The new NBA season tips off in about six weeks. When it does, the Los Angeles Lakers will have a new head coach, J.J. Redick. It’s going to be interesting to see how the former player and TV analyst handles one of the biggest coaching gigs in the Association. Our man Shaq spent a little time talking about the hire on a recent podcast.
As for Redick, his most recent work was as an analyst for ESPN. He played college hoops for the Duke Blue Devils, and was selected by the Orlando Magic as the 11th overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft. (Interesting, since the Magic was also Shaq’s first team when he entered the league as the Number One pick…) Redick ended up playing 15 seasons in the NBA with six different teams. Now he’s been named head coach for the Lakers. Quite the interesting career move!
The BIG Podcast with SHAQ
For some members of Lakers Nation, there’s already optimistic talk about what Reddick might mean for the team, which has – honestly, now – underperformed for the past couple campaigns. There have even been comparisons between Reddick and Pat Riley.
Riley is the current president of the Miami Heat, and he was the team’s head coach when Shaquille O’Neal and teammate Dwyane Wade helped Miami win its first title in franchise history in 2006. With sometimes heated language, Shaq didn’t pull any punches.
O’Neal: “Don’t even — no, stop it. Stop — stop it. First of all, J.J. is a nice guy. Pat Riley is the man. So, imagine you come in and f—–‘ J.J. Redick starts yellin’ at you. It’s gon’ be a f—–‘ fight in there. Players ain’t goin’ for all that yellin’ and all that screamin’ and all that extra runnin’ — next Pat Riley my a–.”
Earlier this year, online sports magazine The Athletic wrote on the site that the Lakers front office and ownership was “infatuated” with Redick’s potential and viewed him as a promising coaching prospect. Athletic reporters may have been the ones to start – or at least report on – the Riley conection, saying, “The Lakers are infatuated with Redick’s potential, according to league sources, viewing him as a Pat Riley-like coaching prospect who could both help the franchise in the short term and lead it for years.” Redick signed a four-year deal to become the 29th head coach in the history of the purple and gold.
If there are indeed comparisons to Riley, those will be some Shaq-sized shoes to fill. Riley is one of the most accomplished head coaches in the history of the NBA. His tenure in the league’s head coaching ranks spanned several decades, and he led several teams — the Lakers and Heat — to Championships during that time.
Riley’s long career of success dates back to the early 1980’s, when he had legends such as Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on his roster. Under Riley’s leadership, the Lakers won four NBA titles in one decade alone, as Los Angeles won championships in the years 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988.
Riley won his fifth and final title as a head coach many years later with the Heat, and O’Neal was one of the top players on that 2006 title team. Even though he retired from the head coaching job, he’s still a major force in the Heat organization, and can be seen in the seats for virtually every Heat home game.
So of course it’s too soon to tell how J.J. Redick will do as the Lakers coach. Maybe Shaq will come to see things differently, if he brings some renewed success to LA. As always, stay tuned…