The Los Angeles Lakers are coming off an offseason in which they did not make any moves to improve the roster despite being knocked out in the first round of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets once again.
The big change in the organization was bringing is JJ Redick to replace Darvin Ham as head coach. While Redick is a smart basketball mind though, he has never coached at any level.
With that being the case, many people are predicting the Lakers to struggle, especially early in the season. Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal is among those people and explained why during an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN:
“I think personally, they’re gonna have a rough start. And what I mean by that, you know as a coach, it’s all about respect. If I’m a guy that’s played seven or eight years and I have a young coach who I think I was a better player than, there’s gonna be a level of disrespect there. LeBron and AD will do a great job of keeping everyone in order, but I always said that if you really respect your coach, you’ll really go out there and play hard. I was fortunate enough to play for the Phil Jacksons, the Pat Rileys, because I knew they knew what they were talking about. All of the other coaches, no disrespect to them, there were moments in time where I was like I don’t know if that will work. But when Pat Riley says “OK, down by one, you run this play.’ You run that play because when I was a kid, I saw him win five in a row. I was playing against the Chicago Bulls when they swept us and won three in a row then Michael [Jordan] left and came back and won three more. So when oyu get coaches like that, the antenna is already up. So my thought process is will the antennas of the players be up when JJ Redick talks? We don’t know but we shall we.”
The Lakers are a team that typically struggles to begin the season, so it definitely wouldn’t be surprising to see it happen again. Not only do they have a new head coach in place, but the Lakers will begin the season by playing five straight postseason-caliber teams.
Redick will have pressure on him to win from the jump, so hopefully L.A. has a good training camp and preseason to be ready to go on Opening Night. If not and they look unprepared then O’Neal’s scenario of players not respecting their head coach could become relevant.
Rudy Gobert responds to criticism from Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal
Shaquille O’Neal has never been afraid to speak him mind and criticize players in the league today, but he may have taken it too far when he recently called Rudy Gobert the worst player of all time.
That got Gobert to respond on social media, calling out the Lakers legend for always hating on him.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
