Lakers News: Why LA Hopes Assistant Coach Can Unlock Cam Reddish's Lottery Upside
Buried somewhat beneath the chaos created when future Hall of Fame guards Damian Lillard and James Harden demanded what would be league-disrupting trades, your Los Angeles Lakers made some quietly excellent moves during the offseason thus far.
The biggest bullet points where the team's re-signings of incumbent restricted free agents Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, plus the re-signing of starting point guard D'Angelo Russell (who, let's be real, is more of a trade chip) and the addition of point guard Gabe Vincent (who should start over Russell). Los Angeles was also widely praised for snagging combo forward Taurean Prince away from the Minnesota Timberwolves.
But one signing that could have a high impact on the future of the team next season went a bit more unheralded than LA's already-semi-unheralded other, bigger moves: the signing of athletic forward Cam Reddish.
Reddish was selected with the tenth overall pick in 2018 out of Duke by the Atlanta Hawks, and was himself a bit of an afterthought as a rookie behind star Blue Devils Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett. The 6'8" swingman has since enjoyed limited stints with the New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers.
Per Jovan Buha of The Athletic, the Lakers are excited for the future of Reddish in LA, in part because the club may have something of a "Reddish whisperer" on its hands.
“I think all the tools are there for Cam,” team president Rob Pelinka said. “We have an assistant coach on Darvin’s staff, Chris Jent, who had Cam when he was with the Atlanta Hawks. He was a member of their staff and had a really good run with him where he had some really meaningful and impactful games in the playoffs where Cam made a difference. I believe in Darvin and his staff to be able to take a guy like that and get him back to playing confident basketball, efficient basketball."
“This was someone who was a (top-10) pick in the draft just a few years ago. So it’s there, and I’m excited for him to show it,” Pelinka continued.
Across 40 contests split between the Knicks and Trail Blazers last season, Reddish averaged 9.7 points on .446/.313/.853 shooting splits, 2.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 1.0 steals a night. He's never been a great three-point shooter, but even that skillset is something Pelinka believes can be honed with Los Angeles, along with the more traditionally-good long-range snipers.
“I think, you know, we’re hopeful to get good shooting years out of Gabe Vincent, Taurean Prince and also Cam Reddish," Pelinka noted. "I think those are guys that LeBron and D’Angelo and our playmakers also, I think are going to create open looks for those guys in the corner. I think with the right spacing and the gravity that AD commands, those guys are going to get open looks.”
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