Speaking on Monday to reporters, including Dave McMenamin of ESPN, J.J. Redick made it clear that he wasn’t offended by the fact that the Lakers publicly pursued UConn’s Dan Hurley before circling back to him, joking that, as a “two-time 55 Swish League champion in the third- and fourth-grade division,” he can’t match coaching résumés with a two-time national champion.
Lakers head of basketball operations Rob Pelinka, who said Redick was always alongside Hurley in the team’s “Plan A pool” of candidates, defended the decision to hire a first-time coach by pointing out that head coaching experience and NBA experience “aren’t mutually exclusive things,” as McMenamin relays. Redick, of course, played in the league for 15 years before transitioning into a media role.
“I think in industry in general and in sports in specific, sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in patterns of being in a sea of sameness and doing the same thing that everybody else is doing,” Pelinka said. “But when we embarked on this search, it was really important for us to see if we could do something a little bit different. And quickly in our conversations with J.J., it was very evident that he had a unique perspective and philosophy on basketball and how it’s to be taught.”
Pelinka told reporters that Lakers star LeBron James – Redick’s co-host on the ‘Mind The Game’ podcast, which will no longer record new episodes – was “supportive” of the club’s head coaching search but wasn’t involved in the process at all. Redick said he didn’t talk to James about the position until last Thursday, after he’d been offered the job.
Anthony Davis, on the other hand, “chose to be very involved,” according to Pelinka, who referred to the star big man as “very excited” about the hiring of Redick. The new head coach has some ideas for new ways to use Davis, as he said during his introductory press conference.
“One of the things I brought up with him is just the idea of him as a hub (on offense),” Redick said. “There’s a bunch of guys at the five position in the NBA that sort of operate in that way. I don’t know that he’s been used in that way and sort of maximized all of his abilities.”
In addition to factoring into the Lakers’ head coaching search, Davis’ opinion appeared to carry weight in the decision to part ways with Darvin Ham in the spring. According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, league sources believe that concerns about how Davis viewed Ham were something the Lakers weighed when they opted to make a change.
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Redick identified offensive rebounding, three-point attempts, turnovers, and defensive schematics as areas he wants to improve during his first season on the Lakers’ bench, writes Jovan Buha of The Athletic. According to Buha, Redick and Pelinka both talked up “player development,” pointing to the need to identify and grow young talent due to the restrictions in the new CBA. They’re already coming up with ideas for how to connect with the younger players on the roster. “J.J. and I have had some really robust conversations around innovation and sort of even gamifying player development,” Pelinka said. “We’ve talked about how do we translate coach Redick’s offensive system to app-based or a phone-based deliverable where players can be buying into a philosophy and learning it in a way that meets today’s young player. And I think innovation has got to be at the core of that.”
- While Pelinka alluded to the restrictive CBA and stressed the importance of player development, Amick hears from league sources that if James and Davis have their way, the Lakers would do all they can to acquire another impact player this offseason. Amick adds that James isn’t content simply “coasting” through his final NBA seasons and still “desperately” wants to compete for championships.
- Although there’s a widespread belief that James will stick with the Lakers this offseason, he has yet to give the front office any indication of his plans, Amick reports, adding that the four-time MVP appears open to playing two or even three more seasons.
- According to Amick, the Lakers could have had Dejounte Murray from the Hawks in February if they’d been willing to add Austin Reaves to their package — that could be an option again this summer, Amick says, but L.A. continues to resist the idea of parting with Reaves in a deal for Murray.
I know Sam Amick said it & I know you guys trust/love whoever he is. But what sense would it make for the Hawks to trade Dejounte for Reaves & whatever else LAL would package with him? Some rational person please explain why we’d do that less than a yr after he resigned with us on a team friendly long term deal.
Did you not read the part. Where it was a done deal. If they included Reaves.
What part of that don’t you comprehend. It’s not up to us who our teams trade.
Imo Murray is an excellent addition for Lakers. I would of gave up Reaves.
I don’t think the Hawks would want to get rid of Murray over Trae, but I do think they would get much more for Murray than Trae, specifically because of the contract you mentioned and then the size plus defense advantages over Trae. Trae needs a Bradley Beal Suns-esqe suitor in order to bring back a return worth trading him.
Personally I think Trae is a great example of how quickly the league changes course. Trae was not replaceable a few years ago, now, with his repeated exposure on defense, he might be just be above replacement level. Boston wins one with defense first guards with length, and now Castle from UConn is a top 10 pick without having a consistent jump shot.
Logo shots and step backs are all great fun, but they are only useful to a championship contender in a sixth man, offensive spark role, 20-28 minutes a night off the bench. Malik Monk is only worth 17 million a year. Trae makes 43 million. LaVine makes 43 million. If we are operating under the salary cap here, give me Monk all day.
Again, I feel like yall look at this stuff from the wrong way. It doesn’t really matter whether we’d get more for trading Trae or DJ or Clint or Jalen or whoever. It’s just very obvious that we need to trade Trae. I’m not sure what you mean by a Beal/Suns-esque suitor but there’s plenty of NBA teams that would be very interested in trading for Trae. We’ll have numerous options to choose from. Any of the serious offers will be enough to make us a much better team. If we replace Trae Young with Bruce Brown we’re a better team.
But Trae as a replacement level player is crazy. He’s literally 1 of the best pgs in the world. He’s a HOFer that’s just entering his prime & in the right situation (NO is an obv 1) he could win titles. Again, it feels like you haven’t actually watched much of Trae playing if the 1st thing you think of is his logo 3s & step backs. He’s one of the best true pgs this game has ever seen. Tbh the Trae/DJ pairing wasn’t really fair to either guy. Trae would’ve benefited from having more catch & shoot type wings. But even so he’s at the top of the ast #s every season of his career. Trae is Steve Nash if Nash got a 5yr head start on his greatness (& was a lil smaller).
Yeah, that’s all cool, But you don’t want him on your team. Could have just written that and saved a lot of time.
Yeah man, I agree his passing separates Trae from other undersized PGs, but HOF? That’s crazy talk.
This is not considered a strong draft. Definitely not top heavy like most drafts are. So why wouldn’t Castle be a top 10 pick. He should go 4th to Spurs. Probably has best 2way potential in this draft. At 19 yrs old has huge upside. Can shoot FT. So can improve. That’s what 19yr olds do. Imo he’s a can’t miss prospect. Amazing how defense is half the game is never considered. Look what OG did for Knicks just with his team D and one on one D.
link to uconnhuskies.com
19 yrs old ……… positional size.
I didn’t say Castle wasn’t good or didn’t deserve it, I said he couldn’t shoot with any consistency from distance, which is a skill that was considered to be much more important when someone like Trae Young was drafted early and then traded for Luka.
App-based/phone-based deliverable to connect with the young players lol. Oh man. This is going to be good.
This really will be a test. After a 3 game losing streak, some of the analytical feedback is going to be hard to get the desired response from players.
Player to Coach with no experience has proven to be an okay path. It has produced winning basketball. It’s also easier to use that coach as a scapegoat for the GM.
Why even bother with the BS narratives Bron isn’t GM and coach. Pelinka has learnt well how to protect his own hide too. This team stinks and is going nowhere. I heard JJ state he’ll put a big emphasis on three point shooting. I found that funny with this dog crap roster. Rua the saviour. Man, Lakers stink LOL.
Davis is a sook, too. Gonna walk all over JJ. Are L.A still looking for a centre so Davis doesn’t have to guard bigs, can shoot three’s while trying to hide from rolling up the sleeves. The lunatics are truly running the asylum. This is going to be hilarious.
Since LeBron’s the GM what do think of his decision not to go too far into the luxury tax and save Jeannie Bus millions of dollars by nor resigning Alex Caruso after the bubble championship?
Didn’t they bring in Westbrook to take Caruso’s minutes which back fired on them. Think how much better they would have been Kuzma, Pope, and Caruso.
Caruso wouldn’t have cost them anything but money and a roster spot. They were already over the cap. He said he would have resigned if the Lakers had come closer to Chicago’s offer. If LeBron were GM who wouldn’t care one bit about Jeanie Buss’a pocketbook.
Lebron was never a big fan of Caruso. He wanted Westbrook because he loves to be surrounded by all stars.
Yeah I’m not sure how bringing in Westbrook saved L.A millions. Bit of a flawed argument in regards to Bron not pulling the strings. Add Monk in your list.
I didn’t mention Westbrook. Not signing Caruso saved the Lakers Millions. As far as Monk goes that ones not on Buss, Pinka or LeBron. They couldn’t offer him the bag the Kings could.
How do you save millions when bringing in more money? What Bag do you speak of with Monk? At the time he got like $7-8 million per for two years. Your analytics can’t teach you commonsense by sounds of things. I’d gladly have Caruso and monk for the price of Russ. Would have then and definitely do now, why not? Ask Bron, he’s running the show and you aren’t telling 90% of posters any different. We’ll then overpay for Rua lol.
No correlation w Rw
Caruso was a pure him v tht call , and boy was it terrible !!! But I hear tht is still young !
Monk was not obtainable with just early bird since his salary was so low to begin with , nothing they could do there
Old people always think young people need everything in an app lol.
I was fairly disappointed that JJ will keep off the podcasts ….. podcasting an hour after games would have been epic and Hollywood as hell. Lol.
They could do a simulcast – podcast and TV broadcast which would replace the pre-and-post on KCAL9 (Worthy?). It would take place at center court and would eventually become so revolutionary and popular that they’d be encouraged by Adam Silver and league officials to do it after road games as well – even while the rest of the team waits on the bus to head to the airport. Redick would typically begin the podcast alone while LeBron showers and briefly talks with reporters in the locker room. Once LeBron makes his way to center court and puts on the headset, Redick often proceeds with something along the lines of “Jesus, man…..hey, I’m really sorry about that one, LeBron” wihile LeBron typically replies with “damn straight. That one was definitely on you, J.J. Gotta be better, my man.” By early March, LeBron declines to do any more podcasts with Redick, who for a short time tries out a new setup with AD and then Reaves before nixing it entirely – treating the fans (and naysayers) to one final tearjerker of a podcast sometime in early April.
Trae Defense is not there. But you get him a rim protector. And a D force at SG. And he will be fine. Imo both Hawk Guards need the ball. Both don’t play off the ball well enough. Traes offensive stats are big time. I agree you get more for Murray now in a trade. So I would move him now. Team building is not just offense. It’s a chemistry that starts with your best players and coaching. When they all buy in. You get a good team.