On Thursday, the Los Angeles Lakers officially hired ESPN’s JJ Redick as their new head coach. The reactions to his unconventional hire were swift and mostly pretty harsh.
A lot of sports media folks are concerned that this was a move to make LeBron James happy first and foremost, and trusting the storied franchise to a guy with no coaching experience at any level just seems wild.
Add noted sportswriter Jeff Pearlman to the list of people in sports media who think the move is “crazy.”
“Obviously, LeBron is calling the shots on this. That’s very clear. This is his guy. But I don’t really get it,” said Pearlman in a recent TikTok video. “Hiring coaches with no experience is just, with some exception, a recipe for disaster.
“Number one, the players walk all over you, especially because the age difference is zero here. Players walk all over you quickly.
“Number two, you always end up having a veteran assistant who ultimately has more gravitas than you do. So if you hire… a Doug Collins, a Mike Dunleavy, a Darvin Ham type guy to be your top assistant, before long you’re leaning on him heavily and players start looking towards him.
“Number three, coaching an NBA team is f***ing hard. It actually is hard. And to have never done it before and just throw you in the deep, deep, deep end of LA, of Anthony Davis, of LeBron James, is, to me, crazy. And kind of a lazy hire, actually.
“Sometimes you have to call the shots and not let your players do it.”
If the Redick hire ends up paying dividends for the Lakers, there’s going to be a lot of sports media members eating crow. In the meantime, however, the odds are against this move paying off in the minds of many.