Michael Malone is not a fan of JJ Redick’s habit of airing his frustrations with the Los Angeles Lakers to the public this season, as the former Denver Nuggets head coach believes that doing so creates unnecessary distractions in the locker room.
“I’m a firm believer that you have a lot of those conversations one-on-one in the locker room, in front of your team. You call guys out. I know for myself, going into every season, you want to eliminate as many distractions as possible,” Malone explained on NBA Countdown.
“Winning is hard in the NBA, and when you have JJ calling out his players, you got LeBron talking about not having the ball enough, DeAndre Ayton talking about not having the ball enough, there’s a lot of noise around this team right now,” he continued. “Every night, you’re not sure which Laker team you’re going to get. And I saw that picture of JJ Redick. I feel for him. He’s got that look, a thousand-mile stare.”
The Los Angeles Lakers have won three of their last four and are 23-12, which is good on paper. However, they’re the only team in the Top 16 with a negative net rating, which raises a red flag.
Los Angeles Lakers News: JJ Redick shares eye-opening admission about the team’s recent rough stretch
JJ Redick recently admitted he was not at his best as a coach during the Los Angeles Lakers‘ rough stretch in December. This was where they lost five of eight games and endured embarrassing blowout losses, while they barely got past lesser opponents.
“We’re all human beings. Like, I feel like I had a really poor 7-to-10 days. I told the group that around post-Cup to Christmas, maybe it was just the gluttony of the holidays, I don’t know, but I wasn’t at my best,” Redick said via Spectrum SportsNet.
“Feel like I’ve found my way with the group again, and I think every player is gonna go through that throughout the seaso,n and it’s something Luka and I talked about after Christmas. And he’s now been really good with all that stuff for the last six games,” he added.
