The Los Angeles Lakers made headlines this offseason with the hiring of former NBA sharpshooter and ESPN analyst JJ Redick as head coach. While the first-year coach may not have the coaching résumé of other candidates, he has one of the best basketball minds in the game.
Redick was announced as the head coach of the Lakers shortly after the end of the NBA Finals, in which the 40-year-old was a part of the play-by-play crew.
Following the hiring of Redick, Shams Charania of The Athletic shared that individuals within the Lakers brass believed that Redick “drew internal comparisons to a young Pat Riley.” The comparisons influenced a lot of positive and negative reactions, but the one reaction that stood out the most came from Lakers legend Shaquille O’Neal this past Thursday on the Pat McAfee show.
“No, stop it, stop it, stop it. Don’t even—stop it, stop it," O'Neal said in response to McAfee bringing up the comparison. "First of all, JJ is a nice guy. Pat Riley is the man. So imagine you come in and (expletive) JJ Redick starts yelling at you. It’s going to be a (expletive) fight in there. Players ain’t going for all that yelling and all that screaming and all that extra running. Next Pat Riley, my (expletive).”
O’Neal also suggested that it’s still the “LeBron show” in LA despite Redick coming in. The four-time NBA champion believes the Lakers could get off to a rough start as the team adjusts to learning under a coach the players believe they’re better than.
While it’s yet to be seen how effective Redick will be in his first year in Los Angeles, O'Neal, who played under Riley, is confident that Redick’s comparisons are far-fetched.
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