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JJ Redick made his plans clear on how the LA Lakers would operate in the upcoming 2024-25 NBA season. The new head coach of the franchise told reporters earlier that he was tentatively looking to deploy a nine-man rotation.
He also added that the likes of Gabe Vincent, Max Christie, Jalen Hood-Schifino, Cam Reddish, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Jaxson Hayes were his other bench candidates apart from the confirmed starting five.
In his podcast, 'Buha's Block'. The Athletic's beat writer Jovan Buha shared his views on Redick's tactical plans leading into the season. The analyst also noted the stark contrast between the 40-year-old and his predecessors Darvin Ham and Frank Vogel — both of whom were cryptic with their rotation game plans. He added that taking Redick at his word would be a better option considering he had his plans ready.
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The question now is how the lineup and the rotation numbers change once the team goes through the common occurrence of injuries, dip in form replacements, and trades.
JJ Redick not worried about Lakers depth
Speaking on Zach Lowe's podcast, Redick was asked about LA 's lack of depth this season with the recovery process of bigs Christian Wood and Jarred Vanderbilt potentially ruling them out for the start of the season, and missing a few games leading into November.
"I would say depth is not a concern. I would say just overall health and availability is more the concern than anything. We’ve had a number of guys that had injuries last year. We are going to have to manage in some capacity LeBron [James] and AD (Anthony Davis). I don’t mean that in terms of health, I mean that in terms of availability. That’s just the reality."
The Lakers will hope that their depth issues will be resolved as early as possible given the load that Davis will have to shoulder on both ends of the floor. With Wood, they get an additional scoring center, and Vanderbilt's versatility on the defensive end of the floor makes him raise the ceiling of the team's defensive efficiency.
Their frontcourt depth will be a cause for concern this season, but for now, the team and JJ Redick remain optimistic that they can do without their key role players. Only time will tell if the Lakers can pull off a series of wins to remain bonafide playoff contenders under their new head coach.
