The Way JJ Redick Completely Buried A Reporter Who Tried To Start Shit Is A Great Sign For His Chances As The Lakers New Head Coach

Adam Pantozzi. Getty Images.

Look, I do not enjoy writing this blog. In fact, it goes against pretty much everything I believe in. It's well documented that I despise every single aspect of the Los Angeles Lakers and wish them nothing but pain and misery, but my hands are tied. 

There was a lot of pushback on the Lakers hiring JJ Redick to be their next head coach, and I never really understood why. Because he's inexperienced? So what? Since when did that mean a coach couldn't work out? Last time I checked, a coach who had no head coaching experience is doing pretty well

When it comes to JJ Redick, he clearly understands the game at a high level and how NBA basketball should be played in 2024, and while he may not have the roster to play that style of basketball, I personally do not think he's going to be a disaster. As he often says, he's a basketball sicko and those guys tend to figure things out

I also cannot ignore what took place yesterday in a post practice media scrum where JJ completely eviscerated a reporter while giving what might be the best response possible

I've seen that exact interaction before, and it came in Year 1 of Joe Mazzulla. That was such a Mazzulla moment I have no choice but to respect it and give credit where credit is due. This single clip not only told me JJ gets it, but that he's willing to adopt the Mazzulla approach of calling out the media for trying to start certain narratives. Given the team he's coaching, that's going to be a thing all year so his ability to handle it this well already is a great sign. Everything about his tone and his answer was perfect.

Of course, to have this type of approach with the media, you need to win. And as we saw with Mazzulla, even if you win at a high level in Year 1, that still might not even be enough for people to give you the credit you deserve, but if I were a Lakers fan (puke) this would have me feeling more confident that this experiment might actually work. Stuff like this helps create buy-in from the players, and that's going to be the #1 thing Redick has to have. There's nothing he can do about the lack of shooting or potential depth issues, but part of what made Mazzulla so successful right away is that his players will literally kill for him.

So while it pains me to say it, I think the Lakers may have cooked with hiring Redick. We'll see what it looks like in a few weeks once the games start up again, but this one video tells me he's ready for the challenge.