Praying JJ Redick Never Becomes a Head Coach

Since retiring from the NBA in 2021, JJ Redick has been one of the most popular names in NBA media. Whether we see clips from his podcast or clips of him angrily correcting Stephen A. Smith—who gets his information from cock sources—JJ is typically on our timelines and newsfeeds saying some smart basketball shit.

This week it is being reported that the Toronto Raptors brought JJ Redick in to interview for their head coaching vacancy. Redick joins a growing list of coaching candidates for Toronto—all of which being far more qualified for the position than him—including Golden State’s Kenny Atkinson, Milwaukee’s Charles Lee, Phoenix’s Kevin Young, San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson, Sacramento’s Jordi Fernandez, Memphis’ Darko Rajakovic and Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon.

JJ Redick for sure deserves an opportunity to be on a coaching staff. When you hear him talk about the game, it’s clear he knows what he’s talking about and he’s capable of sharing that information in a digestible way. A way that NBA players can absorb and learn.

He probably shouldn’t jump ahead of the line of folks who have paid their dues on the sidelines for years but don’t have the clout of being the guy who missed all the 3’s in big playoff games while Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons took the blame.

But I won’t sit here and complain as if JJ Redick is cutting the line here.

Recently, the NBA has shown no problem giving anyone a chance regardless of their prior experience. Sure, it still feels like white dudes walk into these interviews wearing jeans and a dirty sweatshirt and leave with the job even though they left their resumes at home but it doesn’t feel like black candidates are just being ignored—or at least it doesn’t feel as evident and nasty as it does in the NFL.

I mean, who cares who the Raptors hire as their next head coach? This entire roster needs a renovation, They finished 9th in the Eastern Conference this season after finishing 5th the year prior with basically the same exact personnel.

Have you seen how we all dissect every decision these coaches make in the playoffs? Whoever gets the Raptors job won’t have to worry about that level of scrutiny for several years once they trade everyone away and start tanking next year.

My real concern is that Toronto hiring JJ Redick as their head coach could take away one of the better NBA media personalities. I don’t watch his podcast every week but we desperately need people who are capable of balancing the tightrope of joking about off-the-court storylines while still being able to get into the X’s and O’s of the game without boring the shit out of me.

JJ is the only guy on First Take who hides the objective of the show which is to go viral by arguing or saying the dumbest thing possible like Kendrick Perkins does. Redick is also playing the TV game but he does a great job of making it seem more authentic than his coworkers do.

I fear his spot would be taken by someone like Patrick Beverley or some other former NBA player who ‘keeps it real’ but is clearly always embellishing for the cameras.

NBA media stinks right now and the Toronto Raptors are about to make it even worse when they snatch JJ Redick up as their new head coach before they miss the playoffs every year tanking and inevitably fire Redick when their new young stars develop and they’re ready to actually win big games.