Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Is JJ Redick Going to be a Better Coach in This Year's Playoffs? (And How Will We Know?)

Episode Date: April 9, 2026

Injuries to Luka Dončić and Austin Reaves have cost the Lakers a ton as they head into the postseason.  Most obvious is the opportunity to win games and make a run. But beyond that, approaching a critical offseason this spring would have been useful to see more about how Luka and A.R. work together in a postseason setting, and get more data about Reaves as a featured player in the postseason. Is he really a $40 million performer?  Less talked about was the opportunity to see if JJ Redick has grown as a playoff coach. Last year, there were hiccups. Would this year have been better?  Now it will be more difficult to judge Redick's growth, because the team he's fielding isn't equipped to win. So what should we be watching for? How can we learn a little more about any improvements he's made?    HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky   Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! TurboTax This year you’re getting a major upgrade — Intuit TurboTax now has in-person locations nationwide. Visit http://TurboTax.com/local to book your appointment today. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity - and no cutsomer - slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to http://Quo.com/lockedonnba. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBA BetterhelpThis episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.Sign up and get 10% off at http://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA. Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast WayfairGet last-minute hosting essentials, gifts for all your loved ones, and decor to celebrate the holidays for WAY less.Head to https://Wayfair.com right now to shop all things home. Wayfair. Every style. Every home.  Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

J.J. Redick has a big challenge in front of him. Is he a more prepared coach in his second year than his first? That's next. You are Locked-on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for joining Locked on Lakers, Brian Komenesky with Andy Kaminetsky, big game coming up.

Thursday night in San Francisco, the Lakers, trying to figure out a way to win some games and hold on to that number four seed and open up game one at home, Andy, capture that crypto.com energy, win game one, shock the world, demoralize Houston. They win game two and suddenly, Andy, the Lakers were in the cat bird seat. It's just that easy. But to maximize everything the Lakers want to do, obviously J.J. Reddick plays a big part of this. One of the things that I think is kind of overlooked with the injuries to Luca and to Austin, I know everybody wanted to see and get like the data points of those two playing together because this looks like the combination

the Lakers are going to go forward with. Failing that, I think everybody wanted to see at least Austin by himself, like go look like a 35 to 40 million dollar player. Okay, we're not going to see that. Maybe more. Maybe more. That's true. Possibility.

I mean, if Austin gets a max, the full max that is possible for him is about 48 mil per season. I'm not saying that is what he's going to get. I'm saying that's the possibility for him to get. Yeah, I think that's probably high for what like the market's going to give him. But it's, you know, certainly, you know, in that $35 to $40 million ranch, I think is the expectation. Like, okay, like go play. be a $40 million guy in the playoffs when everybody is counting on you and so on.

The last thing that I really wanted to see was how much better is JJ Reddick as a postseason coach now than he was last year? And you may have been around when he played five guys for the entire second half and trotted out Maxi Kleba in game five. and all these other things. Like some goofy stuff was happening.

In crunch time. Yeah. Because, you know, that's what you do. There was some strange things, controversial things. And I know I wanted to see the difference

between year one and year two. And to some degree, at least to, I think a large degree, that's kind of undercut by what we've seen happen from an injury front. Yeah.

Unfortunately, you're not going to be getting the full look at how JJ would approach everything in the playoffs because he doesn't have a full complement of players. Maybe depending on how long they can stretch out a first round series and how quickly Luca's hamstring reacts and how positively to the treatment he's getting in Spain, he can come back, join the series in the first round. And the Lakers pull some type of perceived upset. But for the time being, and I think this is interesting, I think in some ways we could be seeing the clues of how JJ is just going to problem-solve period in the last two, maybe even three games of the season. I say maybe three just because depending on the last game of the season, Utah, all of that, there may not be much to glean from anything.

But at the top, you said the Lakers looking to get that four-seed, maintain it. J.J. Redick said, actually, that is lower on their list of priorities. right now. Like obviously they want to get it if they can because it beats the alternative, a five seed. That is no longer the top priority for them right now. The top priority is identifying the nine man rotation for the playoffs, which will begin without Luca and Austin, you know, where you're going to have to reconfigure the way, for example, the offense have been working because the offense, the usage hierarchy that we talked about, began with Luca, then Austin, then LeBron.

LeBron is now clearly the top guy in that hierarchy. How that looks from there, what JJ decides is the best version of what will ultimately, I can't imagine not being a more simplified offense because you have fewer, lesser players to run the thing and can't reasonably put all of it on a 41-year-old. I think that in and of itself is going to be interesting. I think how they use LeBron over these next couple games is going to be interesting as well because there's the push-pull between trying not to tax LeBron as much as possible heading into the playoffs, but also you need a lot of reps in these games with LeBron

if you want to try to put yourself in the best position possible to make the most out of what you have. Yeah, I took those comments about the seating to mean health matters more. You know, you're not pushing guys. You're not going to push LeBron to play. Certainly not a Tuesday game against Oklahoma City. But you're not going to, you know, second night of back to back. Are you going to push LeBron to play in the Phoenix game? Are you going to rush Marcus Smart back?

No. Are you going to rush Jackson Hayes back? No, because if those guys can't play, it doesn't matter what seed you are. Now, you're just down too many guys. So, yeah, health has to outweigh seating, but seating comes in a pretty close second, you know, in terms of maximizing. I would actually argue that reps and problem solving to some degree, working out things, to some degree. I think at this point,

seating is probably third in terms of the priority. The good news is, though, if guys can play and you're, you're getting, you're going to get the reps to, because like there's not a lot,

there's not a lot of time here for experimentation. Like you can't, you know, you're not going to try eight different rotations and, you know, 10 different roster, you know,

lineup combinations and all that kind of stuff. You're going to pick the, eight guys, seven main guys and like two guys that kind of fill in here and there, maybe play seven minutes a game, 10 minutes a game, whatever you think your playoff rotation is going to look like. That's what these next three games are going to be if those guys are available. So you're going to get your reps. Hopefully the reps turn into wins and you can open up at home in the first round. The question becomes like sort of what, if you really can learn anything about JJ from this series just because the expectations for the Lakers have gone down

from the very least you're supposed to get out of the first round and give either San Antonio or Oklahoma City a decent run in the second or maybe you get a little further that that was sort of the evolving expectation obviously that's much different we'll talk about it next Lock on Lakers is brought to you by Wayfair. And Way Day, it's here. And if you've been thinking about upgrading your space, so this is the time to do it. We're talking about some of the best deals of the year on furniture, decor, outdoor essentials,

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wanted to see the growth of JJ. I think there still is a chance to see that in the, as we approach the postseason, Sava's going to look much different. Like, it's more about how, you know, it's honestly, it's more related to the type of stuff that we saw on Tuesday. Like what, how does JJ problem solve here?

What does he flip to? What does he kind of default to? Now, I think, obviously, it was pretty controversial of what we saw on Tuesday. I don't mind the approach in terms of, of how you're trying to elevate this group in a very short time. I do think the question, for me at least,

the question becomes, can he do this without getting too tightly wound? It's not the discipline. It's not the accountability. It's not all that kind of stuff. I don't care if he argues with Jared Vanderbilt. We've talked about this extensively. But I do care if he gets too tightly wound

because that's one of the things that I think was a problem for him in the postseason last year. Now, when the playoffs begin, in theory, there's less pressure and less expectation. I don't know if that'll affect JJ, but this process of getting there, I think, does have the potential to kind of push him back into a place that's less constructive. I don't know if he's going to feel any less pressure. I don't mean that from a job security perspective or anything like that. He has an extension.

I have heard not even a whisper that Mark Walter and the new ownership group is unhappy with him in any way. And you're talking about a guy who two years into his career has two 50 win seasons under his belt. He's going to have obvious disadvantages heading into this season with Luca and Austin not there at minimum to start the series, if not the entire time. But I think JJ is just not wired to see that context as containing any less pressure, because I just think he is going to inherently be driven towards feeling like we should win, and it is my job to figure out a way to win. What I think really matters is how you process the pressure that I think, JJ will feel whether you think he should or shouldn't, whether it's external, internal,

both, do you process this, do you process this in ways that feel constructive and that turn into approaches that whether they work or not, they make sense? As opposed to say the example of five guys playing the second half of game four, it's so extreme that even if it worked what we talked about, and one of the reasons I hated it from a process standpoint was even if it works, you've created further problems for the rest of a theoretically extended series because of the messaging that was put out there. If JJ can avoid temperamental composure type situations and reactions, then I think that in and of itself could constitute growth because the X's and O's are going to require some high level creativity from JJ and his staff. But the reality is you are still fighting this battle with you can't you can't X and O your way out. That's what I'm saying. You are fighting this battle with one hand tied behind your back.

It's extremely difficult to scheme your way out of this. So I don't think it's fair to judge JJ for not being able to do that. Yeah. So I mean, we'll see that the temperamental stuff. Like, you know, it's,

it, I wish we could see what we were hoping to see because it would have been nice to have that, that clean comparison point. It would have been nice to have a clean comparison point with Austin. And obviously, I mean, all of this,

everything about, You know, what the Lakers are going to have to find, and this is this is true, JJ, and it's true of everyone, really, you know, especially guys that they think might be back next year, is they have to find ways to get value from this. You know, maybe it includes a bit of a miracle. Maybe it doesn't. Probably won't. I don't know. But if you just judge it on the merits of the context, how JJ approached the context, there's a lot. Oh, sure. I mean, not just with JJ, but with everything that they're doing in the playoffs.

And like trying to figure out how this, these next three games and, you know, hopefully, you know, more than a handful of games to come can be the kind of thing that inform the sorts of decisions that they have to make this offseason. So we'll see how that goes. Obviously, the Lakers need to get a win if they do want to hold. Even if JJ Redick doesn't care about the number four seed, I do. So if they want to hold on to it, they need to win Thursday night in San Francisco against Golden State. We'll, of course, be back after that game to break it all down. Locked on Lakers on YouTube. So we're going to hang out with over 38,000 subscribers,

and we'll see everyone after the game.