I don’t want to like the JJ Redick hire. It’s annoying. It’s unserious. The Lakers, who hope to secure LeBron James’s services for the final two (?) years of his career, hired LeBron James’s podcast cohost. The Lakers, the most iconic team in the NBA, responded to the NBA–as–reality–TV movement by hiring one of its pioneers. The Lakers, villainous at their best, hired one of the biggest basketball villains of the 2000’s. JJ Redick is an obnoxious hire, and while the Dan Hurley dalliance at least knocked the production down a peg, the whole thing is too strong an embodiment of LeBron James’s NBA for many of us to stomach.
Unfortunately, I like the JJ Redick hire.
It’s risky. The downside is huge. If this falls on its face—and it might—it will play out in far more embarrassing fashion than it did with the last six hires. But the downside was there with any realistic candidate the Lakers could pick. The best sitting coaches were all entrenched in their current roles. Erik Spoelstra wasn’t going to leave Miami. Mike Malone wasn’t going to leave Nikola Jokić. Gregg Popovich wasn’t going to leave the Spurs, and at his age, he’ll soon be too old to do much besides run for president. The Lakers could have hired someone unproven but promising, but that didn’t work very well with Darvin Ham or Luke Walton or Byron Scott or even really Frank Vogel, whom it’s easy to forget won a championship. There was no Phil Jackson in the free agent coaching market. There was no slam dunk candidate.
Instead, the Lakers went with a recently retired player who’s well-respected and well-connected throughout the NBA. They brought a guy to Hollywood who’s used to the limelight. They signed a man who’s a big enough deal to not be intimidated by a stable of stars, or by one particular star in that stable who’s past his prime and prone to playing GM. (Sometimes, this even happens without his direct request. Sometimes, the Lakers do things LeBron James reportedly didn’t even ask for, like hiring his podcast cohost to be his head coach or preparing to draft a gamble in the form of his son.)
The concern with JJ Redick is the basketball part. He knows his X’s and O’s, but he isn’t some diamond-honed proven tactician. He knows how NBA teams operate, but he’s never operated one himself. The known factor is that he won’t shrink from the spotlight. The Lakers hired someone who will deal with the external factors well. On the basketball side of the equation, they’re content to hope.
I’m bullish on that basketball side, and for a possibly dumb reason: JJ Redick went to Duke. He’s a Duke graduate. I don’t mean this as some bow to Durham’s ivory tower, but I suppose that’s what it is. There’s a reason so many businesses and other organizations hire Duke graduates in their pursuit of effective leaders.
JJ Redick is thoughtful and intentional. He’s shrewd and savvy. He’s already demonstrated satisfactory familiarity with his vulnerabilities, with much of his campaign for the role reportedly centered on his plan to recruit top assistants. There’s a strategy vs. sales rift in the NBA, and Redick is firmly a sales-type. But that doesn’t mean he can’t figure out strategy, and it doesn’t mean he won’t. He’s ready for the drama. It won’t be a surprise if he figures out everything else.
Miscellany
- The Panthers are still the favorites, being the better hockey team and holding that one-game lead, but is Connor McDavid the Conn Smythe favorite now? Futures markets are inefficient, and for individual awards they’re often a horse race, but markets are heavily on his side. As a huge dork, I do love when MVP awards go to players who lost. How valuable a player is impacts his or her team’s chance of winning, but individual player value and team success are loosely correlated.
- Another thing I love, as a huge dork, is NASCAR going to New Hampshire around the summer solstice. I’m pretty sure that’s the northernmost race, with Road America off the schedule and Portland and Montreal not on it.
