One of the reasons why it was a bit peculiar that JJ Redick could potentially become head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers was that he had an ongoing podcast with superstar LeBron James known as ‘Mind the Game.’ And now that Redick has officially been hired as the franchise’s next head coach, some wondered whether or not that podcast would continue.
Both known for their intelligence and high IQ, Redick and James took a different approach to their podcast, focusing more on analytics and Xs and Os to break down why things were happening on the court. But for the time being, the podcast duo is no more.
At his Lakers introductory press conference, Redick made it clear that for as long as he is coaching, he won’t be doing any sort of online content, including the ‘Mind the Game’ podcast.
“No. For the time being being, and hopefully it’s a very very long time, I am excommunicated from the content space. So there will be no podcast,” Redick said. “We’ll do something when I have a breather from what we have coming up — I’m going to be drinking out of a fire hose for the next month — but at some point, we’ll just do something for all the people that listened. And we’ll have a small little video. But I’m done with podcasting for now.”
It’s an obvious move for Redick, who will need to pour all of his time and effort into coaching the Lakers. Not to mention while active players podcasting during the season is pretty normal at this point, a coach having a podcast with one of his players is something completely different and it is unclear how that could be viewed by the rest of the team.
Redick did later say on Spectrum SportsNet that he hopes LeBron continues the podcast with another co-host, which could certainly happen. But Redick plans to focus solely on coaching the Lakers and bringing this franchise another championship so ‘Mind the Game’ will no longer be on his plate.
JJ Redick believes Lakers aren’t far off from being championship-caliber team
The Lakers’ goal is always to win a championship, but doing so with a first-time head coach is no easy task. That being said, JJ Redick is embracing those high expectations and feels this team isn’t far away from competing at that level.
“To answer the second part first, yes, I think they’re reasonable,” Redick said of expectations surrounding the Lakers. “I don’t look at the current roster as being that far off from a championship-caliber team. In terms of managing expectations, I think in life, you just got to embrace things. You know, you just really have to embrace things. You don’t run from it. If you need to talk about it, you talk about it.
“There’s not a player, I’ve never played with players in the NBA who were like, ‘You know what? This year’s not the year. I don’t think we can win a championship.’ Now, the expectations here are certainly different. And as we sort of build out the culture, one of the things, and Rob and I have talked about this, you have to let go of outcomes. You just do. It has to be about the enjoyment and embracing the process. And if the Los Angeles Lakers on day one get better every single day, I’m very confident that come April, we will be a championship-caliber team.”
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