Four days later Dorian Finney-Smith joins Lakers,, JJ Redick »Mocked with something that his new player had said, using the kind of disdainful voice that a teenager uses when he repeats something he thought stupid.
A day later, following the LakersDuring the victory against the Hawks, Redick described his performance in the first half of “horrible”. And last week after Lakers dominated the CelticsRedick, during a compliment, said that the two Finney-Smith’s shooting attempts “gave the impression that he had never touched a basketball ball before”.
A little hard, right?
“Yeah,” said Finney-Smith. “I like it.”
Eh?
“I don’t know, I respect people who are more honest with me,” Finney-Smith told Times. “This is how we can say that they really care about it. And that’s my mom.
“… She doesn’t play. She doesn’t.
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There is no edulcoration with Finney-Smith, a player who helped transform the identity of the Lakers during his first month with the team. And nothing that the coach can say can compete with the texts he will receive from his mother after some bad consecutive matches.
“She said that I felt like I was full of energy because that’s something you can control. She will tell me, “said Finney-Smith laughing Saturday after the Lakers beat the Warriors. “…. Like now, she will say ‘you have no offensive rebound.’
She is serious. At least, Redick said that some of his slanders were a joke.
“It’s easier to have a guy in the locker room to whom we can do that. Because I actually think it’s good for the group. The group knows that I am obviously joking. He knows I’m kidding, ”said Redick. “We played together, it was brief. But we both grew up in Virginia. We both played basketball in a public high school. We both played for (the AAU coach) Boo Williams. We have lived as a shared experience.
“I know he is, I know how he is wired and he can bear it. And all of this is very fun. I think he knows from the first day what we expect from him. And he did it at a very high level. “
While the deadline for NBA exchanges approached February 6, Finney-Smith’s impact on the Lakers was both tangible and intangible, the veteran giving the Lakers Defensive solidity and three -point shot in the field and galvanizing presence in their locker room where he has already become favorite.
It is a model for all the future actions of the Lakers, finding a player who corresponds to the style they want to play and the culture they are trying to create.
“The ultimate glue guy,” said Shake Milton.
The defendant of Finney-Smith Thursday against Jayson Tatum and his work on Saturday against the Warriors gave the Lakers things that they simply did not have before exchanging against him. He aggressively closes the three -point shots. He tries several times to release the ball when he protects an attacker. It requires little maintenance in attack, is always ready to shoot and always ready to retreat and defend when it does not touch.
And he is never silent – he calls reports, encourages his teammates, everything unless silent.
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“I try to be an energy donor. So I don’t be silent. I’m just talking. And I’m going to make sure you hear my voice as much as possible, “said Finney-Smith. “And it can’t be (LeBron James) And (Anthony Davis) who speaks. They are the ones who have to make the decisions. They have a lot (to manage). Thus, the rest of us can be energy donors.
And it’s contagious.
“The speech is really contagious and I think of tenacity. This is exactly what I wanted to come a few weeks ago when I talked about the leadership component. Yeah. We are all leaders, “said Redick. …”Max ChristieIt is not because you are 21 years old that you cannot lead in one way or another. And for me, it’s as if Dorian directed. Its version of the leader is different from (Austin Reaves‘) version of the leader, (which) seems different from the LeBron leader’s version. And I think the most important thing is that … it is not a shadow for anyone else. It is not a shadow for anyone else in the NBA. But Doe is comfortable with whom he is – like the player, the person. And according to my experience … The people who are like that, people are attracted to that. People want to follow this. This is what Doe is.
James said Finney-Smith was “exactly what we needed.” Reaves said the veteran was simply “fantastic”.
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Since its beginnings on December 31, the Lakers have 51 points better than their opponents in the minutes of Finney-Smith-the best note of the Lakers-even if five players have played more minutes.
And this is only part of its value.
“We could forget the basketball side. His energy, his personality. From the day he entered the locker room, you can say that he had a winning mentality first. So every time you bring a guy like that, he and Shake are both the same. They care about winning and everything they can do to help us win, “said Reaves. “So when you bring the positive of what it does on the basketball field, it makes things even better. Long and versatile defender, capable of making open shots, he plays the game in the right way. You can continue again and again, but I think what I appreciate the most about him is his personality.
“He is an altruistic guy, he cares about everyone, he wants to win and, overall, he is a very very good guy.”
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This story was initially published in Los Angeles Times.
