After getting hired by the Los Angeles Lakers this past summer, head coach JJ Redick had an uphill battle as a first-year coach with veterans like Anthony Davis and LeBron James on his team.
The former 15-year NBA veteran is in an interesting situation of balancing James entering the latter stages of his career while potentially leading L.A. into its next phase. However, Redick is focused on winning now given his star duo. But there still have been learning curves throughout this season while trying to remain competitive in the Western Conference.
General manager Rob Pelinka took another gamble by hiring back-to-back rookie head coaches and admittedly, Davis was skeptical. Although, once he saw what his now head coach had in mind for him offensively, the one-time champion became a believer, he explained in an interview with Shams Charania of ESPN:
“So, I didn’t know JJ [Redick] as well before he got hired. Obviously with no coaching experience and everything like that, he would call me during the interview process. And you know, he’s talking about, ‘Man, this is what I like to do.’ I’m just like, ‘You’ve never coached, like how do you know?’ So, you know, it was just kind of weird at first. And I was hearing him out though, I was being open-minded and then when he got hired, we had went to dinner. And we had a real conversation in-person and we was talking about stuff. And you know he’s drawing stuff like and I was like, ‘OK, OK. I like it, I like it.’ Then when training camp hit and I started seeing it, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun.’ Then his personality just came out, like he’s wired differently. He’s just all over the place, which is cool, I like that. But, just being able to be the hub of the offense and the ball coming to me now, making plays every possession. I think it’s impactful for me and my career, especially this season and for our team.”
Davis had the right to question Redick as a coaching candidate given his lack of experience and the Lakers needing to win now. But, it is great to see the 31-year-old open up as he began to see what Redick brought to the table.
Despite low points during this season, L.A. finds itself in the mix to potentially finish as a top-five seed. With the Chicago native being the Lakers’ first option, Redick needs to continue to empower him if the purple and gold want to achieve something great.
JJ Redick praises Lakers for execution of defensive gameplan vs. Celtics
Inconsistency is an issue that has plagued the Lakers as of late, but they recent picked up their best win of the season against their rival Boston Celtics. To pull that off against the reigning champions, head coach JJ Redick praised the team’s execution of their defensive gameplan.
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