In Las Vegas last summer, a veteran NBA coach spoke about the Lakers’ decision to hire JJ Redick noting that nothing can prepare someone — an assistant, broadcaster, whoever — for the massive volume of decisions a head coach needs to make on a nightly basis.
Most of the choices are relatively small — what play to call out of a timeout, when to use a challenge, how to adjust a pick-and-roll coverage.
When it comes to decisions, that’s a lot of the job.
But Friday night with the Lakers having lost four of their last five games, Redick went down a less common road. He made a big choice.
Following a benching Wednesday in a loss to Memphis, Redick moved point guard D’Angelo Russell to the second unit in favor of Cam Reddish, who wasn’t even in the rotation three games ago.
Decisions like that are fraught with second-guessing, the kind of moves fans can hold against a coach like they did a …