Lakers introduce JJ Redick: What we learned from press conference, with insight on Anthony Davis, LeBron James

JJ Redick was officially introduced as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday, and the first question on everyone’s lips was whether or not he would retain his old job as a podcaster. That question was answered definitively. “I am, for the time being, and hopefully it’s a very, very long time, I am excommunicated from the content space,” Redick said. “There will be no podcast.”

As for the on-court matters? Well, those questions are a bit more complicated. Redick was clear that figuring out how this team will play will be a collaborative process between him, his staff and the yet-to-be-constructed roster. There’s only so much we can take from a single press conference, especially when the coach being introduced has no experience at the professional level.

But Redick and general manager Rob Pelinka did offer some important insight into what the next era of Lakers basketball will look like. Here are some of the highlights from their press conference on Monday.

Typically, teams work closely with their best players when they are looking for a new head coach. That is especially true of players of a certain stature. LeBron James and Anthony Davis, All-NBA players that led the Lakers to the 2020 championship, certainly qualify. But according to Pelinka, one of them played a much bigger part in the process than the other.

According to Pelinka, James was “very supportive of our organization in this process. And that’s a different word, and I want to be mindful of the word, than involved. So I would say it again, LeBron was very supportive of us and our process, but chose not to be involved, and we respected that.” But Davis, on the other hand? He “chose to be very involved and was very involved. I talked to him throughout the process and got a lot of help and wisdom from him, and he was very excited for today.”

On the surface, this might seem a bit surprising. James and Redick hosted the Mind the Game podcast together. Reports during the process suggested that James Borrego, not Redick, was Davis’ preferred head coaching candidate….

Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/lakers-introduce-jj-redick-what-we-learned-from-press-conference-with-insight-on-anthony-davis-lebron-james/

Author : Sam Quinn

Publish date : 2024-06-24 23:32:04

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