Three reasons JJ Redick will fail as the Lakers new HC

JJ Redick.

After striking out in their effort to hire UConn's Dan Hurley, the Los Angeles Lakers hired LeBron James' podcast partner to lead their team. Here are three reasons why the JJ Redick era in Los Angeles is likely to end in failure.

Redick has no coaching experience

Redick was remarkably successful as a podcaster and a broadcaster, moving up to ESPN's top announcing team at midseason while running his own production company. His own podcasts, "The Old Man and the Three" and "Mind The Game," which he co-hosts with James, are two of the most popular sports podcasts, where Redick talks basketball strategy and breaks down the game.

But that's not the same as coaching a team, something Redick hasn't done at any level. Giving him the Lakers head-coaching job is like giving an actor a nine-figure budget to direct his first film. The Lakers are guessing that he can do the job, but it's all theoretical.

Look at Steve Nash's unsuccessful tenure in Brooklyn as a first-time head coach or Derek Fisher with the New York Knicks.

There have been success stories, like Larry Bird's three-year stint coaching the Indiana Pacers or Steve Kerr leading the Golden State Warriors to a title. But both of them had years of experience working in NBA front offices before they took to the sidelines. Being an NBA head coach is a tough job to learn on the fly.

The Lakers roster isn't great

James is an all-time great. Anthony Davis is a nine-time All-Star. Yet with their healthiest seasons in years (only 17 missed games combined), the Lakers were an eighth-place team that won a single playoff game.

Now Redick inherits a team that finished with the NBA's 15th-best offense and 16th-best defense, the definition of league average. James is still an All-NBA player, but he turns 40 on Dec. 30.

It's not clear that former coaches Darvin Ham and Frank Vogel were lacking as strategists as much as they failed to meet unrealistic expectations that always exist for the Lakers, no matter how talented their roster is or isn't.

Perhaps Redick is a new voice that can reach the Lakers veterans better than Ham. But Redick's coaching can't make James any younger or the team's perimeter defenders more athletic.

He's coaching LeBron James on the Lakers

James has been on the Lakers for six seasons. Redick will be his fourth head coach in that time. There simply isn't a long leash for anyone coaching the Lakers, nor for anyone coaching James, who has had eight different head coaches in his career, with only Mike Brown and Erik Spoelstra lasting more than three seasons — and James tried to get Spoelstra fired 17 games into his first season in Miami.

Meanwhile, the Lakers are on their eighth head coach since Phil Jackson left in 2011. What that means is James plus Lakers is a combination that leads to a lot of impatience with a head coach, no matter if he's learning on the job. Anything short of an NBA title is a disappointment, and even winning a title only got Frank Vogel two extra years.

A first-time NBA coach needs patience, but that's not part of the package with James or the Lakers, who have been in title-or-bust mode since 2019. When the Lakers made their offer to Dan Hurley, it was for six years and $70M. Redick is reportedly getting roughly $32M for four years. Redick's deal doesn't carry as much job security, as it's much cheaper to replace him.

Redick may defy the odds and succeed as a rookie Lakers coach. But the odds are definitely stacked against him.

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