NBA 2024-25

Madcows

Madcows

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Lakers make it official and hire JJ Reddick.  I'll hold off judgement on this until his staff is finalized, but this like hiring Rob Zatechka to the be the HC because he was a good former player and has a good podcast. The stars could align and make magic, but odds are not great.

And yes, there's the comparisons to Steve Kerr, but Kerr at least had some Front Office experience as a GM, whereas JJ is only an announcer/podcast host.  This has trainwreck written all over it.

 
I just don't get it, but what do I know? I'm all for giving new coaches an opportunity, but throwing him into the Lakers mess just seems odd to me. Is he just going to be the mouthpiece for whatever King James wants? 

 
I guess you could call Reddick a risk, but I can't think of a proven NBA coach who could walk into the current Lakers situation and you'd think "oh he's perfect. This'll work out great."  Any coach could go in any direction on this one. 

The future of the Lakers is really about Rob Pelinka's roster management.  

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
I guess you could call Reddick a risk, but I can't think of a proven NBA coach who could walk into the current Lakers situation and you'd think "oh he's perfect. This'll work out great."  Any coach could go in any direction on this one. 

The future of the Lakers is really about Rob Pelinka's roster management.  
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Really not sure what’s gonna improve there. They can keep playing musical chairs around the margins all they want. Lebron is another year older and Davis is going to remain injury prone. If they really want to win another title before 2035, they should  try to sign and trade Lebron if they can and then deal Davis while he still has value. Otherwise just sliding further and further while they’re valuable assets depreciate 

 
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Any GM can totally change the prospects of his team in the free agent and undrafted market. There's tons of great and affordable talent in there, but the difference between a game-changer and a total whiff is hard to tell in team tryouts, G-League, and Las Vegas Summer Leagues. You need really skillful scouts and a good bit of luck. 

Naz Reid was undrafted, and I might take him straight up over Karl Anthony Townes or Rudy Gobert at this point, and most definitely at $30 million less a year. The smart GM play would have been to nab Reid two years ago.

The player who mystifies me a bit is Alex Caruso, who OKC just traded Josh Giddey for. I kept hearing about teams wanting to trade for Caruso, including my Warriors. Didn't see it myself, but apparently he's going to get great money to come of the bench as a role player and defensive specialist. He's another guy who didn't get drafted, doing better than all but 8 first round picks in 2016. Player evaluation sure ain't a science. 

Remember the #1 draft pick in 2016?  Ben Simmons. Gotta be one of the strangest stories of wasted talent in the league. 

 
One of the hardest things to do is go from never coaching to coaching...the next hardest is becoming a head coach.

I was a GREAT asst coach for football and baseball, I was a horrible head coach.  It is just totally different.  

Doesn't mean he won't be great at it, who knows what will happen!

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
I guess you could call Reddick a risk, but I can't think of a proven NBA coach who could walk into the current Lakers situation and you'd think "oh he's perfect. This'll work out great."  Any coach could go in any direction on this one. 

The future of the Lakers is really about Rob Pelinka's roster management.  
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None of the coaches were truly available, but IMO, there are at least 3-4 coaches who could have walked in and made them a title contender tomorrow, and IMO another 5-6 coaches that would make them contenders in the west. For all the talk of the Lakers age and injuries and mismanagement, they were not that far off from being a top 3/4 team in the West last year with a coach who proved he was in over his head. I'm not sold JJ is a good/great coach. I mean, he's never coached at any level to truly know what he's stepping into, and then there's still a big difference between walking in and taking over a team like say the Hornets vs walking in and taking over a team like the Lakers. Very few teams in the NBA have the magnifying glass as big as the Lakers have and JJ will be scrutinized and criticized over every minute detail and decision he makes.

 
Madcows said:
Very few teams in the NBA have the magnifying glass as big as the Lakers have and JJ will be scrutinized and criticized over every minute detail and decision he makes.
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True, but at the same time the Detroit Pistons just fired their first year coach and ate at least $60 million. That's a lot of money for a team lacking money players. Scrutiny and expectations are everywhere. 

The most scrutinized Laker won't be Reddick or Pelinka, it will be LeBron James, who everyone will hold responsible for the Reddick hire. 

If LeBron and AD stay healthy at the same time, the Lakers can definitely contend with only minor roster improvements. But that's getting to be a big ask all by itself. 

 
I like JJ Redick and wish him the best with the Lakers.  I think he can become a pretty good coach in this league.  It might be after a stint in LA.  

I really was hoping he would have gone to Charlotte or Pistons or Cleveland instead.

I don't see the Lakers having a talented team.  That's why they sucked and everyone blames the head coach instead.  

Maybe JJ can turn them into a 6th seed in the West.  But when they lose in the playoffs after a couple of years, and Lebron is 41, they'll fire JJ and blame him.  

 
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good for Redick. What a deft job at life - never would've thought his most impressive achievements in notoriety in relation to basketball would come after he stopped playing.

 
admo said:
I like JJ Redick and wish him the best with the Lakers.  I think he can become a pretty good coach in this league.  It might be after a stint in LA.  

I really was hoping he would have gone to Charlotte or Pistons or Cleveland instead.

I don't see the Lakers having a talented team.  That's why they sucked and everyone blames the head coach instead.  

Maybe JJ can turn them into a 6th seed in the West.  But when they lose in the playoffs after a couple of years, and Lebron is 41, they'll fire JJ and blame him.  
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Yet this 'untalented team' led 80% of the Denver series with an incompetent coach, who mismanaged rotations, timeouts and challenges.  A competent coach fixes those things and puts them in a better spot to close each game. Plus, a competent coach would have been doing this during the regular season as well.  A regular season where bad coaching decisions directly led to at least 8-9 losses, split those, they avoid the play-in and would have finished 4th in the west, if they all go the Lakers way, they are equal to the top 3 in the west. There is a persuasive argument to be made, that bad coaching led to closer 20 losses. With a good/great coach, they would have been a 55-60 win team last year. They are not a team to sleep on. The last season, Ham was to blame, and it was good to move on from him. Vogel was the scapegoat for Pelinka and The Rambiis making poor personnel decisions. Which if rumors are true, those decisions were because they caved to LeGM, against Vogel's wishes. This should worry people, because if they ever get their front-office/coaching staff to be competent and on the same page, the narrative would switch from "they don't have talent/they are too old" (which is laughably off) to "which version of the clear and cream is LBJ taking and can it show up on tests?". It's not an unreasonable expectation for this team to be in the WCF or Finals next year. Same for Minny, OKC and Denver. It all depends on JJs competency and the staff he builds. Until JJ shows it, they will be a tier below those three teams.

 
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Interesting he went so high, I think they could have traded down. A starting 5 of Smart, Ja, Jackson, Bane and Edey will be very good. They should be a great defensive team and with Jackson, Bane and Ja they will be able to score on anyone. Memphis has done really well with 5s that don't stretch the floor but can rebound and defend. This is the best landing spot for Edey and makes a healthy Memphis team a team to watch next season.

 
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