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Dan Hurley rejecting the LA Lakers‘ job already caused enough damage to the reputation of the offer. And now an ex-NBA star has shown his lack of interest in the job. However, this comes in a different sense as the Lakers have already finalized JJ Redick as the official head coach who will helm LeBron James and Co.’s championship aspirations next season.
The player to deny Redick’s job position is Richard Jefferson, but it’s not about the Lakers but the profession itself. “Let me be very, very honest… I don’t want JJ’s job as a coach. I think that’s a terrible idea. Anybody that decides to coach Luke Walden, best friend, why would you coach…” he said on Road Trippin’s recent episode. However, Jeff understands people like Redick, who have a particular brain type and desire to love this profession.
Further extending his support to the new head coach for LeBron James and Co., Jeff expressed his belief that Redick will do a good job. As for the popular debate on JJ having no coaching experience, Jeff termed the opinion lame.
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“Jason Kidd didn’t have any coaching experience. You know, there are people that have done this. You know, there’s many players that have stepped into that role. It doesn’t matter,” he said. The 2016 NBA champ recollected his own example of playing under a coach who never played basketball. One such coach for Jeff was Lawrence Frank, who he claims knew his sh*t. Notably, there has been severe criticism from some fans and members of the basketball community for picking a coach with no prior experience.
Jefferson holds LeBron James and Co.’s inconsistency responsible for Redick’s criticism
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The 2016 NBA champ played a hypothetical situation where instead of the Lakers, Redick was to join the Spurs. And Greg Popovich would’ve retired as head coach in the org and become the president. Jeff compared the scenario where Pop is in a way Pat Riley (Miami Heat president now but former coach) and Redick is Erik Spoelstra (the present Heat head coach).
Jefferson claims in such a stable scenario, Redick would’ve not faced much criticism despite having no prior coaching experience. But LeBron James and Co., according to Jeff, are presently dysfunctional as they lack consistency as of now. “I think the criticism of JJ was, was a bit unfair, but I think it was more of because the Lakers have been so up and down and so you’re like, okay… you’re gonna throw a person that, that everyone believes is an intelligent basketball mind,” he added.
Jefferson believes it’s not Redick’s fault for arriving in a situation of Lakers’ coaches coming and leaving ever since Phil Jackson. Notably, Redick is the 29th head coach in the franchise history of the Lakers. In either case, now that Redick has taken the job, he will have to shoulder the responsibility of the team.
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Stay tuned for more such updates. And to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, has to say about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud, Caitlin Clark’s Olympic snub, and more, watch this video.