JJ Redick joins the Lakers with zero NBA coaching experience. How has that worked for other teams?

JJ Redick is set to be introduced as the new head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday. As you might have heard, it will be the first time he has ever worked as a coach in any capacity outside of his son’s youth basketball team.

If the NBA’s premier franchise hiring a coaching neophyte to lead it back into the contender ranks sounds strange to you, you are not alone. It is, at best, a bold move by Lakers leadership and, at worst, a desperate attempt to keep Redick’s podcast partner, LeBron James, happy before he likely opts out of his contract and hits free agency.

Even the names the Lakers invoke as past success stories to justify this hire — Pat Riley, Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr — had significantly more experience at the time of their hires than Redick.

Riley was an assistant coach under Paul Westhead for parts of three seasons before he was given the top job in 1981. Spoelstra worked under Riley for nearly a decade with the Miami Heat, mostly as a video coordinator and assistant coach. Kerr had three years of experience as the Phoenix Suns’ general manager before joining the Golden State Warriors.

Meanwhile, Redick’s post-retirement career has consisted of three years as an ESPN broadcaster and podcaster.

The Lakers are betting a lot on JJ Redick. (Photo by Jamie Schwaberow/Getty Images)

Redick’s hire isn’t entirely unprecedented, though. NBA teams have hired former players who have never been on the other side of the clipboard, it’s just a rare occurrence in the long history of the NBA.

So in the interest of evaluating just how big a leap of faith the Lakers are taking, let’s take a look at all the other times an NBA team decided NBA or college coaching experience wasn’t a prerequisite for the full-time job and how it worked out. We’re not going to break down the coaches who had real front-office experience like Kerr, but will include them at the bottom.

Career record: 94-67, two playoff appearances in three seasons
Best playoff result: Eastern Conference semifinals

We’re starting with a story the Lakers probably don’t want you to think about as Redick takes the reins.

The Nets hiring the Hall of Fame…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-06-24 13:28:58

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