JJ Redick hasn't been an NBA head coach for very long but made it clear from the outset that he would not hold back in his press conferences. Redick is blunt when it comes to publicly evaluating his team and doesn't appear hestitant to use his media sessions as a delivery system to send messages to his team. This apparently applies to preseason basketball as well.
The Lakers played the Suns on Tuesday night as the season draws near. Luka Dončić made his debut and played well, which means the night was largely a success from the fan perspective. However, Los Angeles did lose, and Redick was displeased enough with the product on the court that he called out his team afterwards for a "frustrating" performance.
Following the 113-104 defeat in which the Lakers managed only 38 points in the second half, Redick was asked how he balances the positives and negatives of the game given the context that not everybody who saw the floor will play regular minutes when the games count. Redick used the opportunity to explain the importance of the habits he's tasked with building and praised some of L.A.'s performance but didn't hold back his opinion that it wasn't good enough.
"It's very simple, actually: I'm trying to form consistent habits," Redick said. "So you're trying to do that, that means everybody. That doesn't mean three guys. You need everybody doing that. I thought there were some really good things tonight on both ends of the floor... But if you want to be a good time, you got to do it every single time. You got to do the right thing every single time.
"That's where, I don't think any of the groups tonight were as consistent as they need to be. To me, we took a step forward with some of the defensive stuff from the other night against Golden State. We took a step backwards tonight. That's a little bit frustrating."
It's not the harshest quote Redick has given about his team but it is certainly a bit more forward than one would expect for preseason play. The Lakers cannot rest on their laurels as long as Redick is in charge.
L.A.'s next and last exhibition contest comes on Wednesday night against the Mavericks.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as JJ Redick Calls Out Lakers for 'Frustrating' Preseason Loss to Suns.
