Lil Wayne Compares JJ Redick to Kobe Bryant, Shows Confidence in Lakers’ Appointment

JJ Redick‘s appointment as the LA Lakers’ head coach has given rise to varied opinions among fans and analysts. While many are skeptical about his success due to his lack of prior coaching experience, Lil Wayne isn’t worried about it. On a recent episode of UNDISPUTED, Wayne talked about why he is so confident in Redick’s appointment despite the obvious drawbacks.

Weezy believes that the lack of coaching experience should be the least of worries for the Lakers fans. In his opinion, Redick is a competitor who knows his strengths and weaknesses.

He is banking on the fact that the 39-year-old is aware of the narrative about him and that he will use the criticism as a motivation. Tunechi even compared Redick to Michael Jordan and the late, great Kobe Bryant in terms of their competitive drive.

He said, “He’s one of those…like Jordan…like I can beat you to the door type of thing. I also know about JJ is that he’s super prepared…for anything. He’s like…Kobe Bryant.” Wayne used a music analogy to explain that if he asked Kobe for a verse, he’d move the earth to make sure that his verse was better than Weezy’s.

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Wayne brought up another reason why he believes that Redick will be great at his job. He said, “He prepares like crazy. I think I heard…just for the job he does as an analyst, he hires people to get clips together…Anything that he approaches, he approaches it the proper way, the appropriate way. So, I have full trust in him.” While he is confident about Redick’s new role, Rachel Nichols believes that it’s a big gamble.

Rachel Nichols believes that things can go either way

Nichols said that Redick is going to be the seventh head coach of the Lakers in the last 13 years, eighth if we count Bernie Bickerstaff’s interim role in 2012. She also outlined another trend that has been a part of the Lakers franchise, the untimely firing of head coaches. She said,

“Can they afford to be taking another gamble that in a year might completely blow up in their faces? They’ve done it. So, it’s pretty interesting that this hire and this chance has come at this time.”

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Nichols also referred to a tweet from Redick from about a year ago where he told a fan, “I’m actually coaching 8/9-year-olds. Hoping to move up to middle school in the next 3-5 years.”

Instead of moving up the ladder to middle school, he has made a massive leap into the biggest basketball league in the world. Whether he is ready, or this was a gamble as Nichols said, we’ll know once the next season gets underway. Until then, the new HC has enough time to prepare himself, build a strong roster, and support staff around him that will help his first stint as an NBA coach.