JJ Redick is now the Los Angeles Lakers coach.
In some ways, I am happy about this.
The former Duke Blue Devil has been magnificent on the mic as a player-turned-media person. He has held his own against the likes of Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless. Yes, he has had battles with NBA legend Jerry West for his plumbers and firemen barb, but I would rather listen to him than most so-called NBA analysts.
Uhurm, Kendrick Perkins.
And in some ways, at least the horror story of LeBron James isn't as impactful. For years, we have listened to many horror stories on how toxic LBJ is to his past coaches. I was shocked when he tried to get Erik Spoelstra fired during his time with the Miami Heat.
At the moment, the thought of having an almost 40-something superstar, who is still at the peak of his career, as the proverbial Vince McMahon to Michael Cole's ear, is just insane.
When he was still running the WWE, Vince would often dictate to Cole whatever he wanted to say or do via an earpiece, which made the latter restricted, constricted, restrained, and almost like his avatar on the mic. The more energetic Cole we know now is better than his past incarnation.
Most of his former coaches are still enjoying the NBA spotlight. With that said, James' team control is making many players and coaches veer away from his direction. LBJ kickstarted the whole "control your narrative" shtick among players. Why would a player be dependent on a team, when he should just take care of his path? In some ways, betting on yourself is a noble thought. However, some players spammed it to the point of it being annoying as hell.
Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Kahwi Leonard, and James Harden, alongside LeBron James, are notorious for this. Exactly how many Oklahoma City Thunder reunions do we need, anyway? Russell Westbrook bounced from team to team because he followed James Harden to Houston. His vortex even led to Chris Paul bouncing from team to team. Harden, Durant, and Irving played for the Brooklyn Nets, and I don't know which superstar squad was detrimental to the team, compared to the time of Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Deron Williams, and Joe Johnson.
When you pick up parts of the Banana Boat boys and their contemporaries, a team ends up with lost draft picks, wasted potential, and a team struggling for relevance. In some ways, I think this is why Kyrie is better in Dallas. Staying in Texas made Kyrie nice. I know I have been negative about him in my blog, but Kyrie in Dallas is like Chris Webber when he first arrived in Sacramento.
I can see Redick appeasing LeBron, who is also his podcast partner. And if JJ thinks coaching isn't for him, he can always have his media empire to fall back on. However, this is going to be his drawback from here on out. Aside from having the spotlight, he also needs to hide from it. When you are used to talking in front of people, it's hard for a guy to just concentrate on one topic. There is a threat of tampering if he loves an opposing player too much. He can't also snap back at the critics because he knows how these critics would counter his words.
Let's see how he does here.