Lakers News: JJ Redick Proposes Insane Statistical Goal for LA, Then Walks It Back

But was he on to something?

Oct 4, 2024; Palm Desert, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick reacts against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the second half at Acrisure Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images / Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

First-year Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick, long recognized as one of the league's premiere shooters during his 15 seasons as an NBA pro, is looking to re-emphasize 3-point shooting and off-ball movement with his approach to the team this season.

During a postgame presser on Sunday, Redick claimed that he wanted the Lakers to take 50 3-point shots a game in 2024-25.

JJ Redick discussed his strategy for the final offensive possession, shared his insights on the starting five's first-half performance, and gave his thoughts on the moments when Bronny and LeBron played together on the court. pic.twitter.com/M5cDK18KDl

— Spectrum SportsNet (@SpectrumSN) October 7, 2024

The Lakers went 11-of-40 from long range in their 118-114 preseason loss to the Phoenix Suns at Palm Desert's Acrisure Arena. Redick was clearly encouraged by that 3-point shooting frequency, despite the lackluster conversion rate (27.5 percent).

“If you look at it, for us and our group, to take 40 threes in the game, that’s promising,” Redick said. “We can get it up to 50, hopefully, But 40 is good.”

It turns out, however, that what would be a record-setting 3-point attempt sum wasn't quite what Redick actually wants to see.

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Per Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Redick on Tuesday clarified that he was merely being sarcastic when he put forth that hoped-for total of 50 attempts, which would be an NBA record by nearly five tries a n.

For context, the two teams that shot the most triples during the 2023-24 regular season both faced each other in the NBA Finals. The Celtics took the most 3-point attempts of any team, with 42.5 — and they won it all in a dominant 16-3 playoff run. The Dallas Mavericks' 39.5 3-point attempts was the second-most of any squad. Seven of the league's 10 most frequent 3-point shooters at least made it as far as the play-in tournament.

The current two records, for posterity, are held by the 2018-19 and 2019-20 Houston Rockets, who took 45.38 and 45.29 triple tries under an analytics-heavy Daryl Morey front office regime. Last year's Lakers took "just" 31.4 triple tries (connecting on 37.7 percent of those looks), good for the 28th-most frequent long range tries, above only the Orlando Magic and Denver Nuggets — both of whom leaned on ball sharing and looks at the rim to counteract the lackluster 3-point shooting.

Los Angeles boasts a few players who were solid shooters last year, led by point guard D'Angelo Russell (a 41.5 percent shooter on 7.5 long range looks in 2023-24)(. Combo forward LeBron James (a 41 percent 3-point shooter on 6.9 triple tries last year) and shooting guard Austin Reaves (a 36.7 percent shooter on 5.1 attempts from beyond the arc) were also respectable long range shooters last year.

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