JJ Redick lastly made his means into the NBA teaching world as he was formally launched by the Lakers on Monday. Nonetheless, the brand new purple and gold tactician wasn’t going to get by means of this press convention with out addressing the massive elephant within the room: his inexperience as a head coach.
Nonetheless, it was the league’s tv analyst who was fast to say this elementary omission on his résumé. “I’ve by no means coached within the NBA earlier than,” Redick acknowledged the plain to get it out of the way in which. “I don’t know for those who guys have heard that.”
JJ, who occurred to show 40 years of age proper on his first day on the job, retired from his 15-year profession again in 2021. His time as a basketball participant actually took off when he grew to become a star at Duke College and finally was drafted by the Orlando Magic in 2006. He went onto rating the Twentieth-most three-pointers in NBA historical past.
“This job was concerning the Lakers… and it was about LeBron James and Anthony Davis, two of the best gamers ever… I’ve gotten to do some superb stuff in my life… this may be one of the best.”
JJ Redick on taking the Lakers job 🙌 pic.twitter.com/4WdfDoLmt0
— NBA (@NBA) June 24, 2024
By the years, he remained related to basketball by means of a number of media shops like ESPN and ABC, and even his personal podcast referred to as Thoughts the Sport co-hosting alongside LeBron James, who’s now his pupil.
Alongside him was the workforce’s vice chairman of basketball operations and normal supervisor Rob Pelinka, who supported Redick by explaining that “NBA head-coaching expertise and NBA expertise aren’t mutually unique issues.” Based on the VP, the previous capturing guard will probably be given the shot to be a really modern chief.
“I feel in business basically and in sports activities in particular, generally it’s simple to get caught up in patterns of being in a sea of sameness and doing the identical factor that everyone else is doing,” Pelinka stated throughout the introduction. “However once we launched into this search, it was actually necessary for us to see if we might do one thing a bit of bit completely different. And shortly in our conversations with JJ, it was very evident that he had a singular perspective and philosophy on basketball and the way it’s to be taught.”
Based on ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Redick agreed to a four-year deal final week, after UConn males’s basketball coach Dan Hurley turned down a six-year, $70 million provide from the Lakers. “Throughout that complete [courtship of Hurley], at no level was my ego or emotions harm or bruised in any means,” JJ stated. “Dan Hurley is a two-time nationwide champion at UConn. I’m a two-time 55 Swish League champion within the third- and fourth-grade division. Like, I understood, you already know? I understood.”
Redick revealed that it was Rick Carlisle who “planted the seed” in him to contemplate teaching after which once more throughout a Raptors interview
Based on the 15-year NBA profession participant, he by no means actually thought of being a coach till Rick Carlisle, who skilled him in Dallas, “planted the seed” for him to contemplate this line of labor. Nonetheless, it wasn’t till the Toronto franchise referred to as him up for an interview for a training place final yr, that he actually opened as much as the thought.
“It was actually after I interviewed for the Toronto job final yr that I knew that I wished to be a head coach within the NBA,” Redick shared. “And so the final yr, I spent loads of time speaking to coaches, speaking with GMs, selecting their brains. … I simply felt like that is what I’m purported to be doing.”
As for his podcast with LeBron, which simply made its debut three months in the past, should be suspended. The oldest participant within the NBA, who has referred to JJ as his “good friend,” determined to take care of his distance throughout his interview course of.
“In the meanwhile, and hopefully it’s a really, very very long time, I’m excommunicated from the content material house,” Redick assured, clear that his solely goals are to win titles in Los Angeles. “So there will probably be no podcast. … I’m performed with podcasting for now.”
