Lakers newsletter: Stan Van Gundy says JJ Redick will face growing pains but can thrive

Hey everyone and welcome to the Lakers newsletter, where we’ve definitely got news and I’ll try to use some letters to make sense of it.

We’re covering JJ Redick and the Lakers and the NBA draft and soon, NBA free agency and LeBron James and Bronny James and so on and so on.

Before Redick’s introductory news conference on Monday, I spoke with Stan Van Gundy about Redick and coaching at the NBA level.

The moments you don’t know

Redick wondered about the moment, the evening in late October this year when the Lakers open the season and the national anthem plays. How hard will his heart pump as he lines up next to his new team, the one he gets to run, for the first time?

“What is that feeling going to be like?” Redick said with curiosity.

When it comes to coaching, Redick acknowledged there’s a lot he’s going to need to learn.

“I have never coached in the NBA before. I don’t know if you guys have heard that,” he joked early in his introductory news conference on Monday.

Pregame anxiety is one thing that Redick has never experienced as a coach. That seems like sort of a fun thing to project. The postgame torture that’s guaranteed, though? It’s a different animal.

Stan Van Gundy, Redick’s former coach, said there’s a long list of things Redick is going to have to deal with in his transition from player-turned-broadcaster to broadcaster-turned-coach. And while he believes in his former player’s ability to figure it out and succeed, there are just some things you have to experience first.

“He’s a guy who took losing very hard as a player,” Van Gundy said of Redick during a phone interview with The Times on Monday. “And It’s nothing compared to the way that will hit him as a coach, that first game that he loses at the buzzer or down close by two, you know, at the end. And that stuff tears you up.

“It tears you up.”

Van Gundy said Redick will have to adjust to the vast responsibilities and pressure an NBA coach faces on game day.

“I remember Chuck Daly saying a long time ago that, um, you know, a pro coach, an NBA coach makes more decisions in the last two minutes of a game than a college coach makes in an entire season,” Van Gundy said. “So, you know, so there’s just a lot going on.”

There are obviously the multitude of in-game decisions tasked to a coach, ranging from big-picture implementation of philosophies down to coaching players to set screens at specific angles (something Redick mentioned during his news conference Monday). But there are also heaps of logistics, Van Gundy said, managing practice schedules, helping organize travel plans (and hotel preferences) and being responsible as a leader in a way that no other NBA job really requires.

“You’ve got a lot of stuff that you have to do,” Van Gundy said. “And so you know, it’s just a day of decisions and managing your time becomes a real big one because you know, you’re in there, you’re trying to get work done, you’re trying to get time to think, watch, film, whatever and everybody wants a piece of your time.”

Van Gundy coached Redick in Orlando for five seasons. He said the long list of decisions and responsibility, to him, make it more plausible for someone like Redick to become a head coach without any experience as an assistant because assistant coaches don’t carry the same responsibilities as a head coach.

“Even when you’ve been an assistant, you’re not ready until you do it,” Van Gundy said. “You’re just not. So I don’t look at that as debilitating in any way. Like until you’re sitting in the head coach’s chair and handling all of those responsibilities, you’re not ready.

“JJ will be fine with all that. I don’t think there’s anything that we’re talking about that’s beyond him or even close to beyond him. I mean, he’ll be fine. But there’s a learning curve. And you know, the Lakers could have somebody who could be very, very good for a long, long time. But, it’s going to take a little time, and they’ve got to give him some time.”

Hours later, Redick said he knew he needed to give himself some grace because his standards for himself are so high.

“I’m not going to be perfect. I know that, right?” Redick said. “The pursuit of perfection, which I’ve tried my whole life, I’ve recognized you’re never going to get there.”

That’s helpful perspective. Because in this job, your heart is guaranteed to race. And it’s guaranteed to break.

And then you do it again the next game.

The real Redick

Asked during his intro news conference if there was a narrative or anything that he’d like to dispel after having his candidacy dissected for most of the last month, Redick couldn’t stop himself.

“I’ve certainly heard everything. You know it’s been a really long time, interesting six weeks or so just in terms of being part of the engagement farming industry. You know, it’s been really interesting. However, I don’t really have a great answer for your question because I really don’t give a f—,” he said forcefully. “Like, honestly, I want to coach the Lakers. I want to coach the team. I don’t want to dispel anything. 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— care about.”

Not bad for a mission statement on Day 1.

Song of the week

“Man on the Corner,” by Genesis

A wonderful song about a lonely man, which is kind of what coaching can sound like on those nights Van Gundy described when your insides tear you apart. On the sidelines, there’s no hiding place.

In case you missed it

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A final review before JJ Redick is introduced as the new Lakers coach

It goes beyond LeBron and a podcast: Why the Lakers decided to hire JJ Redick

Plaschke: In foolishly hiring JJ Redick, Lakers continue down the road to nowhere

Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers talk about what JJ Redick might face as Lakers coach

JJ Redick isn’t alone: How first-time NBA coaches fared with no experience

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