UConn Huskies men’s basketball head coach Dan Hurley is reportedly traveling to California to meet with the Los Angeles Lakers about potentially becoming the next head coach of the organization. Before ESPN senior NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news on Thursday, the belief was that ESPN NBA analyst JJ Redick was the frontrunner to receive the Lakers’ head coaching job. Redick is in the midst of calling his first NBA Finals as part of the lead broadcasting booth on ABC alongside play-by-play announcer Mike Breen, analyst Doris Burke and reporter Lisa Salters.
Ken Carman and Anthony Lima discussed the situation surrounding Redick, who also owns his own production company and hosts two podcasts outside of his ESPN work. On Friday morning’s edition of The Ken Carman Show with Anthony Lima on 92.3 The Fan, Lima was curious to know if Carman would consider Redick being hired for the vacant Cleveland Cavaliers head coaching job as a splash hire. After thinking about it for a few seconds, Carman replied that it would constitute such classification and proceeded to explain the credibility of the potential hire.
“I think that he’s a major star right now on ESPN,” Carman said. “He’s a major star on that network. I think he’s become one of the preeminent basketball talkers.”
While Redick has displayed his aptitude and expertise of basketball in numerous capacities both as an active player and sports media personality, he has no previous NBA coaching experience. Later in the segment, Carman pointed to instances that he considered disasters for first-time head coach hires, including Jason Kidd and Steve Nash with the Brooklyn Nets. Although he does not foresee these occurrences being a reason to refrain from hiring Redick, he did acknowledge that it would be a venture into the unknown.
“I look at it this way – maybe he has the chops to be a head coach,” Lima said. “I don’t even know how seriously he wants to be a head coach, but we’re basing it on what, the fact that he’s in a three-man booth for the biggest games in the NBA this year – he got that opportunity; he ascended quickly – and because he does a podcast on the NBA.”
Carman mentioned how Redick was a skilled player with a cognizance of the game, but Lima wondered how many people could fit that profile and talk basketball with LeBron James. Redick has been hosting the Mind the Game podcast alongside James since March through which they have discussed nuances within the sport.
“How many would LeBron actually talk basketball with on a podcast though?,” Carman questioned. “I think that’s different. You might say there’s 200 guys who could do it, but how many guys is LeBron going to pick out? He picked out JJ Redick, so that buys him legitimacy.”
With the Cavaliers moving on from head coach J.B. Bickerstaff after five seasons, Carman does not expect the new hire to remain with the team for five to 10 years. With Lima contesting that he believes there are many players around the NBA who could discuss basketball with LeBron James and wondering if that makes them a head coach, Carman further elaborated on the benefit the podcast has had in Redick’s profile.
“What brought him legitimacy?,” Carman asked. “It wasn’t years in the NBA – not just years in the NBA – it was not just his wine palette. It was LeBron choosing him to help get his voice out there, even though LeBron doesn’t need help, and actually establishing a rapport with somebody he feels knows basketball as much as him.”
