Before he took the Los Angeles Lakers head coaching job, JJ Redick was cautioned against doing so by his inner circle, if Dave McMenamin’s report is to be believed.
According to the ESPN columnist, the former 15-year NBA veteran was discouraged from taking on the challenge given the Los Angeles Lakers’ complicated situation and because he was doing well as a sports broadcaster and podcaster.
During the Los Angeles Lakers annual media day, Redick admitted that the opportunity to coach the Purple and Gold was too good to pass up.
“I think in response to the people who say, ‘You had such a good thing going on,’ they were correct. I enjoyed three years of retirement. I really did,” Redick said. “The things that I was able to do in media have not been lost on me … and all the stuff that we did in the podcast space. I’m very proud of it.”
“There’s a competitive itch that I have every single day of my life. And no matter how many swings I took, I was not getting satisfied. And so, I felt a real calling in terms of the competitive side,” he added.
D’Angelo Russell raves about having JJ Redick as the Los Angeles Lakers head coach
D’Angelo Russell praised the Los Angeles Lakers for hiring JJ Redick, and the two seem to be developing a close relationship already. During a recent interview, the one-time NBA All-Star guard took a sly dig at Darvin Ham when talking about Redick.
“I think last year we didn’t really have the structure defensively that we needed as a team,” Russell said. “And that kinda hurt me a little bit trying to help my teammates. But like I said, JJ’s trying to push structure everywhere and implement it everywhere, and I think that’s what we need.”
“His kind words mean a lot to me because I’m not used to hearing those,” he added.
