EL SEGUNDO — Just one month after saying he didn’t feel like the Lakers’ lineups featuring two big men were a direction they were looking to move forward with, first-year coach JJ Redick appears to be reversing course.
Redick said after Thursday’s practice ahead of Friday’s home game against the Brooklyn Nets that the team will get back to using lineups featuring two bigs for “small stretches of games.”
“It doesn’t mean we won’t play small ever,” Redick said. “But that’s something that when we can get some practice time, we can really work on those small-ball looks.”
The Lakers used a two-big lineup featuring Anthony Davis and Jaxson Hayes for nearly three minutes late in the third quarter of their home win against the Miami Heat on Wednesday night. It was the first time they had done so since Nov. 26 against the Phoenix Suns – the last game Hayes played before missing 15 games because of a sprained right ankle.
They had a neutral plus/minus in the 2:49 when Davis and Hayes were on the court together against the Heat.
“Just the defense trending in the wrong direction,” Redick responded when asked what he saw that made him want to go back to lineups featuring two big men.
The Lakers had a 129.2 defensive rating (points allowed per 100 possessions) in the three games previous their victory over Miami, which was the league’s worst mark during that stretch after having a 108.2 defensive rating from Dec. 8-Jan. 3.
“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” Redick elaborated. “If it is broke, let’s try to fix it type thing. Just more size. More rebounding. Again, teams are trying to get A.D. away from the basket. Well, maybe we can mix it up a little bit and have some more size out there for stretches of the game.”
Redick said that Trey Jemison, the 6-foot-10, 260-pound big man the Lakers signed to a two-way contract late Wednesday night, could factor into those two-big lineups, too.
“First of all, a big body. And plays extremely hard,” Redick said of Jemison. “With Christian [Koloko] and what we’ve asked of him, some because of Jaxson’s injury, we have to sort of manage his days. And Trey gives us another body, another physical player.
“For Trey, I think he’s gonna have an opportunity at times to be out there with A.D. He’s gonna have an opportunity, at times, to play solo big, depending on who’s available. Obviously, Jaxson’s our backup center. Not saying he’s gonna play over Jaxson. But getting him in the program was important for us. We obviously did intel on him. He’s high character, high energy, smart player, too. High basketball IQ. Super humble. We’re excited to have him.”
RUSSELL’S RETURN
Friday will be D’Angelo Russell’s first game against the Lakers since the franchise traded him, along with Maxwell Lewis and three second-round draft picks, to Brooklyn for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton.
Finney-Smith missed Wednesday’s game because of personal reasons. His wife announced the birth of their child on Wednesday morning on Instagram. Finney-Smith was listed as doubtful for Friday on the Lakers’ Thursday evening injury report.
Russell averaged a career-low 12.4 points in 26.3 minutes, which was his lowest minutes average since his third season, before the Lakers traded him.
He averaged 16.6 points and 5.9 assists during his entire second stint with the franchise.
“I expect him to come out and try to have a great game,” Redick said of Russell. “He does not have a lack of competitiveness. He takes a lot of pride in who he is as a player. I’m expecting him to try to go at us.”
NETS AT LAKERS
When: Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/radio: Spectrum SportsNet/710 AM