JJ Redick?
Oh really?
The Los Angeles LeBrons appear to be getting closer to making a historic signing. bank boss who possesses only one legitimate qualification.
JJ Redick could be next Lakers head coach because he has a podcast with Lebron James.
Period. End of resume.
Redick has never coached at any level above elementary school. He has never been a head coach, assistant coach, college coach or even a high school coach.
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He has never supervised a practice. He has never worked on the sidelines. She has never had that responsibility. She’s never dealt with that pressure.
I’ve coached or assisted in as many NBA games as JJ Redick, and he’s going to coach the Lakers?
Oh really?
Not only would this be one of the strangest Lakers coaching hires in a long list – remember that glorious moment when Pat Riley and Jerry West coached the team? – but it could also be the first talk show-driven head coaching hire in NBA history.
Redick would be hired simply because he is James’ teammate. He would be named boss simply because he is a great co-host.
The Lakers would go from being a basketball team to a buddy movie.
Their long-awaited choice of Redick (virtually all experts consider him the heavy favorite) makes less sense with each syllable.
Of course, the recently released podcast, “Mind the Game,” is great, almost brilliant. It’s a masterclass in basketball strategy, filled with internal hoops talk that reveals a deep respect between its two talking heads.
James likes to split strategy with Redick. James clearly thinks like Redick. They’re so connected that it’s not hard to imagine James believing he could essentially be a co-coach with Redick.
The Lakers certainly seem to be imagining it.
Which apparently could make it a reality.
It’s truly impressive to see how the NBA’s biggest franchise continually works to placate its best player, even though James is probably in the final two years of his career, even though he’s aging and injury-prone. , even to the point of hiring a coach who does not have to sit in front of the bench.
That space was once occupied by two coaches who led the Lakers to five titles each. More recently it was inhabited by a coach who led the Lakers to their last title.
And here comes Redick, who has never played for an NBA or college champion. In 13 professional seasons, his teams reached the Finals once, the conference finals twice and he was part of that Clippers group that blew a three-games-to-one lead against Houston in that historic series in 2015.
I’ve won as many titles as JJ Redick, but is he going to lead the franchise with one of the greatest winning traditions in sports?
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Of course, if the Lakers’ recent history is any indication, he will be little more than a co-leader. He will follow James’ instructions for two years until the King hangs the crown on him, at which point Redick could leave as well.
Ask Byron Scott.
So in reality, signing Redick might not mean much because the Lakers can’t do much until James is gone. They’re not going to win for the next two years anyway, so what does it matter who the sacrificial coach is?
Well, this coach would still be the face and voice of one of the most popular brands in sports, so it does matter. It matters more than just choosing a Facebook friend. It is important to the history, the legacy and all the tradition that the Lakers hope will continue their annual fights to reach the play-in tournament.
To be fair, Redick doesn’t come completely unarmed. He’s smart. Very smart. Eight years ago, he became the first NBA player to host a podcast during the regular season and is currently a sharp and insightful analyst for ESPN.
In fact, judging strictly by his current group, Redick sounds like he’s the perfect coach, and the exact opposite of poor Darvin Ham, a likable figure who was dogged by his inability to make adjustments.
However, in the pod, Redick is talking to a single man and there are bottles of wine between them. What happens when he has to share this knowledge with a dozen men, and between them nothing more than a blackboard and three minutes?
So what happens when this great basketball brain collides with the suspicions of players who wonder who’s really talking?
Udonis Haslem, a league stalwart who spent 20 seasons with the Miami Heat and is currently on their front office, asked the same question on ESPN.
“I’m going to go ahead and say it: If it’s JJ, it’s going to be a cynical locker room,” Haslem said. “You’ll see guys who will say, ‘Is coach going to do a podcast after the game with LeBron?’ You’re going to have a cynical locker room of guys who will look askance at everything JJ says. Because they will wonder: ‘Is this JJ’s message? Or is it LeBron’s message?’”
The assumption here is that James’ current message to the Lakers is clear.
Hire JJ or risk losing him this summer when he cancels his contract. Hire JJ and he will retire as a Laker. Hire JJ, period.
It would be different if James was good at evaluating coaches. He is not. This will be his third coaching change in seven Lakers seasons, LeBron turning on them as quickly as he backs them up.
A coach who won an NBA title was fired. A coach who led the team to the conference finals was fired.
Remember when James tried to get Erik Spoelstra fired from Miami before Spoelstra became one of the best coaches in the NBA?
At the time, Pat Riley turned out to be the first NBA executive to stand up to James. He is still the only one.
However, it’s not too late for Rob Pelinka, who needs to realize that if James retires without winning another championship, then the blame will fall on Pelinka.
This is the perfect time to confront James and tell him no.
No, to a coach who has never coached. No, to a coach who will caddy.
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By saying no, Pelinka will finally call James’ bluff.
Would you really leave your Los Angeles home for two more seasons and start over somewhere else? No way.
Would you really walk away from your business interests because your friend wasn’t hired? Forget it.
It will be the surprise of the year if James doesn’t finish his career as a Laker, and Pelinka needs to worry more about what comes next.
Find a coach not for the end of the LeBron James era, but for the meat of the Anthony Davis era.
Find an experienced assistant with rings and respect. Find someone strong enough to wrest control of the organization from a superstar who has become a stop sign.
That someone is out there, his name is Tyronn Lue, but Steve Ballmer is no fool. So he finds the next Lue. And find him without consulting James.
It’s easier said than done and probably won’t happen.
There is a better chance that they draft Bronny James in the first round and assign him to coach the team.
Wait. That’s a joke. Good?
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This story originally appeared on Los Angeles Times.
