Thursday night, J.J. Redick will be back at his day job (well, one of his day jobs) — part of the broadcast team for the NBA Finals between Dallas and Boston.
That may not be his day job for long. NBC Sports reported this week that the buzz around Redick becoming the Lakers’ next head coach was growing louder. Now Shams Charania of The Athletic takes it a step further, saying the Lakers are “zeroing in” on Redick as their next coach.
The Los Angeles Lakers are zeroing in on JJ Redick as the front-runner to be the franchise’s next head coach, league and media industry sources told The Athletic...
The Lakers’ search has been seriously focused on two candidates — Redick and Pelicans associate head coach James Borrego — over the last couple of weeks, league sources said.
The Lakers, for their part, continue to say they are working their way through the process and no decision has been made. The Lakers have met multiple times with Pelicans assistant James Borrego (the former Hornets’ head coach who has a relationship from New Orleans with Anthony Davis) and he is considered a contender for the job. There are reports some in the Lakers’ front office are hoping to convince Borrego to be the lead assistant on Redick’s staff.
If the Lakers are leaning toward Redick, the announcement would almost certainly not come until the NBA Finals are over.
Redick would be far from the first to jump from playing almost straight to coaching (in his case, with a little broadcasting in between). Jason Kidd did it and, after some rough stops, grew into the job and is now coaching the Nuggets in the NBA Finals. Derek Fisher made that leap in recent years as well.
The comparison Lakers and Redick backers like to make is Pat Riley, who legendary owner Jerry Buss plucked from the broadcast booth and made coach of the Lakers, and he coached them through the Showtime era. The Lakers want someone who can take over, help the team win now with LeBron and then transition to the Anthony Davis era to follow. However, there are serious differences between the Riley and Redick situations. First, Riley spent three years as a Lakers assistant coach before getting bumped up to the big chair. Second, when Riley took over the Lakers in 1981 Magic Johnson was 22 years old; if Redick takes over the Lakers job he will be invited to LeBron James’ 40th birthday party in December.
Redick’s basketball IQ is not in question, but are the Lakers making the right call picking a guy and leapfrogging him over top assistants who have paid their dues? Then again, Darvin Ham had more than paid his dues and turned out not to be a fit for the Lakers job.
Considering the Lakers’ current roster and age — especially compared to the rest of a young and improving Western Conference — is any coach going to live up to the expectations of this job? The Lakers believe they are thisclose to being contenders back in the NBA Finals, but is that reality or wishful thinking?
Whatever people on the outside think, the Lakers front office and ownership appear to be building an internal consensus behind Redick, who comes with—at the very least—the perception of being LeBron’s guy. Ty Lue was LeBron’s guy in Cleveland, and that won the Cavaliers a ring. The Lakers would love lightning to strike twice.
