Lakers Star Anthony Davis Sets Expectation for JJ Redick’s Rookie Season

Getty Anthony Davis and Darvin Ham, former head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.

After his public falling out with former Los Angeles Lakers coach Darvin Ham during their playoff loss to the Denver Nuggets, Anthony Davis said he was giving Ham’s replacement, JJ Redick, a first-time head coach, some time to figure things out.

But it does not mean that Davis is lowering the bar for his Redick’s rookie season.

“Obviously the goal is to win, but this is still new, right?” Davis said, per ESPN. “JJ, first time being a head coach, first time being a coach, so that’s going to be new, right? Trying to learn his schemes, him adjusting to us, us adjusting to him. All that takes time. It’s not going to take two months, and then, ‘Oh, okay, we’ve figured everything out.'”

Anthony Davis Co-Signs JJ Redick Hire

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Davis played a significant role in the Lakers hiring Redick.

“The Lakers have been committed to making All-NBA forward Anthony Davis a significant part of the conversation on the next head coach and want to make sure he’s aligned with how a new coach plans to feature him on offense and defense, sources said,” Wojnarowski reported on June 6.

Davis held conversations with Redick upon his hiring where the rookie head coach shared his vision.

Redick’s plan is to hand the keys to Davis while LeBron James is on the final chapter of his historic career.

“[Redick] talked about me being the hub of the offense,” Davis said, per Ben Golliver of the Washington Post. “That will be different. We won’t know everything until [training] camp when we’re able to get on the floor. We want LeBron to shoot more 3’s. [Redick] wants to play fast and defend. From what he was telling me, I’m in total agreeance with what he has planned for us. … The goal at the end of the day is still to win a championship. You can’t skip steps.”

Holding Lakers Accountable

Davis’ co-star, LeBron James, kept his expectations modest, avoiding mentioning championship expectations to ease the pressure on Redick.

“My expectation is for us to go to work every day, try to get better every day and push each other every day,” James told reporters on July 6 at the start of the Team USA camp in Las Vegas. “Me as a captain, A.D. as the captain, we got to hold everybody accountable from the player standpoint. We’re coming in with a new system, so we have to learn the system and see what Coach Redick and the rest of the coaching staff want us to do, and then go from there.”

While Davis agreed with James in holding the team accountable, he keep on drilling to never lose sight of their goal.

“But the goal at the end of the day is still to win championships. And you can’t skip steps. So the first step is … we’re going to hold guys accountable … when something goes wrong, we’re going to hold guys accountable. And then from there, you know, we figure it out, and you get better each and every day.

“As long as we doing that, we put ourselves in a position to be successful.”