JJ Redick Reveals the Lakers Master Plan...

JJ Redick has just revealed the Lakers master plan for the season and with one of their biggest acquisitions comes a sweeping change to how we see the Lakers play basketball. It's going to look very different for the Lakers and Redick is going to have a whole new structure on how the Lakers play. Now, thanks in large part to their new defensive-minded center. What's good? I'm Okichi Pakama and this is Lakers Digest coming to you with another video. Before we get to everything we have for today's video, I just want to remind you guys to subscribe to the Laker Updates because training camp starts just next week and just in 10 days we're going to see our first Lakers basketball game in the preseason. So if you guys don't want to miss out on anything going on with the Lakers, make sure you guys subscribe here at the channel at Lakers Digest. Now, with that out of the way, let's hop straight into our main story of the day talking about what Redick said in his introductory press conference and Redick has big plans for Walker Kessler and there's going to be a big change to the Laker defense. So JJ Redick and Rob Palenka had an introductory press conference talking about different things of the offseason, talking about the new players they acquired, how they see things looking, and then also just what the future projects to be for the Los Angeles Lakers this upcoming season. Now, there was a lot of things obviously to talk about. Like I said, the starting lineup that was a big topic of the day and then also them talking about some of the young players they're very excited for. But one thing in I want to hone in on guys, but before we get to that, I want to bring up our sponsor here guys, and that is going to be Calshi. And Calshi, what is it you guys may be asking? 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So this is what he said, as Reddick called Kessler a perfect fit along Luka Doncic and Austin Reeves. And then Reddick said he employed a switching defense more than he would have preferred in the last couple years. However, Kessler can be an anchor for them to allow them to play man-to-man and clear things up in the paint there. So Ginger Reddick has a plan for Walker Kessler to be the man in the middle, sort of like how Minnesota kind of employs their defense with Rudy Gobert, similar to also how the San Antonio Spurs employ Victor Weminyama and just how they use him, try to use him as close to the basket as possible. And then they use their guards really as attack dogs and guys that can really hound you and get after you defensively, try to chase over screens and things of that nature. So that is what Reddick is looking for out of a guy like Walker Kessler and it makes a ton of sense. Walker Kessler this past healthy season, really that's where he showed where he can be a very good defensive stalwart and be a very big body down there in the middle for a team like the Utah Jazz. But for a guy like Walker Kessler, this is a job that he is used to be that a part of. And then just taking a look at the stats for a guy like Walker Kessler in his last real healthy season there, as he averaged 11.1 points per game, 12.12 rebounds a game. And then I just want to take a look smidge down there to the defensive stats there, just under a steal per game, which is pretty good for a guy of his size. And then 2.4 blocks per game for a guy like Walker Kessler. So he obviously went healthy, can show that defensive paralysis, can be that man in the middle, can be that interior presence because around 2.4 blocks per game. You're part of the top five guys usually in blocks in the league there. So Walker Kessler has a very, very good defensive awareness and has just been grown up as a defensive minded center, which is just vastly different from what the Lakers have had these past couple of seasons. And really, he's been their first real defensive center that they've had since Anthony Davis. So this allows the Lakers to play a lot differently. And obviously, AD was much different, probably much better defender than a guy like a Walker Kessler because of his switchability. But Kessler still has that ability to really lock down the paint and just be that man there in the middle. So he talked a bunch of other things, both Redick and Polinka in that introductory conference. And then this is another thing that I wanted to lock in here as Redick said he was pretty confident in who the starters were going to be from the first three guys in obviously Luka Doncic, Austin Reeves, and then big Walker Kessler. However, he did say the other are up for grabs, but he also led up of the probably funnier quotes of the day saying that it won't be two other white guys, which has kind of been the theme of a lot of these Lakers, you know, the snow time Lakers, all the memes going out there. It's been very funny, all jokes and everything like that. But Redick is kind of stating here that the other two spots are kind of up for grabs and training camp is going to decide a lot of these types of matchups and then just who the starting lineup is going to be. And then also Redick said something that I thought was very, very interesting about his upcoming team here, talking about how for the first time in three years, this will be probably the time where the pieces perfectly fit together. Now, I want to dive into like deeper what that kind of means there, what it just how things perfectly fit together. Because obviously, when you have LeBron James on your team, Luka Doncic, or even when you had AD and then LeBron James on your team, this team was definitely shaped differently and just how the way that he played and just because of the nature that both LeBron James and Anthony Davis, or even when it came to when Luka Doncic came over, they were mostly guys that kind of occupied similar positions, mostly on the defensive side of things. And then that kind of jumbled things up. And it put other guys, mostly the role players in positions that they're not really used to. So you had guys like Ruri Hachimura, sometimes playing to guard in certain slots or positions, or just had a lot of guys playing out of position for many years. Now, with this new setup lineup with Walker Kessler as the five, and then you have Austin and Luka as your main two lead guards, everything else falls in place naturally. And everybody is essentially going to be role players for off of those guys. And you're just fitting into a role fitting into a part of the offense. They're not really there to take more shots than there needs to be whether it's guys like Quentin Grimes, Mamed Khalid Zabili, or Colin Saxon. But there is going to be obviously some leeway into that Laker offense that can allow them to show their strengths in certain spots of the season. But this kind of gets me to my next point here about the Los Angeles Lakers here. And this is their new personnel, which means new scheme. So we're probably going to be seeing some much different ways that the Lakers are going to be playing basketball this upcoming season. Due in large part obviously to Walker Kessler, which Lakers playing a lot more man-to-man trying to keep him closer to the paint, which means they're going to be trying to get over screens and doing things of that nature, or blowing up screens, or they can still switch it obviously at the guard positions. But when it comes to their center, they're not going to switch them out and leave them out there in the perimeter. And obviously Walker Kessler is a terrific rebounder. You want him as round as a basket as much as humanly possible here for the Los Angeles Lakers here. So for them to sort of switch things up. And then with this new personnel that I was talking about, it's just a lot of guys who are of the shoot dribble pass variety. And they're all guys who all are known to be role players at some points in their career. And they haven't really done anything more else from that. Maybe you can make the argument for Colin Saxon at some point of his career, but he eventually turned into that combo guard off the bench that can help you score and obviously play make in some situations. But this is another thing that I wanted to get to what Riddick said as he's going to play more guys this year, given the Lakers have a deeper roster than previous seasons. So the Lakers, if you've been following the past couple of seasons there, they usually would go with like a nine man rotation, really. But now with more players and more guys that can fit in little slots, they can probably even go 10, 11 guys deep here in the regular season, really give a lot of guys some chances and opportunities to really make a name for themselves. Because I think this is what is going to happen in its first part of the season here that the Lakers are it's just going to be a battle between a lot of players on the team to really fight for these spots there. And then having Walker Kessler, that man in the middle, that guy to lock you down defensively, really kind of sets everything else up into place there. And this is kind of the big thing that Riddick is hoping for that, obviously, Kessler not only stays healthy, but can be a guy that can raise up the Lakers defensive floor to a very, very high value there. And just some other things that I wanted to point out there from the press conference, as Polinka said that he, you know, opened up the conference, everything with gratitude, everything talking about how LeBron everything, but I want to get to that that bottom part there, which is the big, the big priorities the Lakers were looking for this offseason, and it was to sign AR, get a franchise center and get a whole bunch of young dribble pass shoot guys. And he did say that, or Rob Polinka, that the team is still not done building, they're still trying to fine tune it, obviously, to get to championship shape. But in order of those big three things, it seems like they got them done. Obviously, they got Austin Reeves signed pretty early into the offseason, didn't really let him walk into free agency. And then Walker Kessler was the big deal for them to get. And then obviously, those dribble pass shoot guys, Colin Sexton, Quentin Grimes, Isandro Mamescolasvili, all of those guys all bring those type of skills and those types of variety to this Lakers squad here. So it's gonna be very exciting to see how this Laker team coalesce and gels together. But Walker Kessler is going to be a huge and vital part to what these Lakers are trying to do here. And then, and just one more thing I wanted to bring to you. And this is from my guy, Raj Chapalu, talking about how the Lakers were switching, essentially out of necessity. But now, changing the fundamental principles and having Kessler in there. We'll see how things are going to shape up for Lakers defensively, but it's going to look very, very different than we've seen in the past years. There's not going to be just kind of like these sort of like, given up switches, there might not be as much peel switching as Lakers have done in the past there. So this whole new type of lineup is going to be very exciting. And with Walker Kessler, the man in the middle, I think the Lakers are in a solid spot to be a solid defensive team at the very least there. Now, there was, I told you guys, there was a couple of picks that I wanted to get to you guys here at the towards the end here. And this is what I've been looking at here on Kaushi. Right now, this is the right, the predictions for who is going to win the MVP race. Right now we got Luka Doncic at 19% on Kaushi. It's very simple. Like you said, yes or no on Kaushi. And to make your choice there, guys, it is, like I said, very, very easy to do. And then another thing that I was looking for is what, who's going to win the Pacific Division Championship. This is, I think the Lakers spot to lose here. A lot of teams in the conference just didn't, aren't going to really fare too well here. I just got some older teams here, some young teams really trying to figure it out. The only real competition was the Suns who made the playoffs last season. And yeah, the Warriors kind of snuck in there at the end, but, or actually no, it was the Portland, the Portland Trail Blazers who beat them there. So, but just really the Suns there were just the only playoff team of the mix. So it should be the Lakers spot to lose right there. Right now they're at 55% to win the Pacific Division. Like I said, you can hit yes or no on Kaushi. It is very, very simple. And then I'm going to bring up that code there one more time guys, because New Years will get $55 added into your account instantly when you're trading for your first $25. Just use the link in the description or the pinned comment. And remember, you guys are on Kaushi to play responsibly guys. Now that's going to be it for this video. Let us know in the comments down below of what do you guys think of Walker Kessler? Do you think he's going to be the man the Lakers were looking for, especially defensively and be that stalwart defensively and really help raise the Lakers defensive floor? Or are you a little bit more worrisome about like a guy like Walker Kessler? Are you worried about his injuries? Do you worry about him being the only guy there because Lakers don't really have a backup currently. You know, they got an older Kevon Looney. I say older, but he's only 29 years old. And then you have a Mamu who's kind of more of a four defensively because he kind of struggles at a five position because he doesn't have any real shot blocking there. So let us know if those are some of your concerns down there in the comments. I've been your host Okechi Pakema and I'll catch you guys on the next one.