"I think it's a death sentence"- LeBron James' championship-winning teammate gets “honest” about JJ Redick-Lakers links
Channing Frye, LeBron James' championship-winning teammate on the Cleveland Cavaliers, shared his opinion on former NBA champion JJ Redick being considered the favorite to replace Darvin Ham as the LA Lakers coach. In an interview with NBA TV on Wednesday, he advised against Redick taking the job.
"To be honest, I think it's a death sentence. I think he's jumping on a grenade," Frye said.
"I think JJ is a coach. I know for a fact that JJ Redick is a coach, but taking that job, I just don't know. That's a lot. You're jumping in and not only coaching in the NBA when you haven't ever done that before, but you're also coaching Anthony Davis, D'Angelo Russell, LeBron James. And how do you know time-and-score situations? Like, this is not an offense to Detroit or Charlotte or San Antonio or OKC, but this is not a 'let's learn your way through.'
"They were crushing Darvin Ham for not having the right substitution patterns. ... To me, you need to bring in somebody who's gonna command that locker room and who's gonna say, 'Bron, I understand what you wanna do but this is my vision for the roster that we have.' ... As a first-year coach, I wouldn’t recommend that job for anybody.”
JJ Redick is known for his high basketball IQ that he displays while drawing up plays on his podcast and ESPN. However, he has never been a coach at any level.
Heat legend cites LeBron James' friendship with JJ Redick to caution Lakers
Amid reports of JJ Redick being the front-runner to take over as the next Lakers coach, Miami Heat legend Udonis Haslem voiced his opinion against the move. On ESPN's "NBA Today," Haslem cited LeBron James' friendship with Redick running a podcast together as a reason the Lakers should avoid hiring him.
"If it's JJ, it's going to be a cynical locker room," Haslem said. "You're gonna have guys saying, 'Coach going to do a podcast after the game with LeBron.' You're gonna have a cynical locker room of guys that are gonna side-eye everything JJ says, because they're gonna wonder, 'Is this JJ's message or LeBron's message?'"
Instead of JJ Redick, Haslem endorsed Heat assistant Chris Quinn as his top choice for the job, highlighting Quinn's experience of coaching LeBron James as an assistant during their years in Miami.
The shortlisted candidates to be Darvin Ham's successor reportedly include JJ Redick, Chris Quinn, James Borrego, Sam Cassell, Kenny Atkinson, David Adelman, Micah Nori and Sean Sweeney. The Lakers will likely go through a lengthy selection process before finalizing their new coach.