After the Los Angeles Lakers decided to part ways with head coach Darvin Ham, they made an outside-the-box hiring to replace him with JJ Redick.
Redick has never coached at any level other than his kids’ youth games, and that is a big risk for a team looking to win championships right away while LeBron James and Anthony Davis are still playing at a high level.
Despite the lack of coaching experience though, Redick is still known to have a very high basketball IQ, as he showed in his time with the media.
In an interview with Petros and Money on AM 570 LA Sports, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss spoke on the hiring of Redick for the first time and why she has already been impressed with him and his staff:
“We wanted to kind of think a different way. Really, he’s got a vision. I’m not comfortable talking about the basketball stuff, but we were looking for a candidate that would bring something different. And really invest in developing young players. JJ is the right person for us. Again, I just want to work to really speak for itself. So I don’t want to hype it and say it’s gonna be a home run. We have to give him time to establish what he wants to establish. I’m really impressed with his staff. Right now, it’s not mandatory for the players to come in and practice but players are coming in and working out. The coaching staff with Nate McMillan and Scotty Brooks, there’s a lot of experience that will be there for him to make that adjustment to being a head coach. Certainly a 12-year career in the league, he’s got a lot of experience. He knows what this league is about and I think he’ll be a great leader.”
Redick made it a priority to surround himself with a lot of experience, including a pair of former head coaches in Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks.
While Buss stays out of the way and lets Rob Pelinka make basketball decisions for the organization, she obviously signed off on Redick as head coach so he must have impressed her throughout the interview process.
It also helps that Redick is close friends with James so seemingly will be getting a buy-in from him and Davis from day one. If the Lakers are gonna get back into championship contention then Redick will need to play a huge role in that, and the good thing is that everyone is starting off on the same page.
Lakers offseason workouts featuring more live basketball under JJ Redick
With training camp on the horizon, a lot of Lakers players have been working out at the facility with JJ Redick and the rest of the coaching staff monitoring them.
And one change compared to years passed is that workouts as reportedly featuring more live basketball as Redick already seems to be making his imprint in the building.
