Wednesday, June 26, 2024

Placeholders

 JJ Redick dropped an F-bomb in his introductory presser as the next (former) head "coach" of the Los Angeles Lakers the other day, and it was the only thing that came out of that media scrum that was remotely noteworthy.

This is not to say JJ won't be a competent "coach" for the Lake Show. He might be, even if he's never coached a lick. He's young and he's passionate and he knows the league because he played in it for 15 years, and, hey, did you hear he has a podcast?

First active player to have one when he started it up. So he's got that going for him.

Aside from that?

Well, he and LeBron James are friendly, and almost the same age. Which counts for something, I guess -- or maybe everything, because the reason the Bob used quotation marks around "coach" is because the Lakers are LeBron's team and whoever coaches them learns  very quickly how the hierarchy works there.

Luke Walton could tell you that.

He was the "coach" when LeBron came aboard in 2018, and by the end of that season he was gone. Then it was Frank Vogel's turn, and the Lakers won the 2020 Covid Bubble title on his watch, but after three years he took his pink slip and ran.

Enter Darvin Ham, who lasted all of two seasons before the Lakers fired him, too, at the conclusion of the season just past.

Now JJ Redick climbs in the barrel, the poor sap. Although if the Lakers win maybe he sticks around awhile, because LeBron's 38 and he's already said the team needed to hire someone to coach the young guys and not him, because he wasn't going to be around much longer.

So maybe it works this time. I don't know. We'll see.

We'll see if JJ's just another placeholder for the L.A. LeBrons, and, yes, I know exactly how cynical and perhaps unfair that sounds. But the track record is the track record, and the track record in LeBron's case says very loudly that he's a coach killer. That may or may not be entirely true -- these things almost never are -- but the verdict is in and it's not going to change anytime soon.

In any case, the clock is started on JJ Redick. May he go with God, or at least the god of basketball, and not drop anymore unnecessary F-bombs in meet-and-greets with the media.

Something tells me he'll have plenty of opportunities to drop more necessary ones. Just sayin'.

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