JJ Redick, the Lakers new head coach, appeared down at one set of the numbers to find that considered one of his rookies, Bronny James, had completed extra transferring within the staff’s first observe than anybody else on the roster.
“I went over to Bronny before practice and I was like, ‘Dude, you ran six miles.’ And he was like, ‘Yeah, I know.’ So somebody had already shared that with him,” Redick mentioned Wednesday. “I think my experience as a player was very helpful because I got to come in at the tail end of all of this tracking stuff. And it was something, especially as I got older, that was important to me in terms of measuring just my capacity and my load. And if a guy has got a strong buildup, and he’s feeling good, that’s important information for him.”
However it’s not essential to everybody, a needle that Redick goes to have to string with how he makes use of and disseminates data gleaned via wearable know-how, high-definition cameras and sensors close to the edges within the observe facility — all measuring completely different data and logging knowledge.
“I don’t care about numbers,” Anthony Davis mentioned. “Numbers aren’t anything. You could average 50. If you’re in last place, like, what do you get out of the season, ‘Oh, you averaged 50.’ You get nothing for that. I’m about winning, winning championships.
“So, that don’t matter to me.”
It clearly issues to his new head coach — every little thing does.
Redick is admittedly vulnerable to getting manner into the weeds on issues huge and small. Earlier this yr, LeBron James advised Redick he thought a DJ can be a pleasant contact at observe. By means of two days inside the ability, the staff has had DJ Meel arrange within the nook close to their weight room. And Redick has favored the vibe.
“If the players are happy, I’m good,” he mentioned.
He’s not alone, although, in the case of his ardour for data. He mentioned he needed to make it possible for as he fashioned his first NBA workers, he was surrounded by individuals who needed to be taught the identical.
“More information is better,” Redick mentioned. “That’s how I … every person we’ve hired, that’s been a key thing that I’ve told them. ‘Do you want to get in the weeds?’ ‘Yeah, I do want to get in the weeds. Yeah.’ So as much info as possible.”
However Redick, like all participant who has seen analytics enter the NBA sphere, is aware of that there’s a steadiness that must be struck, that informational overload could be simply as crippling as bodily overload. And there’s an artwork to sharing issues that matter to you with gamers who won’t care as a lot.
“I think that’s a good thing about him being an ex-player. Obviously, the numbers don’t lie. And there’s a lot of truth in the numbers. But there’s also flow and feel in the game,” guard Austin Reaves mentioned. “And for him to be an ex-player, I know he knows the ups and downs in games and the situations to go away from the numbers. But like you said, he’s a big analytics-numbers guy and I’m very excited for myself to dive more into that and see ways I can be better as well.
“… In the past, I’ve flushed all that. Yesterday was the first time I actually looked at how much I ran in practice. It was like five miles. I tend to play more off of feel and going with the flow. But I also think there are situations where there are numbers that give you a leg up or a little boost to really see what works and doesn’t work.”
Notes
Davis shared a enjoyable back-and-forth story from dwell motion on Wednesday between LeBron James and Bronny. “It’s fantastic to be able to be here and witness it in practice,” Davis mentioned. “And Bronny hit a three over him today. Everybody was talking smack in Bronny’s favor. Then Bron came down and just bullied somebody. Just took it out on [him] — I forgot who it was — and got a layup. Bronny came down and hit another three, I think over Austin. And Bron wanted the ball. So you could see, even though they weren’t matched up, the competition is there. And that’s what we love to see.” … Cam Reddish remained a restricted participant with ankle soreness, however his harm has improved since Tuesday. … The Lakers have a plan on how they’ll use their veterans within the preseason, although they’re not sharing it as of but. … The staff has an early observe scheduled for Thursday earlier than busing to Palm Springs the place they’ll play their first two preseason video games.
