On Thursday, JJ Redick has agreed to a four-year contract and can turn out to be the subsequent head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. On paper, it is among the extra stunning hires in latest NBA historical past. Redick has no teaching expertise on the skilled or collegiate stage. He has by no means labored in a entrance workplace. Whereas he had a prolonged and profitable NBA enjoying profession, he wasn’t a degree guard like most no-experience hires.
No, Redick has been appointed to the highest-pressure teaching job in your complete sport primarily based on 15 years as a 3-point marksman, eight years as a podcaster, and three as a tv analyst. We’re years away from understanding whether or not or not that unconventional background will result in his success or failure as a head coach, however the rent goes to have instant ramifications for a number of key figures across the Lakers and across the league. So let’s check out the aftershocks right here. Who’re the winners and losers of the Redick rent?
Let’s begin with the plain: for all the issues that include teaching the Lakers (and imagine me, we will cowl a number of of them), you continue to, you realize, get to educate the Lakers. The stress that comes with this job is there for a motive. Your entire basketball world is watching you. Your entire participant pool needs to play for you, and also you normally have entry to extra expertise than the remainder of the league. Even now, at a relative down level in crew historical past, main the Lakers means deploying LeBron James and Anthony Davis.
That is an unimaginable alternative for any coach. It is downright exceptional for a coach with no expertise. Redick had interviewed for different head-coaching jobs prior to now. He was by no means going to have the form of win-now alternative in Charlotte or Toronto that James and Davis give him proper now. He was by no means going to have the form of platform that comes with this job both. If Redick has received with the Hornets or Raptors, he’d simply be some other successful coach. Win with the Lakers and instantly a stage of fame (and, regardless of their relative frugality, wage) that is not obtainable with the remainder of the league is instantly on the desk. It is a high-risk job, nevertheless it’s a high-reward job as properly. If Redick weren’t ready for the previous he would not have taken the job. The latter is in the end why he took it.
Loser: JJ Redick
When the Lakers have been in search of a coach in 2022, Redick himself identified why this job is not essentially fascinating on ESPN’s Get Up. “Till they begin constructing their crew like each different crew within the NBA does, within the fashionable NBA, I do not assume this can be a good job.”
For higher or, these days, for worse, the Lakers don’t function like a traditional NBA crew. They concurrently have one of many smallest entrance places of work in basketball by way of manpower dedicated to issues like scouting and analytics and one of many largest entrance places of work in basketball by way of what number of energy brokers seemingly have a hand on the wheel with regards to main basketball selections. Rob Pelinka is nominally in cost. Linda Rambis is a longtime advisor of Jeanie Buss with extra energy than her “govt director of particular initiatives” title suggests. Kurt Rambis holds a equally obscure and influential place throughout the franchise. Magic Johnson grumbled about how concerned President of Enterprise Operations Tim Harris was in basketball operations throughout his time as crew president. Youthful Buss siblings Joey and Jesse have gained renown within the G-League and scouting departments, respectively. When a significant resolution is made on this franchise, no one fairly is aware of who made it.
And these days, most of these main selections have been unsuitable. The 2020 Lakers constructed a championship roster by surrounding James and Davis with 3-and-D wings. They’ve spent the 4 years since dismantling that idea. They’ve thrown asset after asset after asset into the “discover a level guard that may ease LeBron’s ball-handling burden” wishing properly and by no means discovered one. They’ve by no means discovered a long-term heart that may shoot properly sufficient to take stress off of Davis, both. Wings have been few and much between. At occasions, evidently the one precept guiding Lakers strikes is fame. They add stars. They add former stars. They add extremely drafted busts that we as soon as believed could be stars. Typically it really works. Extra usually, it does not. It is fairly laborious to win a championship when acquisitions are simply so closely on factors per sport.
The Lakers have had six head coaches since Phil Jackson retired in 2011. Redick shall be No. 7. If this mind belief does not enhance, it will not be lengthy earlier than another person is No. 8. The Lakers fired Frank Vogel two years after a championship. They fired Darvin Ham one 12 months after reaching the Western Convention finals. If issues go unsuitable in Los Angeles, and up to date historical past suggests they most likely will, this entrance workplace has confirmed completely prepared to make use of a coach as a blame defend earlier than. And and not using a conventional teaching background to fall again on, failure in Los Angeles would possibly doom Redick’s promising profession earlier than it actually begins. Redick stated it himself: for the Lakers to do an excellent job, they should begin appearing like each different crew. They’ve by no means, at any level of their historical past, proven any willingness to take action.
It is a two-pronged victory for James. We’ll begin with the plain: assuming James re-signs with the Lakers, he’ll now be enjoying for his (former???) podcast co-host in Redick. Clearly, it is unclear simply how deep the connection between these two go. Redick and James by no means performed collectively within the NBA. The Thoughts the Sport podcast launched solely in March. It is not as if the Lakers employed Dwyane Wade as their coach. The 2 are skilled. They’re at the least pleasant. We do not know fairly how pleasant, however the fits James high-quality.
He clearly would not have agreed to do a podcast with Redick if he hadn’t endorsed him as a basketball thinker. Whereas understanding basketball techniques and having the ability to implement them throughout the construction of knowledgeable crew are two various things, it is laborious to think about James vehemently disagreeing with Redick on strategic issues. They’ll be broadly aligned on the ways in which the Lakers have to play so as to win. That form of buy-in isn’t a assure the place James is anxious. From that perspective, that is an apparent victory.
However James has efficiently managed to maintain his distance in the course of the search. Wealthy Paul informed Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes that James “will not be concerned” within the search to interchange Ham. Nearly all the reporting has echoed that sentiment, and it is simply good PR from his perspective. Does the Redick rent work? James was an early adopter, similar to he was for, say, Malik Monk or Migos. But when it does not? James can argue that his fingers are clear. Which means fairly a bit given his Machiavellian repute. When the Russell Westbrook commerce blew up just a few years in the past, James drew an inordinate quantity of blame for its failure. This time, he is carried out sufficient to make sure to guard himself this time round. It is a win-win for an all-time nice.
In that very same interview with Haynes, Paul stated that, in his opinion, “the Lakers’ focus ought to most likely be extra so on Anthony Davis than LeBron at this level.” Properly, in line with Marc Stein, Redick most likely wasn’t the popular selection of Davis. That may have been James Borrego, who overlapped briefly with Davis in New Orleans greater than a decade in the past.
Is there a motive for that other than that preexisting relationship? It is laborious to say. Redick’s teaching philosophy continues to be such a piece in progress that it would not be truthful to counsel that he’ll or will not be capable to maximize Davis. Borrego by no means had an enormous man like him when he was teaching the Hornets. Notably, although, Redick didn’t vote for Davis as an All-Protection participant final season. That is not a fantastic begin to their coexistence contemplating how laborious Davis has lobbied for Defensive Participant of the Yr prior to now.
Winner: Broadcasters all over the place
ESPN’s Brian Windhorst made a notable level in regards to the uncommon nature of Redick’s candidacy on a latest Get Up look. “Frankly, his interviews have been in these podcasts with LeBron James,” Windhorst stated. “They’ve extensively damaged down the Lakers’ offense, extensively damaged down what they do. It has been on the market for the entire world to listen to, together with from the Lakers’ entrance workplace.”
Clearly, Redick did not get the job totally on the premise of these podcasts, however there is a broader level right here. Redick efficiently used his platform at ESPN to leap from no teaching expertise to the only highest-profile teaching job in your complete sport. Is that going to be a mannequin shifting ahead?
Properly, Redick is not the primary broadcaster to leap into teaching. Steve Kerr did it in 2014, although he had additionally labored within the entrance workplace for the Phoenix Suns. Others have tried, with TNT’s Kenny Smith notably interviewing for a number of jobs. However Redick is exclusive within the mixture of his lack of expertise and his instant success, at the least as a candidate. Not each broadcaster can emulate Redick’s rise. Success in media does in the end come all the way down to persona to some extent. However the broad strokes are replicable. House owners aren’t as entrenched within the day-to-day goings on across the league. They’re prone to have stronger opinions about tv analysts than nameless assistant coaches.
That will not be sufficient to get jobs in itself, nevertheless it’s a foot within the door. If different analysts can use the platform that studio exhibits and sport broadcasts give them to point out off the creativity and likability that Redick did, they’re going to be offered with teaching alternatives as properly. If nothing else, they’re going to be capable to use these teaching alternatives to leverage larger broadcasting salaries. Redick’s hiring is, subsequently, a win for your complete trade.
Loser: Rob Pelinka
Pelinka has now overseen three head-coaching searches. Two of them have been fairly publicly messy. The Lakers provided the job to Ty Lue in 2019. He turned it down as a result of they solely provided him a three-year deal and wished enter on his workers. This time round, Redick obtained the job solely after Dan Hurley stated no. The Lakers have been extensively ridiculed for his or her low-ball provide. Now, Pelinka has landed on Redick. In an ideal world, he is discovered a gem and Redick might be the coach for the foreseeable future.
Nevertheless it’s one factor to stay your neck out for Frank Vogel, a head coach that has received elsewhere, or Darvin Ham, a well-respected assistant. This rent, given Redick’s background, was a big danger. If it does not repay, properly, let’s simply say it isn’t precisely widespread for basic managers to get to rent a fourth head coach. James has so aggressively and preemptively tried to defend himself from blame on this rent that if it does fail, there simply is not going to be anybody else for Pelinka to make use of as an excuse.
Does that imply he is on the new seat? Not essentially. It is frankly inconceivable to know the place the Lakers are involved. One way or the other, Vogel was the scapegoat for a commerce Pelinka made and James endorsed when the Westbrook deal value him his job. Pelinka’s standing because the closest ally to Kobe Bryant has, up to now, made him virtually bulletproof throughout the group. If he ever does lose floor, we would not even know. That complicated Lakers energy construction would possibly be capable to take his energy with out taking his title.
However the stress is on now. James is about to show 40. Davis is firmly in his 30s. The sheen from the 2020 title has worn off. If this rent does not work, it is totally attainable that the Lakers are headed for a really darkish half-decade or extra. If such a down interval comes, it appears virtually inconceivable to think about that the Lakers make it by means of that point with out making any significant front-office modifications. You do not simply get to maintain firing coaches ceaselessly.
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