JJ Redick confirmed that LeBron James and Anthony Davis will play in the opening weekend for preseason while Jalen Hood-Schifino drew praise.
LOS ANGELES — Thursday was the third and final training camp practice before preseason action begins on Friday at the Acrisure Stadium in Palm Springs.
JJ Redick has been surprisingly open with the media since taking over. He’s already revealed his starters and on Thursday, he let us know that LeBron James and Anthony Davis will play this weekend. However, he wouldn’t give details on minutes, lineups, or if they’ll play in both upcoming games against the Timberwolves on Friday and the Suns on Sunday.
“They’re going to play this weekend,” Redick said. “We’re still talking through what minutes and rotations look like… we have a general idea of what that looks like for all of preseason, but trying to figure out what makes the most sense. Our framework for a plan is based on real time and on how these guys feel.”
It looks like we’ll have to wait for pregame to get a more concrete answer on how much LeBron and AD will be featured this weekend, but it’s exciting to hear we’ll get a glimpse of how Redick will use these two stars this year.
Jalen Hood-Schifino is shining
We didn’t see much of JHS due to injury last year, but his name has come up positively in all training camps as a standout player and Thursday was no exception.
“Jalen [Hood-Schifino] has been great,” Rui Hachimura said. “I can see he’s been putting a lot of work in his body. He got way stronger. I can see that he’s just, you know, more confident… I think he looks strong and healthy; I like it.”
JHS was an early standout last year at training camp before his injury. This season, he’s adding to that by receiving praise from Redick for the productive summer he’s had. Fortunately, he’s completely healthy heading into this camp and can hopefully build off his strong start.
Last season, JHS played in just 21 games, averaging 1.6 points, 0.6 rebounds and 0.4 assists, so usurping this should be an easy task if he stays healthy.
Fast, efficient and informative
With the game looming and the team needing to travel further down Southern California, the Lakers wasted no time getting done with their work for the day.
“Today was a tornado,” Hachimura said. “That’s what he [JJ Redick] said. He was just saying that because we only had a one-hour practice, so we just wanted to go hard. We just wanted high-intensity today, so that’s what we did. We had a really good practice today it was a short time. It’s been great.”
The “tornado” practice matches the theme of Lakers training camp, where it’s all about intensity and efficiency at practice. Maybe it’s training camp speak or jargon that players and coaches think fans and media members want to hear, but Hachimura’s words after practice didn’t make it seem that way.
“Since I got in the league,” Hachimura said, “shout out to Coach [Scott] Brooks, he was my head coach first head coach, but we never practiced… It’s just different, a little different than what I what I used to do, but I like it.
“We’re just competing. We like the flow. We get up and down. Our conditioning has been good. I just think that he’s just trying to be more professional in that way.”
Such a candid response from a player is jarring and hints at something special brewing in Los Angeles.
You can add D’Angelo Russell to the camp of players that love the things Redick is implementing. He mentioned Redick’s attention to basketball minutia and his appreciation for it after practice.
“I’ve never really had the opportunity to build a relationship with a coach over a long period of time,” Russell said. “Most recently was [Chris] Finch in Minnesota, and it was great. We got to the playoffs, we started doing really well, and then obviously business of the basketball side works out.
“But, for me to see how JJ’s trying to bring these play calls and just the level of IQ into each practice, and each film session, whatever it may be, to see he’s prioritizing that. I’ve always been a guy that wanted to prioritize high IQ, high verbiage, high film sessions like, let’s rise to that and he’s obviously doing it.”
He also mentioned an after-time-out play that impressed him so much that he was still thinking about it during his downtime at the golf course.
“Yesterday, he drew up a play and I don’t even know if it worked,” Russell said. “I think Jaxson did a great job sniffing the play out, but I was on the golf course and I was thinking about it, and I sent JJ a little voice note, kind of thanking him for putting that out. I’d never seen it.
“I’m not trying to hype it up, but I I thanked him for, you know, showing me that. Obviously, it didn’t work, but I saw, like him getting into his bag right there and it’s it’s exciting for players that, you know, kind of notice stuff like that.”
Could this be the most prepared and focused Lakers team in a while and will that result in wins? Time will tell.
Notes and injury updates
- There have been no new injury updates from the Lakers. Cam Reddish is still not playing 5-on-5 scrimmages.
- Rui Hachimura has spoken about his short-lived prep baseball career before, but had some more commentary on it on Thursday.
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