That the rest of the Lakers couldn’t match the effort level of 39-year-old LeBron James on Wednesday night left first-year coach J.J. Redick quite perturbed.
Redick stormed out of his postgame press conference after being asked how he would address that James displayed more effort than his teammates and that several players needed to provide more following the 131-114 road loss to the Grizzlies.
“I just did,” Redick said after speaking for more than eight minutes.
He added while walking away: “First thing I said to them.”
While short clips did not provide much context for Redick’s seemingly abrupt exit, the former ESPN analyst had spent his presser harping on his team’s lack of effort.
He made it clear that James, who delivered a vintage performance by scoring a season-high 39 points in 35 minutes in the absence of Anthony Davis and Rui Hachimura, set the bar for the night.
But for the rest of the team, he said “none of us are” satisfied with the effort. He mentioned his team jogging back on defense and not matching up, along with allowing easy points after makes.
“I think LeBron was fantastic tonight. Biggest thing that stood out. … He played hard,” Redick said. “Almost 40 years old and played the hardest on our team. It says a lot about him.”
Redick singled out veteran D’Angelo Russell, who played a season-low 22 minutes.
Russell received just 6:06 of playing time in the second half, finishing with 12 points on 4-of-12 shooting. He hit only two his nine 3-point attempts.
“Just level of compete, attention to detail, some of the things we’ve talked with him about for a couple of weeks and at times, he’s been really good with that stuff and other times, it’s just reverting back to certain habits,” Redick said of reducing Russell’s minutes in the second half.
“But it wasn’t like a punishment. It just felt for us to have a chance to win this game, that was the route we wanted to take.”
Wednesday’s defeat concluded a 1-4 road trip for the Lakers, which also included losses to the Suns, Cavaliers and Pistons and a win over Raptors.
The Lakers started strong by winning their first three games this season, but have recently looked more like the inconsistent squad that many projected them to be this season.
“It goes back to choices. It’s something we’ve discussed as a group and you have a choice every night for how you play, it has nothing to do with making shots,” Redick said. “There’s got to be a group of people, seven to eight guys, that make that choice and we’re a really good basketball team. We got a handful, two or three, we’re not going to be a good basketball team that night, that’s just the reality.
“That’s my biggest takeaway, to be honest.”
