JJ Redick has spent the first part of his coaching career learning on the job in one of the NBA’s most demanding environments. His first two seasons with the Lakers produced plenty of scrutiny, but the head coach now admits he was still figuring out what the job actually required. Looking back at that period, Redick used an unexpectedly blunt description of his early approach.
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He also explained what he believes had to change.
Speaking during Lakers training camp, Redick reflected on how much more comfortable he feels entering his third season on the bench.
“Early in my coaching career, I was cosplaying a little bit. You know, it’s like I was pretending to be a coach,” Redick said. He added that experience has given him more confidence.
“I think you get reps, you get more comfortable. I don’t think the confidence was ever not there. And you also just know what you want. You jump things enough and build out plans throughout the summer and preseason… Just feeling more comfortable with everything, whether that’s, you know, teaching on the court, managing, how to manage relationships,” Redick added.
The bigger revelation came when JJ Redick discussed something he learned while reflecting on his playing career with his performance coach and former Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.
“Some of the things that helped me as a player are deterrents for me as a coach,” Redick said. “When I played, I played with anger. There was an inner anger that drove my competitiveness. That’s not always a good thing as a coach, particularly now. I felt like calm is better.”
That distinction could shape the Lakers differently this season.
JJ Redick arrived in LA without prior NBA coaching experience and immediately inherited the pressure that comes with coaching LeBron James and a roster built to win immediately.
His first season ended with 50 regular-season victories, while the team reached the first round of the playoffs. Last season, with 53 wins, he produced another postseason appearance. But the team’s defensive problems and roster limitations remained under the microscope.
Now, the circumstances have changed.
LeBron James has left LA for Philadelphia, while Luka Doncic has become the franchise’s central figure. The Lakers also reshaped the roster around Doncic, Austin Reaves, and Walker Kessler. It added more size, athleticism, and defensive versatility.
That shift gives JJ Redick something he did not always have in his first two seasons: a roster that appears closer to the identity he wants to build.
Redick said this summer that he believes the current group is the first Lakers roster in his tenure where “the pieces actually fit together.”
That does not remove the pressure. But it may allow him to focus less on solving roster contradictions and more on establishing consistent habits.
The change in his coaching approach could be just as important.
That change comes at an important point for the Lakers. JJ Redick is no longer managing the final seasons of LeBron James alongside a roster with major fit questions. Luka Doncic is now the centerpiece; Austin Reaves has a larger role. And the front office has added defenders such as Matisse Thybulle, Ziaire Williams, and Walker Kessler.
JJ Redick, therefore, has more freedom to establish his own standards from the start of camp. The challenge is no longer simply getting the most out of a complicated roster. It is making this group play with the habits he believes will hold over an entire season.
The 42-year-old still has to prove that this version of himself can produce results. But the biggest adjustment may be internal. He no longer wants to imitate what he thinks an NBA coach should look like. He wants to coach as himself.