Championship coach calls out Lakers' JJ Redick for public outbursts

Connor Moreno

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Championship coach calls out Lakers' JJ Redick for public outbursts image

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If there's one thing that Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick has separated himself from his coaching colleagues in during his second season, it's been his willingness to be honest about what he thinks of his team on any given night. 

His style of coaching is polarizing, but one person who has been harping on Redick the most is ESPN NBA analyst and former player Kendrick Perkins, who insists Redick is losing the locker room whenever he goes on his rants to local media. 

During Wednesday's NBA Countdown, Perkins asked NBA Finals-winning coach Michael Malone his thoughts about Redick's public outbursts. 

MORE: Lakers' JJ Redick commends Luka Doncic's leadership despite loss to Spurs

What Malone said

"There's no doubt (you have to be careful if you're Redick)," Malone said. "Every coach says it differently, but I'm a firm believer in, you have a lot of those conversations one-on-one in the locker room, in front of your team, you call guys out.

"I know, for myself, going into every season, you want to eliminate as many distractions as possible. Winning is hard in the NBA. And when you have JJ calling out his players, you have LeBron talking about not having the ball enough, Deandre Ayton talking about not having the ball enough, There's a lot of noise around this team right now. And that's cool, they're 4-1 in their last five games... But they haven't beaten a substantial team."

The Lakers, without LeBron James and Austin Reaves, went on to lose to the San Antonio Spurs, 107-91, on Wednesday despite Luka Doncic erupting for 38 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. Los Angeles dropped to 23-12 and sits at the fourth seed in the Western Conference ahead of a home clash against the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday. 

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