JJ Redick Dismissing Warnings on Lakers HC Job Bodes Well for LA amid NBA Rumors

The last Los Angeles Lakers coach to spend more than three seasons in the position was the great Phil Jackson.

Jackson, for the record, last steered the squad in 2011. When JJ Redick took over as Lakers head coach in June, he became the eighth different skipper the Purple and Gold have had since Jackson walked away.

None of this needs to be relayed to Redick, of course, who possesses one of the sharpest basketball minds on the planet. Still, it was surely shared with him while he mulled walking away from his budding media empire and entering the coaching profession in one of the Association's most pressure-packed environments.

In fact, several people around him "told him it would be a bad idea" to take the Lakers' job, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin.

The fact that Redick dismissed those concerns and accepted the challenge should have this franchise and its fanbase excited.

"There's a competitive itch that I have every single day of my life," Redick said. "And no matter how many swings I took, that was not getting satisfied. And so, I felt a real calling in terms of the competitive side."

Redick didn't have to accept this offer. He was a rising star in the media world and would've had options to head elsewhere. He interviewed with the Toronto Raptors last offseason. He drew interest from the Charlotte Hornets this offseason.

Even without coaching experience, it isn't a stretch to suggest he could have picked his spot. Between his podcasting gig and ESPN work, he would've stayed front and center of the basketball world, all the while dazzling folks with his ability to think and communicate the game.

Then again, maybe this was picking his spot. Perhaps someone who's being cautioned against a "bad idea" and dives headfirst into it anyway is the perfect person to thrive in this environment.

He could have run from this challenge. He embraced it instead.

"Honestly, I want to coach the Lakers," Redick told reporters at his introductory press conference in June. "I want to coach the team. ... I want to become a great coach in the NBA. And I want to win championships. And I want my players to maximize their careers. That's all I f---ing care about."

Championship talk might feel wildly ambitious since he's effectively inheriting a roster that went 47-35 and lost in the first round last season, but wild ambition could be the key to making this work.

Obviously, Redick needs healthy versions of LeBron James and Anthony Davis to be remotely competitive this season, but the coach needs plenty more than that to get this club to championship level. James and Davis both cleared the 70-game mark last season, and the Lakers' only mentions in contending talks were the obligatory ones to feed the content machine.

To succeed where Redick's predecessors have failed, he'll need to maximize the likes of D'Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura. Redick will have to help summon the awaited leap year from Austin Reaves. Redick must help Dalton Knecht hit the ground running, get Gabe Vincent up to speed, help Max Christie navigate his likely role expansion, find ways for Christian Wood to add two-way value and craft the right developmental blueprint for Bronny James.

And Redick must do all of this from inside of the fishbowl that is the L.A. media market.

The challenge is enormous. Those cautions were voiced for a reason. But maybe, just maybe, Redick's mentality will prove precisely what's been needed for the Purple and Gold to bring out its best.