{"id":130321,"date":"2025-12-14T12:30:55","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:30:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=130321"},"modified":"2025-12-14T12:30:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T12:30:55","slug":"report-after-weeks-of-defensive-struggles-lakers-head-coach-jj-redick-is-challenging-his-team-to-prove-they-can-be-a-true-force-on-that-end-of-the-floor-his-message-suggests-this-isnt-just","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=130321","title":{"rendered":"REPORT: After weeks of defensive struggles, Lakers head coach JJ Redick is challenging his team to prove they can be a true force on that end of the floor. His message suggests this isn\u2019t just about effort\u2014but about identity. The question now is whether the Lakers can respond when it matters most."},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"has-video wp-caption \">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2251064990-e1765667609963.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2251064990-e1765667609963.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2251064990-e1765667609963.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/GettyImages-2251064990-e1765667609963.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"JJ Redick, Los Angeles Lakers\" width=\"780\" height=\"439\" data-img-load-time=\"3412\" data-dom-ready-time=\"4093\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0have enjoyed a strong start to the season. They\u2019re 17-7 and sit fourth in the Western Conference, one game behind the\u00a0Denver Nuggets, who occupy the second seed.<\/p>\n<p>However, there\u2019s a growing concern over the Lakers\u2019 defense, which currently\u00a0ranks 21st in the NBA.\u00a0When speaking to the media following a practice session on Saturday, Redick gave a blunt yet hopeful assessment of the team\u2019s potential defensive improvements.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\"><em>\u201cWe\u2019ve taken charges. That\u2019s been good\u2026 We\u2019ve just completely lost our fundamentals. It takes reps. The last two days in practice have been great. I think the guys have been great with how they\u2019ve responded to our meeting yesterday. Doesn\u2019t mean we\u2019re gonna come out tomorrow and play amazing defense. This is my job. I\u2019m not gonna just say, \u2018we\u2019re not gonna be a good defensive team.\u2019 No, we\u2019re gonna scrap and claw and do everything we can to turn this into a good defensive team.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"6c8119fd9f655db8f14cf27b8da82ea8\" class=\"embed_container\">\n<div class=\"tweet-container\">\n<article class=\"tweet-container_article\">\n<div class=\"tweet-body\">.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DanWoikeSports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow external\">@DanWoikeSports<\/a>: (You haven\u2019t used the word banshese much this year.)<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">JJ Redick: \u201cBecause we haven\u2019t been banshees.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">(Are you on a banshee hunt with this roster?)<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">JJ: \u201cWe\u2019ve taken charges. That\u2019s been good\u2026the guys have been great with how they\u2019ve responded to our meeting<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">If the Lakers can improve on defense, they could emerge as a genuine championship contender. However, if their struggles continue, they will struggle to assert themselves in the later rounds of the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Fortunately, Redick and the coaching staff have more than enough time to improve on the current defensive deficiencies and position the Lakers to be a threat moving forward.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2>Lakers Contemplating Bringing Vanderbilt Back<\/h2>\n<p>Jarred Vanderbilt\u00a0started the season as a key piece in the Lakers\u2019 rotation. However, he\u2019s since fallen out of favor. Yet, amid the Lakers\u2019 poor defensive showings, Redick has admitted that he\u2019s considering bringing the Vanderbilt back into the rotation due to his defensive upside.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf this continues, he\u2019ll definitely get his opportunities,\u201d Redick said on Friday of the Lakers bringing Vando back into the rotation, via\u00a0Thuc Nhi Nguyen of LA Times.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Redick is also confident that Los Angeles has the talent it needs to turn their defensive woes around.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\"><em>\u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s anybody in that meeting room that thinks we\u2019re a good defensive team right now,\u201d Redick said, \u201cbut I also don\u2019t think there\u2019s anybody in that meeting room who thinks we can\u2019t be a good defensive team. We\u2019ve got to get better.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h2 data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Lakers\u2019 Austin Reaves Still Has Faith<\/h2>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">When speaking to the media following the Lakers\u2019 132-119 loss to\u00a0Victor Wembanyama-less\u00a0San Antonio Spurs,\u00a0Austin Reaves\u00a0urged his teammates to prove they can be a defensive force.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\"><em>\u201cThat\u2019s a weakness we\u2019ve got to get better at,\u201d Reaves said. \u201cThe spirit is still high in here, we know we can do it. But we have to be a group that guards with five people.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<div id=\"AdThrive_Content_4_desktop\" class=\"adthrive-ad adthrive-content adthrive-content-4 adthrive-ad-cls\"><\/div>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">In order to be a legitimate contender, the Lakers must be a threat on both sides of the ball. Winning games based on offense is fine for the regular season, but it won\u2019t be enough to secure victories deep into the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Redick has a talented roster at his disposal. Therefore, his challenge is figuring out which combinations and rotations give him juice on both sides.<\/p>\n<p data-mrf-recirculation=\"Articles \/ Paragraph Links\">Once he figures that out, the Lakers will be a force.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0have enjoyed a strong start to the season. They\u2019re 17-7 and sit fourth in the Western Conference, one game behind the\u00a0Denver Nuggets, who occupy the&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":130324,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-130321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>REPORT: After weeks of defensive struggles, Lakers head coach JJ Redick is challenging his team to prove they can be a true force on that end of the floor. His message suggests this isn\u2019t just about effort\u2014but about identity. The question now is whether the Lakers can respond when it matters most. - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=130321\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"REPORT: After weeks of defensive struggles, Lakers head coach JJ Redick is challenging his team to prove they can be a true force on that end of the floor. His message suggests this isn\u2019t just about effort\u2014but about identity. The question now is whether the Lakers can respond when it matters most. - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The\u00a0Los Angeles Lakers\u00a0have enjoyed a strong start to the season. 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