There’s a faction in the NBA community that believes JJ Redick was set up to fail in his Lakers job. It’s not immense pressure in that market. The speculation stems from the team’s frontman. Critics can give a laundry list of reasons why Redick won’t be able to coach LeBron James. Someone who coached James before said nope. Mike “Coach K” Krzyzewski has coached both the Lakers star and coach. Redick has a great blueprint in his old college coach and a strong supporter too.
On Colin Cowherd’s show, Coach K gave his gold stamp of approval for Redick. “For me, JJ is amazingly competitive, and is prepared as well as any player I’ve coached at Duke.” That’s testimony of the time Krzyzewski coached the Blue Devils from 1980 to 2022, and developed several Duke products in the NBA including Redick.
While Redick’s inexperience is the biggest talking point, Coach K even said that he is the ideal person to handle the veterans on the Lakers squad. “He’s smart, he’s confident and he understands the game and having 15 years of being a pro, he has empathy for the guy trying to make it when he’s trying to make and makes it, and for the veteran who is still trying to make it. … I think he has empathy for what a roster would look like.”
It’s not as someone who mentored Redick before the NBA fame. He happens to know what it is like coaching LeBron James and a star-studded squad that needs to bounce back.
Mike Krzyzewski discusses JJ Redick coaching the Lakers:
"He's prepared as well as any player I've coached at Duke… I think he has empathy for what a roster would look like." pic.twitter.com/Khm99i34YM
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) July 30, 2024
Krzyzewski was an assistant coach on the 1992 Dream Team and the Team USA Head Coach for the 2008, 2012 and 2016 Olympics, all featuring LeBron James on the squad,. 2008 is significant because it’s not only the Redeem Team, but Coach K was the guy who restored the Team USA basketball supremacy with help from the team’s biggest stars.
Coach K had to gain what JJ Redick already has
The Redeem Team had Kobe Bryant at the helm and LeBron as his Robin. Regardless, the two main stars of the team deferred to Coach K. There was a lot of speculation about how then 23-year-old James would work under the Duke coach having skipped the college experience. But the coach spent the time before Olympics traveling to Akron and building a relationship with James. He did that for Bryant, Dwyane Wade, and Jason Kidd too. By the time Olympics training camp opened, there was no tensions between them. A significant instance proved it.
Krzyzewski held a roundtable of sorts with the team to ask what each one would do to win the gold. Kobe and Wade were the most moving orators at the table. But it looked like Bron was not going to speak at all. Some say he was nervous to speak after Braynt as the only one who had not won a championship on the team. The coach was close to ending the meeting thinking this was sign that James doesn’t trust him. Then LeBron spoke and expressed his trust in Coach K. That was the high point of his Olympic career.
Coach K implies that Redick doesn’t have to work to gain Bron’s trust because he already has it. As soon as his appointment was official, he was there to say that the former Duke star is a “leader” and knows how to build players’ trust. He’s doubled down on it again. So we know who Redick is calling if he needs advice.
The post Having Once Feared LeBron James’ Rejection, Ex-Duke Coach Doubles Down on JJ Redick’s Lakers Role appeared first on EssentiallySports.