One of the biggest points of contention both internally and externally for the Lakers last season was the playing time, or lack thereof, for Max Christie. Despite impressing in brief cameos, Christie was relegated to the bench by the end of the season.
While Darvin Ham may not have been impressed enough by Christie, the Lakers were. After reports that the franchise considered him part of the young core during the coaching search, they then quickly inked him to four-year deal in free agency.
Most importantly, though, is that they hired a coach who already sounds like a big believer in Christie.
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’ll have in the league not just next season but for years to come.
“To win now in today’s NBA, you need seven or eight players that really impact winning,” Redick said. “Max 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’s been fully bought in to all of the player development stuff.”
Even before the workouts at the facility this summer, Christie linked up Redick in Las Vegas during Summer League for workouts. That first impression clearly left a mark on Redick and it definitely doesn’t sound like he’s going to be left out of the rotation at least to start this year.
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.
“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 threes at a high clip and he’s very long and athletic,” Pelinka said. “So, I think he will be a guy that’ll help us win the extra possession game by crashing [the glass]. Just the way he plays, the way he’s built really aligned with JJ’s philosophy.
“And then just his character. He’s in the gym every day. He’s probably one of the hardest workers on our team. Those are things we’re going to lean into when we choose people who are going to be a part of our program.”
Ultimately, this is a lot of praise for a virtually unproven player. While he’s 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.
And, as has become crystal clear, he’ll have plenty of opportunity to do it.
