Why Lakers couldn’t be more wrong about JJ Redick comparisons to Erik Spoelstra and Pat Riley
After much furore and conflicting reports, Los Angeles Lakers have appointed JJ Redick as their new Head Coach. NBA insider Shams Charania reported some of the internal discussions the Jeanie Buss-owned organization have had about Redick, a veteran of 15 seasons as a player.
The Lakers seem to hold Redick in very high regard, as evidenced by their comparisons of Redick to Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr, widely regarded as the two best coaches of the last 15 years.
“He’s drawn internal comparisons to a young Pat Riley as a coaching prospect who jumped from playing to the broadcast booth to the coaching chair. Los Angeles is confident he can be their version of Erik Spoelstra or Steve Kerr,” Shams Charania mentioned.
The Lakers have set their expectations sky-high by comparing him to Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra's mentor and a legendary Lakers coach himself. Riley is the second-most successful coach in the franchise's history with four titles and holds the highest win percentage (.733) of any playcaller.
How does JJ Redick differ from Pat Riley and Erik Spoelstra?
Riley took over the Lakers job in 1981 and ushered in the 'Showtime' era with starring acts Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. His short stint in broadcasting before he joined the Lakers staff was characterized by astute analysis of in-game tactics and a hard-nosed attitude that would come to define his time with the Lakers, Heat, and Knicks.
JJ Redick's career trajectory has been similar, as a role player who has made his name as a broadcaster and podcaster, impressing everyone with his breakdowns of X's and O's. However, Redick has no competitive coaching experience while Riley got the job after being Paul Westhead's assistant coach for two years.
Similarly, Spoelstra, whose dad was an NBA executive for many years, ground his way up the Miami Heat coaching ranks, starting as a video coordinator before climbing up the ranks to get the Head Coach job in 2008 after Riley stepped down.
In comparison to Riley and Spoelstra, JJ Redick's coaching experience is minimal and he also has no prior training as an assistant anywhere even after receiving a glowing recommendation from his old Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. This will be exacerbated by the media scrutiny his relationship with co-podcaster LeBron James will attract if the Lakers start losing a few games.
On top of all this, he will need to bring together a completely new set of assistants for himself and start anew. By any measure, a really tall task awaits JJ Redick.