JJ Redick Explains Decision To Start Max Christie & Outlines Lakers' Ideal Fifth Starter
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Coming into the season, the Los Angeles Lakers’ starting lineup was set. But as the season has gone on, head coach JJ Redick has had to try many different lineups, most recently giving the nod to Max Christie alongside Anthony Davis, LeBron James, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura.
The end result was great as Christie did a great job in hounding All-Star Ja Morant in the Lakers’ 116-110 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Afterwards, Redick discussed what went into the decision to give Christie the starting nod.
“I think in terms of the decision, it wasn’t an easy decision,” Redick said after the win. “And we really feel like as a staff that Gabe has been fantastic the last couple of weeks, particularly on the defensive end with his physicality and on-ball stuff. And he’s also had some good offensive games as well. I think the size and just the athleticism and the fact that Max has a really good feel for the game and he can move was important.
“In terms of his long term outlook and his growth, I think these opportunities are great for him. I’ll reference the Oklahoma City game where he made a mistake at the end and we play a week later in Atlanta and he’s in sort of the same situation at the end of regulation and he gets a block on Trae Young. So with young guys, these opportunities are great for them to grow, not only in confidence but also just the learned experience and learned knowledge of being in different situations.”
Christie has experienced his share of growing pains in his first year being a significant piece of the Lakers’ rotation, but Redick and the coaching staff are seeing him learn and improve as he goes which is a great sign for his overall growth.
Perhaps this is a starting lineup that can stick for the Lakers as they look to find the right combination and Christie does check a lot of the boxes that Redick feels are most important in that fifth starter.
“A lot of discussion around that. Because of some injuries and truthfully just trying to find something that worked, we tried a bunch of different lineups,” Redick said before the game. “We don’t want to do that, and ideally we want to have that fifth guy be a complementary piece to the other four guys and that complementary piece most likely looks like a point of attack defender.
“A guy that doesn’t need the ball in his hands, he’s gonna play hard, he’s gonna pick up full court, can shoot 3s. So yeah, we’re trying to find some level of consistency for the group and that fifth guy, if there’s somebody that can sort of find consistency individually, we’d like that spot to remain with the same guy.”
Consistency is key and if this starting lineup with Christie continues to play well together, Redick may have just found something to stick with.
JJ Redick applauds Lakers ‘gameplan discipline’ vs. Grizzlies
The Lakers self-admittedly haven’t always done a great job at following and executing the gameplan given to them by JJ Redick and the coaching staff. But against the Grizzlies, Redick was happy with how they followed things.
"Against those guys, you have to play as hard as them at the very least to have the chance to win,” Redick said. “I thought our guys did that. I thought our gameplan discipline was really good.”
The Lakers coach wasn’t too happy with the amount of turnovers as well as some inconsistent officiating as well, but overall was happy with the effort on defense, again pointing out the work of Max Christie.
“But I thought just in terms of what we were trying to do defensively, we did a really good job. Max Christie in particular on-ball was fantastic tonight."
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