JJ Redick Update

The Blue Devil legend is off to a solid start as the coach of the Los Angeles Lakers

Remember when Duke legend JJ Redick was introduced as the Lakers’ head coach in June? The reaction was distinctly mixed. Some people, including his college coach Mike Krzyzewski, were pretty excited. Others were distinctly less so.

There was a sense that Redick, who had never coached, was jumping the line and certain assistant coaches should have gotten the job.

Things have changed a bit since then.

Redick has a limited hand, but he has played it well so far. The Lakers only added two new players - Dalton Knecht out of Tennessee, who was taken #17 in this summer’s NBA Draft and LeBron James, Jr. (aka Bronny), who has not contributed meaningfully so far this season.

The older James is really old by NBA standards - King James will turn 40 at the end of December and only a small number of players have played past 40 (31 to be exact).

He’s on borrowed time and Redick has adjusted, making Anthony Davis the focus of the offense and taking as much of the burden off of James as possible.

You can read more about what he’s doing here, but the point is that Redick’s creativity has already answered a lot of questions, and several players have talked about their respect for his basketball acumen.

The argument isn’t going to go away after 11 games but clearly, Redick is showing some chops.