Coaching at the NBA level can be difficult for individuals who don’t have valuable experience in the field.
A former Houston Rockets fan-favorite, three-time All-Star, and co-NBA Rookie of the Year wholeheartedly agrees.
“I love basketball, but there’s no way that just because he (JJ Redick) went to Duke, and he criticizes people on television like he sounds like a great coach,” Steve Francis said Friday on the Live From The District podcast. “But I look at it like all these other guys who put a lot of significant work in, you have my boy David Vanterpool here in Washington, you have Sam Cassell, you have so many guys who have championship experience.”
“All these guys who have experience and get looked over just because it’s the ‘it’ thing right now with generation because these guys are doing these podcasts. There is no chance that JJ Redick is going to be able to command that locker room. Yeah, him and LeBron can sit there, drink wine together, and break down plays, but it’s a little different when you got 20,000 people screaming at you, and you have 11 other players that you have to manage as well.”
Francis, who shared the Rookie of the Year award with Elton Brand in 2000, received three consecutive All-Star invitations with the Rockets, and played nine seasons in the NBA, made some valid points about the Los Angeles Lakers’ appalling coaching hire.
Redick, who the Lakers hired in June, will coach an NBA team for the first time during the 2024-25 season.
From Francis’ perspective, Vanterpool and Cassell are two examples of coaches far more qualified to take over a franchise than Redick.
Vanterpool started as an assistant for CSKA Moscow in 2008 but has since worked for the Portland Trail Blazers, Brooklyn Nets, and Washington Wizards. He was also an associate head coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves for two seasons.
Cassell has been an assistant coach in the NBA since 2009 and recently helped the Boston Celtics defeat the Dallas Mavericks in the NBA finals.
Additionally, it’s fair to assume that Redick will struggle to garner respect from most of the Lakers’ roster and the entire fanbase in Year 1. As soon as the Lakers experience a rough patch under Redick’s leadership, the former first-round pick may gain more naysayers than supporters in Los Angeles.
Some may not agree with Francis’ assessment of Redick, but there’s some truth to his evaluation of the Lakers’ new addition.
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