TThirteen games into the Los Angeles Lakers’ season, first-year head coach JJ Redick isn’t the main story — and that’s a story in itself. Of course, there are already plenty of other storylines for the Lakers this year: starting with the rumblings that they haven’t done enough to provide a competent supporting cast around superstars Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the former of whom is off to an MVP-caliber start of the season. Then there are the cries of nepotism at the signing of James’ son, Bronny. They may not be true championship contenders, but at 9-4 the Lakers at least look like they’re solid Good NBA team. You would never guess that their coach only has a few weeks of experience.
Redick, the sharp-shooting NBA veteran turned podcaster, host and head coach, faced widespread criticism when he was hired this summer. He faced accusations that he “skipped the line” or that he only got the job to please LeBron, Redick’s co-host on the podcast this year. After all, it has been widely reported that Redick’s only head coaching experience before joining the Lakers was with his son’s youth team. When I asked him a few months ago at his introductory press conference what he was most looking forward to refuting from the chorus of naysayers, he replied (now infamously) said he didn’t give a fuck. It’s possible, of course, that the once chronically online Redick has tried as much to convince himself of this sentiment as the rest of the world. But it’s clear the former Duke legend has turned off the noise enough to stay focused on the task at hand.
Heading into the season, there were rumors that the Lakers felt like they had found their “next Pat Riley,” and while that set the bar ridiculously high for a first-year head coach, there are several similarities. Redick and Riley are both former players, short-term broadcasters, who are smartly dressed, smooth-talking and intelligent. But their main common trait is an obsession with the sport. Redick lives and breathes basketball. NBA alum Baron Davis said recently he saw him going through the game tape in a car wash, to which Redick himself was sheepish confirmed.
Redick has described his own constitution as that of a “basketball sicko” (even going so far as to proclaim that hiring fellow “sickos” for his coaching staff “non-negotiable“), so ahead of a recent game in the Crypto.com arena I ask him to define his so-called tagline. “Someone who is obsessed with basketball, someone who is willing to get into the weeds all the time,” he says. “Somehow I relate everything to the game of basketball, somehow every connection in my life has been shaped or strengthened by the game of basketball.”
His players characterize him similarly, describing him as passionate and dedicated, and very, very competitive. “He’s very enthusiastic,” said guard Max Christie. “Excited about the game, about winning, about us. About everything he does.” Small forward Cam Reddish tells me about Redick, “He’s not a shouter, but he’s going to hold everyone accountable, you know what I mean? Like he’s going to scream, but… [he’s] not just shouting for no reason.” I ask Reddish what he thinks is Redick’s identity, so far, as a coach. “He’s a winner,” he says. “He wants to win. He wants to win everything.”
As early as media day, Lakers players were praising Redick’s preparedness and playbook (and firing some shots). not so subtle digs with former head coach Darvin Ham, fired this spring and now back in Milwaukee on Doc Rivers’ staff, in the process). Davis talked about that same readiness following the Lakers’ opening night win that started a three-game win streak to open the season. “The game plan, the plans he had on both ends of the floor, he trusts us,” Davis said. “We trust him as far as teaching us what he wants us to do on both ends of the floor.”
It’s interesting to contrast Rivers’ experienced Milwaukee Bucks, who have struggled to start the season, to say the least, with Redick’s Lakers. Both teams are built around a formidable but aging superstar tandem (Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard, and Anthony Davis and LeBron James, respectively). Both teams have some interesting supporting cast members, but could definitely see improvements in that area. However, the Bucks won only four of their first thirteen games. It would be foolhardy to put all the blame on Rivers, but he bears some of the blame, and his extensive resume and pedigree as a coach undoubtedly played a big role in his hiring. Comparing the two teams’ successes (or lack thereof) so far, the question arises whether this is a prerequisite experience in coaching may be an exaggeration.
Despite the historic reluctance to hand the keys to an unknown quantity, some qualities exclusive to a new head coach may prove beneficial. Without the inevitable baggage that comes with years of coaching, first-year head coaches may be both more willing to take risks and less likely to elicit eye-rolls from their players. And with former players, as is the case with Redick, who played so recently that many, if not most, of your roster remembers watching, you can also be instrumental in earning players’ respect. Newcomer Dalton Knecht, a shooting sniper in Redick’s own imagehas long drawn inspiration from Redick’s playing. “I saw him in college and learned how he trapped his man and how he came off screens to get the ball and get wide open looks, and I did that a lot in Tennessee,” Knecht told me afterward a victory at home. against the Grizzlies. “And now I can just ask him personally, ‘Hey, how do you do this?’ and he has been helpful every step of the way.”
Of course, there are also disadvantages to a maniacal dedication to the profession. When I ask Redick how he feels being a “sicko” has affected his coaching approach, he quickly responds, “I can tell you how it has affected my personal life…” When asked to admit this lights, he adds, “Obviously I was part of basketball [during his stint in broadcasting]but you take a three-year break, and then you get back into it, and you’re just easily reminded how much of your bandwidth and brain is just focused on basketball,” he pauses and takes a deep breath, “and that can have an impact on your personal life.” It certainly couldn’t have been easy for Redick to ask his wife to move their young family from their old home in Brooklyn all the way across the country to Los Angeles for the gig, but the basketball-obsessed heart wants what it wants . . “I just felt like this was what I had to do.” Redick said at his introductory news conferenceto follow the potentially precarious path to coaching.
Choosing a new head coach with an illustrious NBA career is not always without problems, as evidenced by Steve Nash’s short and less good stint in Brooklyn. But if Redick can keep up the 57-win pace he’s set so far, other teams might think twice before choosing a proven pick from the carousel of fired head coaches they often choose from in their candidate pools. As Redick has shown, in the tradition of Riley before him, if a man is smart enough, clever enough, and “sick” enough, are enough. And “no experience necessary” listings on NBA head coaching job boards could very well be the way of the future.