Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick was cautioned against taking the job before he officially signed with the team, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
McMenamin reported Monday that “several people close to Redick told him it would be a bad idea to take it.”
Some of the points they made were about the success he was having as a broadcaster with ESPN, while others thought he should wait for a better situation, such as the post-Gregg Popovich San Antonio Spurs down the line perhaps, for his first coaching gig.
Redick admitted he carved out a nice second career for himself. The opportunity to coach the Lakers was something he couldn’t turn down, though.
“I think in response to the people who say, ‘You had such a good thing going on,’ they were correct. I enjoyed three years of retirement. I really did,” he said. “The things that I was able to do in media have not been lost on me … and all the stuff that we did in the podcast space. I’m very proud of it.
“There’s a competitive itch that I have every single day of my life. And no matter how many swings I took, that was not getting satisfied. And so, I felt a real calling in terms of the competitive side.”
There’s no question Redick is taking on a massive challenge.
The 40-year-old has never coached in the NBA and he’s joining a franchise looking to capitalize on what’s left of LeBron James’ playing career. Redick is also inheriting what looks to be a flawed squad—the Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the first round last year—with outside reinforcements in no way guaranteed.
The extent to which Redick took a risk by joining Los Angeles might be slightly overstated, though.
Should his time in Southern California end in disappointing fashion, he could probably land on his feet in another broadcasting capacity. He’s also young enough that he could rebuild his coaching stock to the point where he’s an attractive target for teams again too.
Jason Kidd unsuccessfully attempted an organizational coup in his lone season with the Brooklyn Nets and then had a forgettable four-year run with the Milwaukee Bucks. The Dallas Mavericks gave him another shot in 2021 and he took them to the NBA Finals last season.
The circumstances for Redick actually aren’t that bad. He’s bound to get a lot of credit if the Lakers start winning. Should they continue to fall short of their goal of collecting an 18th title, the blame is likely to fall more so with the front office than the coaching staff.
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