The Lakers suffered a 41-point loss to the Heat on Wednesday, their fourth loss by 20 or more points in their last seven games and their worst loss of the season. During the game, it dawned on JJ Redick that his team has become lost after a 10-4 start to the year, Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes.
“We’re having trouble right now on both ends with, like, base-level game-plan stuff,” Redick said. “It’s odd. It’s very odd. … [There] has to be some ownership. You can splinter, and it’s easy to not want the ownership, particularly when it’s embarrassing. I’m embarrassed. We’re all embarrassed. It’s not a game that I thought we had the right fight, the right professionalism.
“There has to be some ownership on the court, and I’ll take all the ownership in the world. This is my team and I lead it and I’m embarrassed. But I can’t physically get us organized. I can’t physically be into the basketball. I can’t physically talk and call out [switches] and physically call out coverages. … And by the way, I’m not blaming players. It’s not. I own this, but going to need some ownership on the court as well. … There’s not a sense from me that we’re together right now.”
LeBron James broke out of a recent shooting slump in the game, delivering 29 points, but didn’t push back on Redick’s assertion, stating that it was on the players to right the ship, The Athletic’s Jovan Buha writes. Anthony Davis has just 20 combined points in his last two games and agreed with those sentiments.
“I hate losing,” Davis said. “The way we’re losing, we’re playing bad, blown out. I’m not playing well individually. It’s an accumulation of things and it’s frustrating. … And it’s on us. It’s on us players, to be honest. We’re getting the schemes. The schemes are on point. But we just gotta go out and do it and execute ’em. But I just gotta step up for the team.”
Redick went on to state that “there’s not a sense from me that we’re together right now.”
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who hasn’t played this season while dealing with a right knee issue, is expected to return to the lineup sometime “before Christmas,” Bill Simmons of The Ringer said on his podcast. We recently relayed that Leonard was doing on-court work and “progressing well,” but that there was no timeline for his return. The Clippers have gone 14-10 in his absence and sit in sixth in the Western Conference standings. While Leonard’s return, whenever it comes, will obviously be a major boon, it’s important to note that the Clippers have already expressed they’ll exercise caution to ensure he remains healthy for the long run. While this is just speculation at this point, that could include curbing his minutes or having him sit out one end of back-to-back sets.
- Draymond Green exited Tuesday’s game against Denver due to calf tightness and underwent an MRI on Wednesday. According to Warriors PR (Twitter link), the MRI was negative, but Green missed Thursday’s game against Houston. Stephen Curry also didn’t play Thursday, but head coach Steve Kerr said the plan is for Curry to play Friday against Minnesota and that it’s “possible” Green suits up too, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk writes. “Steph’s knee stuff the last couple of weeks … he’s in pain,” Kerr said. “We’re not playing him. We can’t play him through this stretch every game and expect him to get through. … And same thing with Draymond, otherwise you’re chasing your tail and then guys end up missing weeks at a time.“
- After starting the season 12-3, the Warriors have dealt with injuries and blown leads alike to fall to 13-8. Even amid their injuries, the Warriors have had a deep rotation all season, with 12 players (not including De’Anthony Melton, who suffered a season-ending injury) averaging double-digit minutes per game. “With everybody healthy, the strength of the team is the depth,” Kerr said, per Youngmisuk. “… [But] I think [our] weakness is almost the same thing. There’s very little clarity for me and the staff as to who we should play every night down the stretch. We probably have had different lineups closing the game for the last five games. So good and bad with that. But it does help when you get some separation and you know for sure kind of who your group is. We’re not sure what that means yet.“
- Suns center Jusuf Nurkic hasn’t played since Nov. 27 while dealing with an ankle injury. According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), Nurkic’s recovery timetable is likely to be similar to Kevin Durant‘s. That means he’s probably out for at least the next week, which would mean missing three more games at minimum.
Darvin Ham 2022-23 record thru 12/6/22 10-13
Darvin Ham 2023-24 record thru 12/6/23 13-9
JJ Redick 2024-25 record thru 12/6/24 12-10
You ran it back with the basically SAME team three yrs in a row and expect to magically get better?
Ham wasn’t a great coach but this wasn’t on him. It was on Lebron/AD/Pelinka and Buss.
Hilarious stuff.
Pelinka spent the offseason only offering their worse players in trade so of course nobody took the offers for them. Knecht does have offense but reason he drop in the draft was because of his defense. Their best defense player hasn’t played in almost 2 years and probably will have problems coming back. Will Pelinka cave and offer up those 1st round picks in desperation.
If the Lakers call for Vu/Lavine, I would DEMAND 2028 1st unprotected. Lakers ruined all their leverage in ANY offer. Teams know that they will be desperate to upgrade at any position. What I’m still mind blown is that they haven’t addressed their lack of bigs and thought guys like Christian Wood/Jaxson Hayes will be the answer.
Almost every team is looking for bigs and the Lakers probably thought they could get one cheap. Not wanting to offer a 1st round pick will only get them cast offs. Even trading for Wizards big man will cost the Lakers a 1st rounder and probably somebody of value.
I don’t blame LeBron, Davis or Pelinka. They’re doing their jobs with the resources provided. Reddick was correct about their problem being ownership, just not the way he intended. Buss had the foresight to sign LeBron and she’s been riding that money train ever since.
I blame Pelinka for some of it. Poor drafting and bad signings. Never understood the Vincent signing when all he had was 1 good playoffs.
Pelinka has no real knowledge how to operate on the cap. No reason AC was not resigned after 2020. Took gambles on Nunn/Vincent but failed on both. He is a fraud GM. He is a terrible negotiator with contracts as well. Rui making 17-18M this year and next was crazy for a guy who never even was the best 2nd best player in DC.
Caruso is on Buss, she didn’t want the luxury tax bills it would’ve incurred if he’d resigned for market value. Vincent has only played 33 games, you really can’t blame Pelinka for his injury. Nunn didn’t work out for the Lakers on the court but he did bring them Hachimura. Hachimura’s contract is fine. He plays defense and hits 3s. If he were the 2nd best player in Washington he’d be making a lot more than $18M. Besides, it’s not like played all that long. He was a young player.
You are the first person that I have read saying Rui’s defense is fine. Lol all over twitter, lakers fans hate his defense lmao.
Rui’s defense *is* fine. He was above-average last year and great the year prior (opponents shot 41% from the field and 32% from 3 with him on them, both well below the league averages). He hasn’t been quite there this year, but the signs are there as a whole, so it’s not really a stretch to think he’ll bounce back to above-average.
The fact that Russell is a horrible defender, Knecht is a work in progress to put it lightly and James only plays defense when he thinks it matters have an affect on Hachimura’s defense as well. Reaves is solid as is Reddish but Davis and Hachimura have to compensate for nearly everyone else on the team.
The only constant “all over Twitter” is teenage boys staying virgins wary too long
People still use Twitter? I haven’t used it in a decade. Got kinda boring.
I use it for not just nba though. Plus I have interacted with some cool people who are depressed bulls fans as myself lol
The Lakers have only had four 1st picks since Pelinka took over. Ball and Wagner were trade fodder for Davis, so he’s only really had 2. Hood-Schifino obviously didn’t work out but even though Knecht has been horrible lately he had some flashes where he looks solid.
StReNgTh iN nUmBeRs
“67-15”
I take complete ownership, its on me. Then proceeds to blame the players for not executing, before saying it’s not the players fault.
Passive/Aggressive.
Came here to point that out. He literally explained, in detail, the things that were wrong and how it’s not on him to do anything about it – then throws in a token “it’s on me” comment. Starting to see this guy is just a media manager, not a player manager.
I feel numb today, the Warriors without Steph and Dray played bad and beat the Rockets.
Buddy, Podz, Looney, Moody and Spencer shot 6-33 and we beat the #2 seed.
How…
Because the Rockets played worse (38% from the field is pitiful) and didn’t have their best defender either.
It always sad to me. People always focus on shooting, “The Splash Brothers”, when talking about the Warriors. They always ignore that, since Mark Jackson coached the team, they have been one of the better defensive teams. The defense keys offense. They have also been one of the better rebounding and ball handling teams. The fundamentals can make up for poor shooting.
It’s a crime how underrated Curry is as a ball handler. I’d honestly put him up there with Kyrie, Tim Hardaway sr and Iverson as the top four of all time.