JJ Redick has gone through the formal interview process to become the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, one of a small pool of remaining possibilities after the team’s first choice—Connecticut’s Dan Hurley—turned them down.
Redick was an NBA player for 15 years, but has no coaching experience. He has made his name in his post-playing days with his popular podcast “The Old Man and the 3,” which he parlayed into a spot on the ABC/ESPN broadcasting team and another podcast, started in March, with Lakers star LeBron James.
But that’s the breadth of his coaching experience. He has never before coached at any level, not in a head job nor as an assistant. Still, he is the favorite to find himself heading up the team in James’ waning NBA years.
The L.A. Times asked a handful of recent coaches about making the transition as a first-timer. Among the group was Derek Fisher, the much-loved Lakers guard who was a steadying force for the team through three championships in the early 2000s.
Fisher had a clear message for Redick: It will be the player relationships that matter.
JJ Redick Has Forged Relationships
That’s not to say that experience and knowledge of Xs and Os count for nothing. But in the NBA, every player has a massive talent level. It is making the strengths and weaknesses work, inside and outside the locker room, that matters. Relationships will determine how Redick does if he gets the Lakers job.
Said Fisher, who played 18 seasons in the NBA and coached the Knicks for two mostly miserable seasons: “If JJ does get the job, JJ has been out of the game for a few years and had an opportunity to be around guys in other settings.
“Like, he has a podcast with LeBron. That didn’t necessarily exist when I was making that transition. But it’s a good example of how different that is for even a guy that may not have previous experience coaching. It’s really the relationships with players that drive your success to a large degree anyway. So, if you’re in a position where you have that to lean on, it does help cushion the experience part. That’s something that the collection of individuals on the staff can help offset the lack of coaching experience.”
Lakers Have Repeatedly Bungled Coaching Hires
No matter what happens with the Lakers job this time around, there has to be some trepidation—on the part of the coach who lands the job, the players, the organization as a whole and certainly its fans.
That’s because the Lakers have fumbled coaching hire after coaching hire since the departure of Phil Jackson in 2011. No coach since has had a tenure lasting longer than three years, and the team has cycled through what will now be eight coaches in 13 years.
Probably the biggest blunder of that span came in 2019, with the hiring of Frank Vogel. The Lakers wanted Tyronn Lue, the former L.A. guard who had been a favorite of James in Cleveland. But the team gave a lowball offer to Lue, and he spurned the Lakers to go to the Clippers.
The Lakers bungled the negotiations, offering Lue a three-year contract worth $18 million. He’d had a six-year, $35 million deal in Cleveland, and rejected the Lakers’ approach.
He later told ESPN: “I just didn’t think I was treated fairly. And I wasn’t just going to accept any offer just to get a job. I just thought I was better than that.”
Indeed, the Lakers hired Vogel, and he led them to the Covid-19 championship in the Orlando bubble, but was gone two years later. The Lakers had a chance to avoid the coaching tumult of the past few years, but blew it.
