On Thursday the Los Angeles Lakers did what so many have expected since their coaching search began. The legendary franchise who’ve won 17 NBA championships (second to the Celtics 18) hired former player J.J. Redick as their 29th head coach and fourth sideline stalker in six seasons.
The move comes on the heels of Redick and Lakers superstar LeBron James unveiling a podcast called “Mind The Game” in which they match basketball IQ and acumen for all to hear.
As much as James does his best to separate himself from the noise that he played a vital role in the hiring process, he can’t.
JJ Redick Has No Experience
In many ways it looks as if the Lakers offered the job to UCONN head coach Danny Hurley knowing good and well he wasn’t going to leave a place where he’s won back-to-back championships to come join the circus that’s become the Lakers.
That way they could immediately turn their attention to Redick, whom James has pushed for the job in his own subtle way.
It’s almost seems like a hey we tried, but it didn’t work and now Redick is locked in for four years, despite having no coaching experience.
Redick Has His Work Cut Out For Him
Speaking on “The Odd Couple” on Fox Sports Radio, Chris Broussard sounded like someone who thinks the Redick hiring actually sets the Lakers back.
“It’s very possible the Lakers take a step backward… Is JJ Redick going ti survive that?”
That’s something that could happen, the team took a huge step back this past season under longtime assistant Darvin Ham whose first head coaching job was with the Lakers. The team went from the Western Conference Finals to a first-round exit, despite both playoff losses coming to the Denver Nuggets, it was still a step back.
Playing in the very strong Western Conference that features the aforementioned Nuggets, Dallas Mavericks (who just represented the conference in the Finals), OKC Thunder (top seed in the West), Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Clippers, Sacramento Kings, New Orleans Pelicans, Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies, the Lakers will have their work cut out for them. And now they’ll be doing so with a new and very inexperienced head coach.
LA Times Columnist Bill Plaschke Goes In On Hire
“An NBA team in most need of strong leadership just hired a coach who has never been a head coach, assistant coach, or any kind of coach.”
An NBA team desperate for a culture creator just hired a head coach who has never led a group of athletes at any level above youth basketball.”
“An NBA team that just lost its share of the record for most championships — the newly crowned Boston Celtics now have 18, damn it! — just hired a coach that has never been involved with an NBA champion.”
Redick Jumps The Line Like Steve Nash
The hiring of Redick is eerily similar to when the Brooklyn Nets inexplicably hired Steve Nash to coach the triumvirate of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. Despite the talent assembled, Nash was out of his league having never coached before. That along with a myriad of other factors caused that Big 3 to never flourish, but Nash’s inexperience as a sideline stalker was the biggest glaring weakness.
That will likely be the Lakers biggest issue with Redick despite having LeBron James there. Diagramming plays and showing his basketball IQ and acumen on a podcast is much different than actually having to do it in a heated game during crunch time. That’s very likely where Redick’s lack of experience will show.
While Redick was the Lakers choice, there are so many other deserving assistants and former head coaches around the league. Celtics assistant Sam Cassell has been an assistant for 15 seasons and just helped them win their league-leading 18th title. Former head coaches Kenny Atkinson and James Borrego are proven coaches who are also available.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg of qualified coaches who were overlooked for Redick. Let’s see how this goes and who’s actually coaching the Lakers this upcoming season.
