Going into last season, arguably the biggest question surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers was whether new head coach JJ Redick would be able to handle the pressures that come with the job of leading the premier franchise in the NBA as a first time coach at any level.
Redick proved himself to be more than up to the task as he handled injuries and a massive midseason trade that forced a complete shakeup in how to best utilize the roster to lead the Lakers to the third seed in a stacked Western Conference.
By all accounts, the Lakers have found their head coach for the present and future and their actions say the same as general manager Rob Pelinka announced at their recent press conference that the franchise has extended the contract of Redick.
“We recently extended JJ’s contract just to make it clear that he’s the basketball leader in terms of our coaching and on-court performance,” Pelinka said.
It may seem like a quick move for the Lakers after just one season, but there is no denying that Redick has proven that he is an excellent head coach. There are coaches with many years of experience that would have struggled to deal with everything put on Redick’s plate last season as a rookie, but the front office clearly believes in him which led to this decision, as Pelinka noted.
“Confidence and belief,” Pelinka said of why they extended Redick now. “We think he’s a special coach with a special voice that’s really helping us to continue to define the culture of lakers excellence. And we just wanted to make a clear statement of this is what we believe in, that we’re gonna lean into and what our players are going to mold into as we continue to develop the identity. I think having long-term planning is helpful when building team moving forward.”
That was no easy task for Redick, especially with the trade for Luka Doncic in February completely changing the makeup of this team. But the head coach handled it all in stride and now, with a full offseason and training camp to allow things to come together, expectations for the Lakers and what they are capable of will be even higher.
Ideally, there can be continuity within the franchise through the front office and coaching staff as much as possible. The Lakers have cycled through coaches over the past few years, but in Redick they believe they have found the man to lead this team for the next decade and more and they want to make sure he isn’t going anywhere.
Lakers guard Marcus Smart believes coach JJ Redick doesn’t get enough credit for IQ
One thing that makes JJ Redick a great head coach is his IQ and ability to see things and adjust on the fly and new Lakers guard Marcus Smart saw that in him when he was a player, and feels those things have transferred over to him being a head coach now.
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