LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the hottest teams in the NBA with a seven-game win streak that has seen them climb the Western Conference standings to the No. 2 seed. The Lakers have gotten contributions from everywhere during this stretch, but perhaps a key reason why they’ve sustained this high level of play is because of head coach JJ Redick’s constant state of paranoia.
Prior to the Lakers’ game against the New York Knicks, JJ Redick spoke about how even during this win streak, he still feels a heightened sense of anxiety as a coach.
“I think there’s a paranoia as a coach,” Redick said. “It’s like the game ends and when you win, it’s immediately, ‘man, we could have done this better,’ or ‘man, we’re gonna get exposed on this.’ Like whether it’s realistic or not, I don’t know, but that constant paranoia is just always there as a coach.”
JJ Redick’s first season as Lakers coach
In his first season as Lakers head coach, Redick signed a four-year, $32 million contract this past offseason. If the Lakers continue this current pace through the final stretch of the regular season, there’s no reason why Redick shouldn’t be mentioned among the Coach of the Year candidates.
Not that he would be a favorite, but that he belongs in the conversation. During his first season, he’s already navigated multiple challenging scenarios such as the Luka Doncic blockbuster trade and the rescinded Mark Williams-Dalton Knecht trade.
The Lakers have emerged as much better a much more cohesive team than they were earlier this season, especially on the defensive end. Redick has been a very detail-oriented coach, as per Hoop Herald.
While a lot remains to be seen once the playoffs hit, some have considered the Lakers to have entered the echelon of title contenders. In NBA history, there have been only nine head coaches that won a championship in their first year at the helm.
With the major in-season changes the Lakers have dealt with, it isn’t something that Redick was necessarily unprepared for. He mentioned that when he took the job, he knew that being a head coach required a high level of adaptability.
“I think the coaches that I got to play for that were adaptable, that always resonated with me. . .the reality as a player, you feel like your role changes a bunch throughout the year. I think it’s just natural that you would have that as a coach if you played before,” Redick said. “I don’t think I anticipated the trading part of it all. I think it was more about being open-minded to what the team needs and how we could find success on both sides of the basketball.”
The Lakers are currently 39-21 with 22 games remaining in the regular season. They are mere percentage points ahead of the Denver Nuggets for the No. 2 seed in the West.
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