Just a few days ago, Lakers head coach JJ Redick was praising starting point guard D’Angelo Russell as one of his team’s “vocal leaders,” but on Wednesday night, Russell was just making Redick feel vocal.
Redick benched Russell for the majority of the second half of the Lakers’ 131-114 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies before throwing him completely under the bus after the game, calling out Russell for a lack of competitiveness and attention to detail.
“Just level of compete, attention to detail, some of the things we’ve have talked with him about for a couple of weeks,” Redick said postgame when asked why he benched Russell. “And at times, he’s been really good with that stuff and other times, it’s just reverting back to certain habits.”
But while Redick said the benching “wasn’t a punishment,” his reaction prior to it (as captured by the broadcast) certainly made it clear which habits of Russell he wasn’t happy with. House of Highlights found the moment on the broadcast right before Russell was sat down for good, showing Redick go absolutely nuclear on his poor chair in reaction to the guard’s final attempt of the game:
Redick is already quite possibly the most emotionally expressive Lakers coach on the sidelines I’ve seen in my more than 10 years covering the team, but this is a lot even by his standard of investment.
It also quite clearly wasn’t the only miscue that upset Redick. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, but Russell’s lack of effort had been on full display for a few possessions, as captured by my friend @pickuphoop on Twitter. Watch Russell in the clip below if you want to see him take a few lazy shots while barely paying attention on defense before making his coach go ballistic and take a timeout to bench him:
Russell has never been known for his attention to detail on defense or shot selection, so if Redick is getting this irritated with those habits just eight games in, it’s either going to be a long season for both of them… or perhaps it will finally be time for the Lakers to consummate their nearly two-year quest to trade Russell.
