Lakers hold another meeting! Reddick decides to change the lineup: Our offense lacks structure since LeBron's return

On December 28th Beijing time, the Lakers held another team meeting today, with head coach Reddick also interviewed after practice. The Lakers had earlier experienced a frustrating defeat in the year-end clash. Reddick called today a day for the team to "realign and come back together."

When talking about the focus of today's training and video review, Reddick stated: "We need to reset our mentality and reestablish team bonds. Personally, I always start by looking inward. As players or coaches, it’s easy to say 'it’s so-and-so's fault' or 'we failed because of X, Y, or Z.' This morning, our coaching staff had a very productive meeting; we arrived early at the arena and then communicated with the players. The whole process was very positive, with the key being listening—I and the coaching staff need to hear the players’ voices and understand their needs."

Reddick also hinted at roster adjustments. "Regarding lineup management, our analytics team told us that about 250 minutes of playtime is the benchmark for lineup data to stabilize and normalize. So, you can’t just look at a lineup that played only 11 minutes and say, 'Wow, those 11 minutes were great!' True, we did use a small-ball lineup in one game and it performed well, but we can’t draw conclusions from just that. However, we have been monitoring some lineup performance trends and have already made some decisions about upcoming lineup changes."

On the focus of today's training and areas needing improvement, Reddick added: "I firmly believe we must return to the fundamentals of basketball, clarify the team’s needs and each player’s role, making everything clearer. I fully understand that what seems simple in training and video sessions becomes a completely different challenge under game pressure. These issues can’t be fixed overnight, but we must reinforce defensive basics... This is my top priority right now. Next is clarifying player roles."Since LeBron’s return, our offense has lacked order, resulting in too many chaotic possessions. That responsibility lies with me. In summary, there are three key points: clear defensive strategy, defined roles, and organized offensive execution.”

Previous data showed that the Lakers’ usual starting five (LeBron, Doncic, Reeves, Hachimura, Ayton) ranked at the bottom in several team lineup metrics, performing poorly. With Reeves expected to be out for the next month, Reddick will have to adjust the lineup. We look forward to seeing what starting lineup he will put forward to face upcoming games.