Richard Jefferson blames Lakers’ front office for JJ Redick hiring criticism

The Los Angeles Lakers will enter the upcoming season with JJ Redick as their new head coach. While one could argue that the former NBA player is a good media analyst, many fans are concerned with Redick’s lack of coaching experience. This has caused plenty of criticism, both toward the Lakers organization and the newly-hired coach himself. For Richard Jefferson, however, the blame for the backlash falls more so on the team’s front office.

“The criticism in my opinion, there was a portion of it that had to do with JJ, and a lot portion of it had to do with the Lakers and their organization,” Jefferson said, during a recent episode of the Road Trippin’ podcast. “Like let’s play a hypothetical game. If Pop (Gregg Popovich) were to retire and JJ were to get that job, and Pop were to go into the front office and be Pat Riley, and they were like JJ ‘you’re going to be Erik Spoelstra,’…I think the criticism would be exponentially lower. You look at the organization as a stable place. Okay this is how they’re going to do. They’re going to build a young team, all of that stuff.”

“I think the criticism of JJ was a bit unfair but I think it was more of because the Lakers have been so up and down. So you’re like okay, you’re going to throw a person that everyone believes is an intelligent basketball mind and has the will and want to do it, but you’re going to put him in a situation that historically, and I say historically, since Phil Jackson left, has had in and out of coaches. And I think that part fell on JJ more,” Jefferson added.

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Brian Buyawe is an NBA, NFL, NCAA Football, and NCAA Basketball writer for ClutchPoints. His advanced knowledge of basketball, football, and Formula One started at an early age, allowing him to provide in-depth analysis.