Mavericks vs. Lakers | Head Coach JJ Redick full practice press conference (2.24.25)

Did you guys have everybody today for practice? Yeah, everybody was good. You haven't been in that situation a lot this year. Were you bad, everybody? What were you able to do today? In terms of... I mean, are you still installing stuff? Are you... No, no. We did some situation bombs with some endgame stuff. Like five situation bombs. So, two defensive, three offensive scenarios. Which, you know, we would be doing anyways, even if we didn't have new players. Those things, you have to constantly sharpen it up, tweak, practice, all that stuff. So, we worked on that. And then, a lot of today was just prep for Dallas. Did you ever, like, as a player, podcaster, broadcaster, even coach, did you ever watch the game? As a player, I did. Yeah, yeah. As a broadcaster and podcaster, no. As a coach, yeah, you're psychotic about it. You're psychotic about it. I wake up every morning and I say, alright, who's playing who today? I need to know. I need to know. I think coaches, you know, I remember being in Philly with, like, Jim O'Brien and Brett and all those guys. And, you know, as a player, you're obviously looking at the standings, but, like, I don't know who else is playing tonight. I know we have a game and that's all they would talk about all day long. Who was Cleveland playing tonight? Was there a chance Cleveland may lose? We're trying to get the three seed, you know. Yeah, coaches are like that. This is the first time you guys get to play Max to his growth with you guys this season. You know, again, Max, since the day I took the job, was someone that I was very high on. Really, him and Jalen were the first two guys that we, like, got our hands on because we weren't with the summer league team all that much. So, Bronnie and DK were kind of with that group, and Max and Jalen were with us in summer league and just feel very invested for the rest of my life in his career. And he's someone who throughout our time together was given more opportunity and became someone who starred in his role. He has, you know, a lot of freedom in Dallas that, you know, frankly he didn't have here. At some point, he would have had it here, but I'm really happy to see him succeeding. There were cameras in the locker room after the win down there that caught some of what you said and captured your intensity for that game fairly well. Seemed like you were at least a sliver of it. You guys are going to play a lot of big games here in this stretch. Is that a realistic demand? That energy level, that sort of level of big game feel, can that be captured tonight? And how have you guys done with that so far this season? I think more times than not we've done really well. There's certainly a feel to it of when to press and when not to press. I would say for me personally, I'm watching Dallas stuff yesterday, obviously watching some of the games. My kids had their semifinals and finals in a travel tournament that I was at. I spent a lot of time watching basketball yesterday and I couldn't wait to come to work today. I can't wait for tomorrow. I will be excited for Wednesday. For me personally, I know I'm doing the right thing right now. This is what I thought it would be. My own sustainability, I'm not worried about that. I think as a coach you just have to gauge the energy of the group and the vibe of the group and know when to press and when not to press. We're preparing. Our guys recognize we're in a dogfight for playoff seating right now and we're preparing for the playoffs and everything we do over the next 27 games. What's another thing that's been rewarding you as a basketball player? It speaks to me in terms of being a former player. I think part of what makes him brilliant is that he makes the game easy for everyone else. I didn't get to experience that as much as I would have liked as his teammate. But he would be somebody that I would just love playing with. Coach, since the injury trade, the team has been top rated for training. How has the team been able to excel defensively even after losing a guy like Aidan? Again, just team defense. That was something that we had preached and talked about throughout the year. Not just when we had AD. Our group is committed to it right now. We have some good defenders. We have some really good defenders. I think in the NBA, OKC has a bunch of really good on-ball guys. They still play a team defense. You have to play a team defense and you have to rely on each other. We're doing that right now. Along those lines, in the past 18 games, you guys have the best defense in the league. That's been with AD and Max, with just Max, without either of them, with Luca. You guys have gone through different identity shifts with AD and Max, period. What's been the through line on both sides of the ball? Despite personnel and even playing different styles, you guys have still been top. Just playing hard and competing. You're trying to capture that every night. Again, this is a team sport and the group has to be right. I think more times than not, our group has just been right with our competitive spirit. The game plan shifts and what you're trying to do offensively or defensively may alter game to game. To me, it's less of a system as it is adaptability and concepts and then going about executing those concepts within the framework of the system.