JJ Redick placed the blame for Nuggets loss on his players, and he's right

JJ Redick is a straight shooter. If there's anything we've learned from the early stages of his head coaching career, he's not afraid to tell like it is.

Regardless of how it makes you feel, Redick will speak his mind. Good or bad, the Los Angeles Lakers leader is always candid and direct. And respectably, he keeps that same energy toward everyone: Whether it's organizational centerpiece LeBron James or the 15th man on the roster, his demeanor doesn't change.

So when Redick met with the media on Monday to address Los Angeles' recent 127-102 blowout home loss to the Denver Nuggets, he wasn't about to sugarcoat things. Openly (and justifiably), he questioned his group's effort, or lack thereof:

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JJ Redick placed the blame for the Lakers' loss to the Nuggets on his players, and he raised valid points

Redick prefaced his comments by stating he believes everyone has room for improvement (himself included). Then, the 40-year-old tore into his squad for not playing with energy, admitting that only so much can be done from the sideline in those situations.

"I can joystick it [as a coach] as much as I want," Redick told reporters (h/t ESPN's Dave Mcmenamin). "But if you’re not competing and you’re not playing and just not participating in the game, there’s not a whole lot I can do."

Redick did go on to make clear that he views the Denver performance as a blip on the radar. He argued that was an outlier performance, highlighting how the Lakers have been battle-tested this season and mostly prevailed, overcoming plenty of obstacles thus far.

"We’ve been punched in the mouth so much in games," Redick stated. "We’ve been down and came back, we’ve started slow, we’ve started strong. We’ve had adversity in nearly every game. To me, that stretch of the third quarter was an aberration. That's not who we are."

Be that as it may, Redick's evaluation is fair. The Lakers ultimately lost by 25 despite taking a six-point lead to halftime in front of their home crowd at Crypto.com Arena. It was a tale of two halves for Los Angeles, and if the Lakers are going to get where the team and its fans want to go this season, Redick is going to have to feel empowered enough to make clear that this sort of effort is unacceptable.