One of the key players for the Los Angeles Lakers this season has been point guard D’Angelo Russell. After a career-best year shooting the ball, many were eager to see how he would perform under new head coach JJ Redick, who is looking for new ways to help the players reach their full potential.
Both Russell and Redick have talked about their strong relationship and communication, even though Redick recently decided to move Russell to a bench role, replacing him with the more defensively focused Cam Reddish.
Last season, Russell was not happy about being moved to the bench, but this time he is handling it better. He emphasized the importance of not only himself but the whole team committing to the coaching staff’s system and the methods they’re teaching.
“If I could leave you with something, I think once again you just want to commit to that system that coaches are trying to implement,” Russell said after the Lakers’ win over the Toronto Raptors. “It makes everybody’s job easier. It allows us to see how they’re guarding us early, always us to see how teams are guarding us from game to game.”
“I think 82 games in the regular season, people forget what that’s for. I think our team is preparing for the postseason with these 82 games to try and get better every game.
Trying to see how teams guard us, trying to see what we can do to prepare ourselves for the postseason because it’s all unfamiliar. So just committing to it, committing to what the coaches are trying to implement and it will help us be prepared later on down the line.”
That kind of team-wide commitment can only help the Lakers as the season progresses. It allows the team to push through tough moments, figure out areas for improvement, and put in the work to get better. Russell also pointed out that it’s essential for everyone to embrace their specific roles within the team.
“I think if we can find a way to be unselfishly selfish, I think that will help our guys that are supposed to be selfish and more hungry for what they’re trying to do,” Russell added. “It’s easy for us to follow those guys.
Obviously Austin and AD and Bron carrying the load allows us as the supporting cast to be that much more effective because now we see teams have to guard those guys.
They have to adjust, they have to game plan. You just got to be ready, guys like myself, Dalton, Jaxson, Rui, Gabe. It’s a lot of opportunity.”
Last year, Russell was the third-leading scorer on the Lakers, but he struggled at the start of this season. However, he has performed better in his new bench role, showing that his willingness to accept whatever Redick and the coaching staff ask of him is likely helping his game.
A big question surrounding Russell is whether he will stay with the Lakers throughout the season. He is often mentioned in trade rumors, and that hasn’t changed this year, especially since he is in the final year of his contract.
A recent report has confirmed that Russell is still on the trade block as the Lakers are looking to improve their center position. Players like Brook Lopez and Jonas Valanciunas are known to be among the targets the team is interested in acquiring.
