NBA assistant coach and ex-Lakers star takes a swipe at JJ Redick

An NBA assistant coach who used to play for the Lakers slammed his old team for its hiring gamble on JJ Redick while suggesting that he is more than content with biding his time to lead a team one day.

The 39-year-old former forward, who is now coaching the Dallas Mavericks‘ Summer League team, was speaking to reporters on Tuesday – four days before his first game in charge against the Utah Jazz.

He said at first: ‘I want to head coach, that’s my dream… 

‘Some of us aren’t JJ Redick and get to go to the top right away… Sometimes you gotta put some [years] as an assistant. 

‘We all have different times… My time will come later on but my time will essentially come.’

The Lakers, who hired Redick despite his lack of experience as a head coach and only three seasons after he retired as a player, named both Scott Brooks and Nate McMillan as assistants to help their new man in charge next season. 

McMillan, 59, compiled a record of 760-668 over 19 seasons with the Seattle SuperSonics (2000-05), Portland Trail Blazers (2005-12), Indiana Pacers (2016-20) and Atlanta Hawks (2020-23). His teams reached the playoffs 11 times, including a run to the 2021 East finals with Atlanta. 

Brooks, 58, posted a record of 521-414 across 12 seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder (2008-15) and Washington Wizards (2016-21). His teams made the playoffs eight times, including Oklahoma City’s trip to the 2012 NBA Finals. He was the NBA Coach of the Year in 2009-10. 

Earlier this month, in a news conference with general manager Rob Pelinka at the Lakers’ training complex, Redick humorously embraced the unlikeliness of his extraordinary hire as he looked across a gym filled with team employees, media members and some of his new players.

‘I have never coached in the NBA before,’ Redick said with a straight face. ‘I don´t know if you guys have heard that.’

Redick’s coaching experience is confined to volunteering with his sons’ youth teams, but he plans to overcome that gap on his coaching CV with encyclopedic basketball knowledge, personal charisma, an experience-packed coaching staff and an eagerness to innovate. 

‘This process has been surreal, to say the least,’ Redick said. ‘I take this responsibility very seriously.. 

‘… The Lakers have some of the most passionate fans around the world, and the expectation is a championship, and so it’s my job to deliver a championship-caliber team. That’s what I signed up for.’ 

Redick also said he got this opportunity with no help or advice from LeBron James, with whom he co-hosted a popular podcast – ‘Mind the Game’ – until his hire by the Lakers.

He surely will remember Jared Dudley’s words when the Lakers and Mavs face off next season. Dudley, who’s now an assistant on the Mavs, was part of the Lakers’ championship team in the 2020 NBA Bubble. 

During the team’s title run, Dudley averaged 1.5 points per game. 

But he missed 33 games over the course of the 2020-21 NBA season due to a torn MCL and contusion in his right knee, which prompted him to retire and join Dallas’ coaching staff, in which he said to have a ‘front of the bench’ role.