JJ Redick is excited to have Quincy Olivari in the Lakers organization

The Los Angeles Lakers picked up their first preseason win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night. After trailing in the fourth quarter, the reserves led a major comeback that had an unlikely catalyst in uncovered rookie guard Quincy Olivari.

Olivari led the way in the fourth with 11 points, five rebounds and two assists while knocking down three 3-pointers, so the Lakers outscored the Bucks by 13 points in that final period. Afterwards, head coach JJ Redick had high praise for Olivari, saying he showed the blueprint for what he expects from some of his role players via Spectrum SportsNet:

“Ray Allen always talked about how every time you step on the floor it’s basically a tryout. There are always people watching you. There are guys who earned a roster spot for their play in Summer League, for their play in training camp, a preseason game, guys who get rotation minutes in garbage time in a regular season game. That's why I don't take what this group did lightly. Really impressive. I thought Quincy (Olivari) in particular completely changed the game. And to me, and I told our guys this later, what he did is the blueprint for what we ask of some of our players: just occupying the full court, being disruptive and taking time off the shot clock gain weight. I thought he implemented exactly what we wanted from someone in his position and we challenged a number of players and they did well to varying degrees. But I haven’t seen it that good at Quincy until tonight.”

Redick makes the point that with players like Olivari, someone is always watching and you have to take advantage of every second on the pitch. Olivari is unlikely to make the Lakers' roster, but such performances could lead to him potentially getting a two-way contract either in LA or elsewhere.

And this performance wasn't a surprise to either Redick or the Lakers, as Olivari was outstanding throughout the offseason:

“So he has experience running cross country. So he's in incredible shape at all times. When we did our full conditioning in September, he won almost every race. In August and September, when we had our easy days and did our target practice, I think he got the highest score in almost every target practice we had. He takes the game very seriously. He is a player where I talk about the care factor. He is a player who values ​​doing it right and making any vision you give him a reality. I'm glad he's in our program. That's really me. We really value him as a coaching staff.”

Redick continued his praise, noting how the way Olivari behaves and goes about his business causes people to respond well to him:

“Quincy, he’s been in our gym for a few months now, aside from Summer League. He has an infectious spirit and soul. It's not that he's a super talkative, boisterous guy, but he just carries himself well, he carries himself with purpose, his work ethic is really high and I think people respond to that. And when you have someone who cares, who is a good teammate, who does the right things, and then he comes into a game and walks the entire field with a bloody mouth and changes the entire dynamic for us as a team, it's easy to respond to it as a teammate and as a coaching staff. And I thought he just lit a fire for us.”

Whether this could lead to the Lakers opting to retain Olivari remains to be seen. All three of their two-way contracts are for Colin Castleton, Armel Traore and Christian Koloko, so they would have to release one of them to make room if the franchise wants to go that route, but it might be worth it.

Quincy Olivari talks about the Lakers' fourth-quarter comeback

Quincy Olivari was the big talking point of the night following the Lakers' comeback win over the Bucks, and the guard talked about what was going through his mind as he took the lead in the fourth quarter.

The undrafted guard said he told himself to “just keep going” and focused on keeping his energy up to give JJ Redick his first win as a head coach.

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