5 Things: Coach Reddick

Well that’s over. Perhaps the worst kept secret in the NBA is now pretty much official news, save for an official Lakers press release. J.J. Reddick will be the next scapegoat, er head coach…heh, of the Los Angeles Lakers. Coach JJ will have a steep learning curve, a dysfunctional (and often cheap) front office, and the eldest statesman in the game to navigate so here’s hoping he’s up for the challenge. Let’s look at some of the challenges and what Reddick brings to the table.

1. What does Reddick bring? Frankly…not much. We know he coached some 9 year old’s at one point, that he turned down other head coaching jobs in years prior, that he has a podcast with LeBron and was a role player in the NBA. That’s about it. Anything else you hear is projected supposition, at best. One positive that could be gleaned is that he also shows up without much baggage. There are no game 7 collapses to atone for, no time outs left in the pocket to explain, not really much at all. Good or bad. So if you’re of the opinion that a clean slate and an empty bucket are what the Lakers need from a head coach you got your man. There are zero interviews that I can find where he explicitly endorses any style of basketball, he seems to advocate a strong point of attack defense but that really doesn’t bring much to the table.
2. Why am I not over the moon about this? I think that, because of the Lakers having a ton of expectations because of being both the Lakers and the team, on which LeBron will end his career, JJ has too steep of a mountain to climb. With the thinnest of resumes, a solid career as a role-player with some decent playoff experience and that’s it, there’s a lot of on-the-job learning coming his way. I don’t care that he and LeBron have a podcast because when there’s a 4-5 game losing streak you’re mired in none of that will matter. Hearing other unproven people, like Rajon Rondo, being considered for his staff doesn’t really fill me with confidence, either. You need someone who has done this before on that bench or I guarantee coaching will be the #1 issue we lose games next season.
3. Don’t you think the Lakers did their due diligence? In short, no. I think that they had a #1, 2, & 3 options and they got rebuffed, again. Rob can’t close deals, this is fact now. So they took the sure “yes”. That is what I think. I think they, once again, imposed an artificial timeline of having a coach by the draft (like JJ will say “No! I’ve scouted and canvassed the ENTIRE field of draftees, take this guy!” lol). I think they, once again, couldn’t close the deal with their candidate of choice and had to look to a field of uninspiring…but knowledgeable…ex-coaches or highly regarded assistants. The Lakers had a list at the beginning of the offseason, two of the coaches (Ty Lue and Jason Kidd) on the list were/are still coaching their teams. Dan Hurley was #3. If you think due diligence and intense scrutiny led to this match I don’t know what to tell you.
4. Are the Lakers set up in such a way for JJ to succeed right away? Now THAT my friends is the only question worth asking right now. Whether or not you agree with the hire it is now a moot point. What does JJ have to work with? A team that had a healthy LeBron and AD for the majority of the season, Reaves played in all 82 games and contributions from unexpected sources throughout the season and managed to get to the 8th seed and then lose in the 1st round. Not having Wood, Cam, Gabe and especially Vando definitely affected the defensive side of the equation. Wood was in and out and when he was in he was up and down. Cam was the same. Gabe looked OK at times in the playoffs when he finally got healthy but it came at the expense of a role Max Christie did well enough with and Max is a better scorer. DLo is a huge question mark, will he or won’t het stay and at what cost? The roster under=performed last season and Rob didn’t address any of it in-season. We’ll see how this one shakes out over the summer.
5. So what do you think will happen, Mr. Smart Guy? Me, I dunno. I think Reddick is good for prep. Everything I’ve heard and read and based on his observations on Mind the Game lead me to believe he is thorough when it comes to studying the game. Observing X’s and O’s and creating them are two different things. Talking about what a guy should do and getting a locker room full of alpha personalities to actually do that are two very different things. Observing and coaching are two totally different realities. If JJ had been more of a locker room leader during his playing career I’d maybe have a little more optimism but everything I’ve seen or read on that indicates he was not. Which is fine when you’re a journeyman three point specialist. Will anything he’s learned on his professional and personal journey translate to success in coaching an NBA team? I truly have no clue.

I’m reminded of Jim Buss and his now infamously legendary quote: “Evaluating basketball talent is not too difficult. If you grabbed 10 fans out of a bar and asked them to rate prospects, their opinions would be pretty much identical to those of the pro scouts.” Sure, he kind of tried to walk it back years later but that quote revealed a truth about both his work ethic and his respect for the work that goes into the game of basketball. Work we do not watch on TV. Work we don’t put ourselves through. Scrutiny we don’t understand. Everything that goes into making 10 or so athletes look good, play well and accomplish the goal of winning it all. JJ is a gamble, a high risk one at that, not sure what the high reward people talk about seeing because the reward is the same for anyone who takes the job. He can’t succeed any better than Frank Vogel did, who won us a title in his first season under unprecedented and never toi be replicated conditions and was fired 183 days later. He can only hope to reach that something akin to that height or be considered a failure to some degree. The only silver lining there is that this has got to be Rob Pelinka’s last coach he hires.