One of the ultimate goals of every franchise is to develop a culture. Teams can have identities, but building a culture is how long-term success is achieved.
Franchise like the Warriors, Celtics and Heat
have a culture that has led to sustained success. The Lakers have not had that for a very long time.
In fact, you’d likely have to go back to the Phil Jackson days to find a Lakers team with a sustained culture. The team fell backwards in some ways into an identity with the 2019-20 team of being bigger, faster and stronger than everyone, but the front office quickly diverted away from that.
Monday’s win over the Blazers, though, was a culture victory. Without Luka Dončić, Austin Reaves and LeBron James, the Lakers went up against a well-rested, intense Blazers side and came away the victor.
It was a victory that featured many of the qualities head coach JJ Redick has preached. The team played hard, but also played smart. They had good championship habits. They didn’t win this game purely on the back of an insane shooting night — though Nick Smith Jr. certainly did have one of those — but on their principles offensively.
There were drives and kicks. Players made the extra pass. They touched the paint and found open players. They turned down good shots for great shots. All of those are things that, sometime over the last year-plus, Redick has spoken about in press conferences.
“I would just say our mentality,” Redick said about his biggest takeaways from the game. “You can’t win in the NBA without stepping on the floor and expecting to win and I thought our guys had that from the start. Then, that confidence and belief and, truly, connectivity in the second half was just awesome to watch. It was just blossoming.”
Getting buy-in from a team like that is difficult in any circumstance. Having them bought in only eight games into a season is incredible work from the coaching staff.
When Redick had his epiphany last season that one of the keys to winning in the modern NBA was playing hard, it was treated as a joke. But as time has passed, he’s been proven right and Monday was a proof of process.
Not only is what he’s preaching working, but his players are echoing those sentiments now, too.
“I think it’s the team chemistry,” Hachimura said of how the Lakers were able to win on Monday. “We had a great training camp and our core is playing hard. That’s never going to change, whoever we play. Especially when LeBron, Luka, AR’s out, we have to play harder. That’s how we’re going to win the game.”
“You learn about the heart of the team,” Smart added on the victory. “We could have easily came in here and quit and allow what happened to us last when we played this team and we decided we didn’t want to do that. This team showed a lot of heart and that resilience that I’ve been talking about. It’s starting to grow and grow even more so we’re going to try to keep going at it.”
Monday was, if nothing else, a proof of process. What Redick and his coaching staff has been saying worked. It’s hard to imagine that anyone on the roster wasn’t a believer at this point, but it should strengthen the belief the team now has in itself and the coaching staff.
For the first time in a very long time, the Lakers have a culture. It’s may not be as embedded as some of the other elite franchises around the league, but there is something tangibly here and it has Redick anticipating what’s to come.
“We got a good group,” Redick said. “I’m excited about this group and what we could potentially be. I’m excited about the group…The bench was awesome tonight. Our huddles were awesome. Just, again, expecting that we’re going to win, I thought our guys had that all night.”
Belief and culture are hard things to conjour up. But the Lakers have both and it doesn’t look like they’ll be going away.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
