One of the biggest points of contention both internally and externally for the\u00a0Lakers\u00a0last season was the playing time, or lack thereof, for Max Christie. Despite impressing in brief cameos, Christie was\u00a0relegated to the bench by the end of the season.<\/p>\n
While Darvin Ham may not have been impressed enough by Christie, the Lakers were. After\u00a0reports that the franchise considered him part of the young core\u00a0during the coaching search, they then\u00a0quickly inked him to four-year deal in free agency.<\/p>\n
Most importantly, though, is that they hired a coach who already sounds like a big believer in Christie.<\/p>\n
Despite only seeing him during workouts this summer, JJ Redick already sounds like huge fan of Christie. In his media day presser on Wednesday, Redick gushed about Christie and the role he\u2019ll have in the league not just next season but for years to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo win now in today\u2019s NBA, you need seven or eight players that really impact winning,\u201d Redick said. \u201cMax Christie is going to be a guy in his career who has a high level of impact winning for a lot of the reasons Rob talked about. He\u2019s been fully bought in to all of the player development stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even before the workouts at the facility this summer, Christie\u00a0linked up Redick in Las Vegas during Summer League\u00a0for workouts. That first impression clearly left a mark on Redick and it definitely doesn\u2019t sound like he\u2019s going to be left out of the rotation at least to start this year.<\/p>\n
Not only is Redick a fan, though, but so is vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka, who had plenty of great things to say about Christie as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Max Christie is sort of the prototype player of a 3-and-D wing that can defend, pick up with pressure full court \u2013 which is another thing JJ\u2019s talked about in his system \u2013 he can make corner threes at a high clip and he\u2019s very long and athletic,\u201d Pelinka said. \u201cSo, I think he will be a guy that\u2019ll help us win the extra possession game by crashing [the glass]. Just the way he plays, the way he\u2019s built really aligned with JJ\u2019s philosophy.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then just his character. He\u2019s in the gym every day. He\u2019s probably one of the hardest workers on our team. Those are things we\u2019re going to lean into when we choose people who are going to be a part of our program.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ultimately, this is a lot of praise for a virtually unproven player. While he\u2019s a promising prospect that the franchise believes in, this is going to be a really crucial season for Christie to make good in all the belief in him.<\/p>\n
And, as has become crystal clear, he\u2019ll have plenty of opportunity to do it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One of the biggest points of contention both internally and externally for the\u00a0Lakers\u00a0last season was the playing time, or lack thereof, for Max Christie. Despite impressing in… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":5799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n