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Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick reacts on the sideline during the second half of an NBA basketball game at Crypto.com Arena on Friday, Oct. 24, 2025
During his impassioned rant about the Los Angeles Lakers‘ defensive struggles on Tuesday, head coach JJ Redick targeted one unnamed player for not paying attention to schemes and being unaware of particular defensive terms.
“We had a guy the other day who hasn’t played a lot who didn’t know what a ‘flood’ was in the middle of a game,” Redick said when asked about the Lakers’ inability to execute team defense. “So, clearly, when not healthy, we have room to grow in that area.”
The act of “flooding” the strong side of the court is a strategy where an extra defender is sent to the area with the ball handler and multiple offensive players, aiming to clog the space, force a pass or shrink the floor to stop dribble penetration, per FastModel.
JJ Redick takes a shot at one of his own Lakers players: “We had a guy the other day who hasn’t played a lot who didn’t know what a ‘flood’ was in the middle of a game”
Who is the Unnamed Lakers Player?
Considering that Redick said the unnamed player “hasn’t played a lot,” one wonders if he was referring to either Nick Smith Jr., Maxi Kleber, Dalton Knecht or even Bronny James. Redick also followed up his comments by suggesting that the player in question may not get as much playing time when the team is healthy again.
The Lakers were without Luka Doncic (calf contusion), Rui Hachimura (groin) and Gabe Vincent (back) on Tuesday, after being without Austin Reaves for three games and starting center Deandre Ayton for two games. As such, his rotation patterns have been erratic, leading to miscommunications on defense and failure to implement schemes.
JJ Redick Rips Lakers
After his team gave up 132 points to the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, including a staggering 62 points in the paint, Redick called out his team for either not paying attention to team meetings or simply not caring enough to give effort.
“We practice this stuff enough,” Redick said of the defensive principles, via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “We review this stuff enough. We show film on this stuff enough that to me, it like comes down to … just making the choice. It’s making the choice.
“There are shortcuts you can take or you can do the hard thing and you can make the second effort or you can sprint back or you can’t. It’s just a choice. And there’s a million choices in a game, and you’re very likely not going to make every choice correctly. But can you make the vast majority of them correctly? It gives you a chance to win.”
Former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart, who continues to be the Lakers’ only bright light on defense, ripped his teammates as well.
“We doing s—,” Smart said of the Lakers defense, via ESPN.
“We’re being real s—ty right now, and it’s showing. … Every team goes through it trying to figure it out. You just pray that it happens early and we can fix it before it’s too late. But yeah, there’s really no defense, no scheme we can do when we’re giving up offensive rebounds in crucial moments like we are, or guys are getting wherever they want on the court.
“And there’s no help, there’s no resistance, there’s no urgency. So, it’s tough. And JJ is right. There’s really nothing he can do. It’s on us.”
Sai Mohan covers the NBA for Heavy.com. Based in Portugal, Sai is a seasoned sports writer with nearly two decades of publishing experience, including bylines at Yardbarker, FanSided’s Hoops Habit, International Business Times, Hindustan Times and more. More about Sai Mohan
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