will play will be a collaborative process between him, his staff and the yet-to-be-constructed roster. There’s only so much we can take from a single press conference, especially when the coach being introduced has no experience at the professional level.

But Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka did offer some important insight into what the next era of Lakers basketball will look like. Here are some of the highlights from their press conference on Monday.

1. Anthony Davis was more involved in the hire than LeBron James

Typically, teams work closely with their best players when they are looking for a new head coach. That is especially true of players of a certain stature. LeBron James and Anthony Davis, All-NBA players that led the Lakers to the 2020 championship, certainly qualify. But according to Pelinka, one of them played a much bigger part in the process than the other.

2. Pelinka noncommittal about trading draft picks

Redick’s success or failure as a coach is going to be defined by the roster Pelinka builds for him. Even now, mere days before the draft, we aren’t sure what that roster is going to look like. Are the Lakers going to emphasize continuity and largely run this group back? Or are they going to invest the picks and youth needed to make a major trade and really go for it now, while James and Davis are still stars?

3. The Lakers are looking to modernize

If there was one instructive quote about Redick’s coaching philosophy, it was this: “I’m gonna use math,” he quipped before repeating himself. Virtually everything he said followed that line of thinking. He said openly that he wants James, who shot 41% on 3-pointers last season, to shoot more 3s if he’s back next season. He said the same of Rui Hachimura. The Lakers have been a low 3-point volume team since James arrived. Redick is seemingly eager to change that.

But his quest to modernize the Lakers extends beyond on-court strategy. The front office has long been known for its family-business approach. While there are a lot of influential voices on major decisions, the Lakers have never been known for spending to build robust scouting or analytics departments. Reports have indicated that they plan to invest more in those areas under Redick, and Pelinka explained that one key way they plan to do so will be by emphasizing technology moving forward.

“JJ and I have had some really robust conversations around innovation of sort of even gamifying player development. If you think about a 20-year-old basketball player today and maybe a 20-year-old basketball player, I don’t know, 10, 15, 20 years ago, the modiums of learning are completely different. I mean, we all probably, some of us have kids, we have nephews, nieces. Kids and athletes are learning in new and innovative ways. So we’ve talked about how do we translate coach Redick’s offensive system to app-based or a phone-based deliverable where players can be buying into a philosophy and learning it in a way that meets today’s young player.” And I think innovation has got to be at the core of that. We have a vision for, to your point of hiring out his support staff in sort of this tech, bullpen way of getting innovative minds to help bring his basketball strategy and bring his basketball philosophy to life in a way that our players can grasp it, learn it and eventually grow their basketball IQ.”

The Lakers have spent years behind the times. It’s been evident in their playing styles throughout the James era and even before. The league changed around them and they refused to change with it. But they’ve made an unconventional hire in Redick, and they appear ready to give him the resources he needs to bring the entire organization up to speed.