The Los Angeles Lakers’ head coach hunt seems to be nearing its conclusion. The frontrunner for the job for the last week, JJ Redick is formally going to interview for the position this week. CJ McCollum recently made an appearance on an episode of Get Up to share his thoughts on this possibility. The 32-year-old was all praise for Redick’s basketball knowledge and his ability to read and manipulate games. However, there is one thing that sticks out like a sore thumb, which is preventing McCollum from giving Redick a thumbs up.
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During the ESPN broadcast, the New Orleans Pelicans star admitted that Redick is one of the sharpest minds in the business and his game IQ is off the charts. He pointed out that people have seen just how much JJ loves to analyze the game on his newly launched Mind the Game Pod with LeBron James.
Despite several positives promoting the idea of Redick being the Lakers head coach, McCollum is not sold on the deal just because of a simple fact. Redick has no prior coaching experience.
McCollum pointed out that the Lakers are looking for their next championship, especially with the Boston Celtics standing on the brink of surpassing them in the all-time tally. But the bigger question is, can Redick lead the team as a rookie coach under this kind of a ‘Championship or Bust’ pressure?
McCollum said, “Success to the Lakers organization is a championship. I think that’s an unfair expectation to put on JJ who has never coached before. To think that he’s gonna come in and win a championship, which is possible, but that’s what the Lakers fans and the Lakers culture wants.”
The 32-year-old believes that as great a launching pad as the Lakers organization is, it will be a tough decision for Redick to make. After McCollum conveyed his doubts, Monica McNutt had an interesting take to add.
She said, “We all know that JJ intends to go and succeed. However, if track record says, you get two years, he still would be welcomed back to our space with the widest arms, having coached LeBron.” So, if Redick fears job security, McNutt might just have given him a well laid out plan.
Shams Charania also believes that the Lakers want JJ Redick
Last week, there was a lot of commotion around the Lakers HC topic in the media. UConn’s Dan Hurley was being considered for the job by the franchise. The Lakers even had a $70 million, six years offer prepared for him.
However, Hurley decided to not take it and stay back in Connecticut. Following the deal going off the table, Shams Charania claimed on the Run It Back show that Hurley was never the first choice for the LA franchise.
He said, “He [Hurley] was not the number one candidate, the number one guy to go pursue from the start… But they felt like there was an opening there… He was in contract negotiation with UConn, he was discussing a deal to go back, and they felt like there was an opening. They threw…a hail mary offer at him, six years, $70 million.”
Despite such a lucrative offer, the Lakers came out empty handed and now their biggest hope is JJ Redick once again.
