Three Laker thoughts
Get a center
Three things really jumped out at me after the Lakers dropped their series to Minnesota in five games.
First and foremost, that was a choice the Lakers made to go with basically no centers that they could trust against Rudy Gobert and Naz Reid. I don't know if Mark Williams really did deserve to have his physical flunked. No one knows those details, except for the people in power in L.A. Nevertheless, they went with Jaxson Hayes, who no one thinks of as a a permanent starter. It backfired against a team with good centers, it probably would have backfired against any team with a decent big.
I have great respect for JJ Redick as a player. Was always a huge fan of his. I also have respect for my business. Coaching is something that doesn't just easily happen. Doing a little AAU for kids isn't quite the same thing as as being a head coach in the NBA. The fact that ownership and management doesn't really understand that is shocking. I think JJ Redick has a chance to be an incredible coach, and maybe pretty fast. He has a history around basketball that few new coaches can match. But he didn’t take over a young team like the Hornets or Wizards, who he could grow with. He took LeBron James and the Lakers into the freaking playoffs. It’s just weird, and they kind of deserve what they got. JJ, is going to learn a ton. I'm guessing JJ will apply himself the way he did as a player now, as a coach, probably has all year, but armed with what just happened, he should get nothing but better.
The third thing is, it took the Lakers making those choices to get Minnesota onto the next round. Minnesota was reeling from the inside. I heard from inside the organization about real concerns, on many fronts, but especially about locker room connections to coach Chris Finch. We all know some of the things that were going on there this year, disappointing season, and Anthony Edwards can be a little dramatic. Nevertheless, they are rolling—now. They deserve everything that they're getting, but also it helped to have an opponent like the Lakers fail the way they fail. This is how the NBA playoffs are.
And so this season ends like a lot of seasons end: with the future in LeBron’s hands. I don’t know how long he’ll last because he doesn’t know either. Building around Luka makes sense. It kind of starts from scratch with a center that can catch lobs and defend and think the game.
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The Timberwolves seem like a team built for the playoffs. Incredibly long and a talented mix of veteran stars. They will be a tough out if they are dominating the offensive glass.
Organizations not appreciating the differences in being a high level professional player vs being a high level pro coach is pretty shocking. They’re completely different professions which have different demands, responsibilities and mindsets. Sure, that can be outliers which a player can immediately transition into being a good coach, but it’s extremely rare especially in the postseason.