Los Angeles Lakers fans have been taken for a spin when it came to replacing Darvin Ham.
They made a wild goose chase for UConn’s Dan Hurley, but he eventually chose against moving to the West Coast and tried to win a three-peat with the Huskies before moving on to the NBA. They also scoured every space for possible candidates before picking JJ Redick to take over Ham’s clipboard.
Redick, a popular sports media personality, has said his goodbyes to his beloved Old Man and the Three podcast to focus on his duties as the Purple and Gold’s chief tactician. While he hasn’t coached a basketball team at this level of competition, the Lakers front office are confident that the former sharpshooter has what it takes to become successful.
While the jury is still out on whether Redick was the right hire, one former Laker made comments that some took as a shot at the new head coach.
Jared Dudley makes surprising claim about JJ Redick being the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakres
Jared Dudley is a name familiar to fans who watched the NBA for a long time. While he wasn’t the best player on the floor, his 14-year NBA career shows that he has the intelligence to cut out a successful NBA career.
It’s also known that the 39-year-old wants to get into head coaching, and he made comments about Redick’s hiring that some fans may mistake as a slight towards the Duke product.
“Some of us aren’t JJ Redick and can’t go right away,” Dudley said. “Sometimes you got to put some of this — I got to be able to do two, three years and four, five years as an assistant. We all have different times, and my time will come later on. My time will eventually come.”
While his comments allege a bit of unfairness on other head coaching candidates, he immediately clarified that he has no bad blood towards Redick or any former players who immediately got their shot at coaching in the NBA:
“JJ is my guy! Great opportunity for him!” Dudley wrote on social media. “Jkidd did it so did Steve Kerr and my boy Steve Nash! Very rare opportunity! Ex players! Gotta love it!”
Dudley may have backtracked a bit with his comments, but it’s hard to refute his arguments. Redick has plenty to prove ahead of his first season in the NBA, and the Los Angeles Lakers will hope that he proves everyone wrong.
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