In Las Vegas last summer, a veteran NBA coach spoke about the Lakers’ decision to hire JJ Redick noting that nothing can prepare someone — an assistant, broadcaster, whoever — for the massive volume of decisions a head coach needs to make on a nightly basis.
Most of the choices are relatively small — what play to call out of a timeout, when to use a challenge, how to adjust a pick-and-roll coverage.
When it comes to decisions, that’s a lot of the job.
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But Friday night with the Lakers having lost four of their last five games, Redick went down a less common road. He made a big choice.
Following a benching Wednesday in a loss to Memphis, Redick moved point guard D’Angelo Russell to the second unit in favor of Cam Reddish, who wasn’t even in the rotation three games ago.
Decisions like that are fraught with second-guessing, the kind of moves fans can hold against a coach like they did a year ago when after nine games, Darvin Ham sent Austin Reaves to the bench to start Reddish.
Friday, the move worked about as good as it could’ve for all parties involved. Reddish took on the responsibility of defending Philadelphia’s best perimeter player, Paul George. Reaves, freed of that responsibility, had his best shooting game of the season. Russell gave the toothless Lakers’ bench some real bite.
And, most importantly, the Lakers won, beating the 76ers 116-106 in their first game in Los Angeles following a 1-4 road trip.
LeBron James had 21 points, 12 rebounds and 13 assists, his second triple-double of the season. Anthony Davis scored 31 points to lead the Lakers, and the team made a season high 16 three-pointers —including six from Reaves.
Russell scored 18 points off the bench, tied for the most by a Laker reserve this season.
Redick pulled Russell midway through the third quarter Wednesday against the Grizzlies and cited a lack of attention to detail after the game. Video of Russell’s last stretch against Memphis included an irate Redick slamming his chair multiple times into the court in frustration.
“Basketball is, to me, an emotional game. I’m a competitive person, I’m a passionate person,” Redick said pregame Friday. “Sometimes you lose, for a brief period of time, you lose control of that emotion. It’s not the first time that it’s happened.”
Redick said he told Russell that the anger wasn’t directed specifically at him, that it was because of compounding mistakes the Lakers made early in the second half of a game they thought was winnable. Redick said his talk with Russell went well.
“DLo and I are good. He’s great. He’s been a professional,” Redick said. “I’ve asked him to … he’s a pick-and-roll player. And he’s playing in an offense that doesn’t feature a lot of … pick and rolls and high-ball screens. He’s been super professional; he’s been super coachable. Him and I established a baseline level of our relationship this summer. We’re good.”
A season ago, Russell was sent to the second unit for a seven-game stretch. That a different coach made a similar choice this season speaks to some of the defensive issues a Russell-Reaves backcourt has had at times.
Friday, splitting them against Philadelphia, which was without point guard Tyrese Maxey and center Joel Embiid, worked.
Now, deciding how long to stick with the change becomes the next big decision on Redick’s plate.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.