JJ Redick details offensive philosophy, plans to use LeBron James as screener more

Play hasn’t started yet for the Lakers, but JJ Redick is already discussing how he’ll optimize LeBron James in his offense this season.

It’s no secret that LeBron James is still good enough to win at the highest level. We just saw him do it with Team USA at the Olympics; he’s a perennial All-Star and made the All-NBA Team last season.

The Lakers have a new coach in JJ Redick, but similar questions about LeBron remain, such as “How can you optimize LeBron offensively and get him off the ball more?”

Redick addressed this topic during his podcast appearance on the latest episode of The Lowe Post.

“I think when people here that in regards to LeBron playing off the ball, it doesn’t mean he’s not going to have the ball. LeBron is one of the smartest players and I think using him as a screener and finding ways to get him the ball in specific spots on the floor where he can be a facilitator and a scorer, that’s what I mean by being off the ball. I don’t mean LeBron is going to walk the ball up and get ball-pressured at 94 feet and he’s going to run a high pick and roll every time. That’s what I mean. That’s not how we’re going to play.”

LeBron off the ball is constantly discussed due to how much of a toll on-ball play takes on him. Part of that discussion is also on whether he’s willing to take less on-ball responsibility and how his play affects his backcourt players, who often want/need the ball in their hands to be effective.

Redick still wants LeBron with the ball in his hands often but utilized a bit more as a screener and passer to create better looks for others due to his gravity.

“I think in terms of what the offense looks like, there will be a decent amount of movement. The shot profile will hopefully improve. We’ve talked about ways to create more paint touches. We’ve talked about ways to shoot more threes. We’ve talked about some of the leeway that you have to give certain players with their mid-range shots – whether that’s in the post or isolation – but, hopefully, the shot profile improves. I think from a possession standpoint, one of the margins this team created last year and, historically with this group, has been free throws. Outside of that, there hasn’t been a lot of margin creation so we’re going to try to create some margins, one of which is we’re really going to emphasize offensive rebounding, corner crashes.”

Last year, LeBron averaged 7.4 assists and if Anthony Davis is considered the offensive hub, we may see the King used differently this season than we did under Darvin Ham and Frank Vogel.

This is all still very theoretical, given that the Lakers have not started training camp and we’ve heard plenty of other times that things were changing with LeBron, only to look pretty much the same once the games that matter begin.

Maybe things will be different this time around, given the perceived respect LeBron and Redick have for each other and the fact that while he doesn’t play like it, James is getting older and whatever on-ball responsibilities can be taken away from him is probably best so that he can pace himself through the 82-game NBA season.

You can follow Edwin on Twitter at @ECreates88.