JJ Redick had his introductory press conference as the Lakers new head coach and he was candid to say the least.
It didn’t take him long to address the elephant in the room.
“I have never coached in the NBA before,” Redick said. “I don’t know if you guys have heard that.”
The former ESPN analyst explained how becoming a coach in the NBA has been on his radar for a while.
“It was really after I interviewed for the Toronto job last year that I knew that I wanted to be a head coach in the NBA,” Redick said. “And so the last year, I spent a lot of time talking to coaches, talking with GMs, picking their brains. … I just felt like this is what I’m supposed to be doing.”
Another big question everyone had for Redick was whether he would continuing his podcast, Mind the Game, with LeBron James.
“For the time being, and hopefully it’s a very, very long time, I am excommunicated from the content space,” Redick said. “So there will be no podcast. … I’m done with podcasting for now.”
LeBron kept his distance from Redick during the interview process, he shared.
“He didn’t provide any advice,” Redick said. “LeBron and I did not talk about the Lakers job until Thursday afternoon about 30 minutes after I was offered the job. And that was very intentional on both our parts.”
His best response of the press conference came when he was asked if he wants to dispel any misconceptions about him.
“It’s a valid question. And I’ve certainly heard everything,” Redick said.
“It’s been a really interesting six weeks or so, just in terms of being a part of the engagement farming industry, it’s been really interesting. However, I don’t really have a great answer to your question because I really don’t give a f***.
“I want to coach the Lakers. I want to coach the team. I don’t want to dispel anything. I want to become a great coach in the NBA, and I want to win championships. And I want my players to maximize their careers. That’s all I f***ing care about.”
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