Ziaire Williams On JJ Redick’s ‘Audit’ Of Lakers’ 11-2 Record: “You Would Think We Almost Last”
· Yahoo Sports
The Los Angeles Lakers are tied for the best record in the NBA at 11-2, but head coach JJ Redick isn’t satisfied with what he has seen from his team. Redick shared at practice on Friday that the Lakers had spent time earlier in the day auditing their start to the 2026-27 season.
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“Just wanted to take today as more of an audit,” Redick said, via Infanity TV. “We gave our analytics guys a bunch of stuff that we had questions about. We reviewed that for about an hour and a half this morning in our coaches’ meeting. Had a presentation with the players. What we’re doing well, where we need to be better, spend some time on the court walking through stuff.”
The Lakers getting three days off between games meant this was the right time to review. Despite having this impressive record, Redick revealed the players were very receptive to the negative feedback. The 42-year-old was then unsurprisingly asked what exactly this process was like.
“We talked a little bit on the road trip, talked a lot yesterday,” Redick said. “I had about 20 things. Greg [St. Jean] and Ty [Abbott] and Nate [McMillan] had about 20 things on the defensive end. Our analytics guys put together a 21-page presentation that we went over this morning, and we filtered through our offensive stuff based on our identities of who we want to be offensively: organized, unselfish, advantage-based.”
“Then we went through the stats on that, and then we went to our defense,” Redick continued. “And our three identities: organized, physical as f***, and relentless. And we went through the stats based on those things. And so it’s a very clean thing. We’ve done that for the last two and a half seasons. It’s just everything that we present to the team lines up with who we’re trying to be.”
The Lakers’ 121.6 offensive rating is the best in the NBA, while their 113.6 defensive rating ranks 18th. You’d imagine there were far more negatives pointed out regarding the defense than the offense. Lakers forward Ziaire Williams was asked about this audit at practice, and it appears the coaching staff didn’t hold back.
“It was good,” Williams said, via Infanity TV. “A lot of good things and a lot of things to clean up. Being first in the West with the stuff that they showed us, you would think we almost last… Got to keep us honest. But it’s good to know that there’s still room for growth, as good as we’re doing. So yeah, it was great. Hopefully we’ll clean that up on next game against Phoenix.”
Redick and his staff wouldn’t want these players to get carried away. They have deservedly been showered with praise with this hot start, but need to keep up the good work.
While Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler have dominated headlines, Williams has done pretty well, too. The 25-year-old is averaging 11.0 points, 2.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game in 2026-27. He has been ridiculously efficient, shooting 56.3% from the field and 46.5% from beyond the arc.
The Lakers signed Williams to a one-year, $3 million deal, and that’s looking like a good piece of business right now. He was primarily brought in for his defense, and has fared better on offense than you’d have expected.
With Reaves suffering a heel injury in Wednesday’s 123-111 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, the Lakers might need more offensively from Williams. The star guard isn’t expected to miss too much time, though, as Redick revealed he is day-to-day.
Reaves is likely to be missing when the Lakers face the Phoenix Suns next at Mortgage Matchup Center on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET. They’ll be looking to make it eight straight wins that night, and you’d fancy their chances against the 5-6 Suns.