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JJ Redick is seeing the Lakers create the kind of offensive advantages that come with having Luka Dončić on the team.
He’s also tired of those opportunities not being taken care of, making it clear there are consequences for players who don’t let it fly.
Dončić has reached another level of offensive rhythm to start the season, averaging a league-best 37.7 points on 48.2% shooting (43.2% on 3-pointers) to go with 8.2 rebounds and 7.3 assists in his first six games after the Lakers’ win over the Raptors on Sunday.
With the roll he’s been on, defenses have been aggressive with blitzing, trapping and generally sending two defenders at the Slovenian guard when they can – creating 4-on-3 offensive opportunities.
While Dončić is doing “a really good job of making plays” when two defenders are on, as Redick put it, the team results haven’t been there.
And Redick sees that as an issue with the decision-making after the superstar guard passes out of the double team, mentioning there were multiple opportunities during Sunday’s win over the Raptors in which the Lakers passed up good shots.
“I know in the second half I can think of four times that we turned down wide open threes, like I’ll take these guys out,” Redick said. “Like you gotta shoot the ball when you’re open.”
While Redick didn’t call out any player by name, he sees the indecision as a result of having so many new players not accustomed to what the Lakers want to do when those advantages are created.
“And again it’s the new group thing,” Redick said. “These guys gotta understand what the purpose is of what we’re trying to do. And when you get an advantage, you gotta keep the advantage and shoot it.”
There’s also the factor of players not wanting to make mistakes early on with their new team, leading to overthinking.
“Because I lived this as a player, it’s like, ‘Ahhh, I want to shoot well. I want the Lakers fans to like me. I want to score. I want to do this,’” Redick said. “You’re thinking too much. Just go play basketball and do our stuff and I promise you there’s going to be opportunities to score.”
