Los Angeles Lakers GM Rob Pelinka & head coach JJ Redick are excited to watch third-year guard Max Christie develop going forward (re-signed for four years, $32 million over the summer).
(via Los Angeles Lakers):
Reporter: “You guys came to agreement with Max Christie on a long-term deal pretty early in the free agency process, what did you see over his first couple of seasons that made you guys comfortable giving him that contract and what’s the expectations for him this season after being in-and-out of the rotation this first couple years?”
Pelinka: “A lot of it had to do with JJ’s vision for how this team’s going to play. Some of the things he’s talked about, which are supported by sort of our data science team and the coaches upstairs have been vigorously going through is making adjustments to things like corner crashing and trying to win the extra possession game. I think Max Christie is sort of the prototype player of a 3-and-D wing that can defend, pick up with pressure full court, which is another thing JJ’s talked about in his system.
“He can make corner 3s I think at a high clip, and he’s very long and athletic. So, I think he will be a guy that’s going to help us win the extra possession game by crashing. The way he played, the way he’s built, really aligned with JJ’s philosophy. And then, just his character. He’s in the gym every day. He is probably one of the hardest workers on our team. And so, those are things we’re going to lean into when we choose people that are going to be part of our program.”
Redick: “I think to win now in today’s NBA, you need seven or eight players that really impact winning. That doesn’t mean seven or eight superstars that need the ball in their hands. Max Christie is going to be a guy in his career who has a high level of impact winning for a lot of those reasons that Rob talked about and he’s been fully bought in to all of the player development stuff. Jalen Hood-Schifino has been fully bought in. These guys have gotten better significantly over the last two months, so we’re really excited to see them compete in training camp and in the preseason.”
