In June, JJ Redick addressed reporters for the first time as head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. He had the dark suit, the neatly coiffed hair and, above all, the unashamed confidence. “I really don’t care,” Redick said in response to a question that referenced skeptical comments about his ability to jump from the broadcast booth to the bench. Redick did indeed have a Pat Riley-esque vibe, a comparison the Lakers brass has made internally. Riley led LA to four titles: a high standard for a rookie to live up to.

Other teams have hired former players with no prior coaching experience, with mixed results. The most encouraging example is Steve Kerr, who led the Golden State Warriors to four titles, including in his rookie season of 2014-15, after inheriting a team that had won one playoff series in three years under his predecessor Mark Jackson (coaching a newcomer yourself). Then there’s Steve Nash, who despite being presented with a plethora of talent in Brooklyn with Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, was fired after two early playoffs, followed by a nail-in-the-coffin 2-5 starts in 2022-2023. .

“It’s a different challenge,” said former Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro, who was a player, broadcaster and assistant general manager before taking over the Chicago bench in 2008 at age 42. “You can watch as much film as you want, you can think you have the best plays and things like that. No matter how smart you think you are and how much other experience you have, things will happen.”

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In Chicago, Del Negro says, he leaned on a staff of veteran assistants led by former head coaches Del Harris and Bernie Bickerstaff. Every morning, Del Negro met with Harris to discuss offensive game planning. He then consulted with another assistant, Bob Ociepka, who was handling the defense. Bickerstaff criticized the practices and the way Del Negro conducted in-game huddles.

“What I quickly realized is there is never enough time,” said Del Negro, who went 41-41 in each of his two seasons in Chicago and is now an analyst for NBA TV. “When you’re a young coach, you think, OK, I’m going to get three or four things done today. And you realize that depending on who your audience is, you’re better off if you make sure you perfect one, maybe two things, rather than being mediocre on three and four.”

Like Del Negro, Redick has put together a veteran staff headlined by Nate McMillan and Scott Brooks, both former head coaches. In the beginning, Redick’s message was simple: Get organized. Privately, players grumbled about the uncertainty of the game plans last season under Darvin Ham, and how roles routinely changed.

Improving shot selection was another point of attention. Last season, LA launched 10.4 mid-range jumpers per game (12th in the NBA), but ranked 23rd (38.6%). Redick wants his team, which attempted the third-fewest threes in the league (31.4 per game), to shoot more from beyond the arc. While the NBA has increasingly emphasized defensive versatility and a three-point attack, the Lakers have focused on size and a more paint-oriented offense. Redick wants to change that.

But even if he does, will it make any difference to a team that had LeBron James and a healthy Anthony Davis last year but still didn’t make the playoffs? Even if Redick is a coaching prodigy, moving up the standings in a competitive Western Conference will be a challenge given the limitations of the roster beyond the two stars.

All Redick can do, Del Negro says, is create a standard and stick to it.

“Coaching is heartbreaking,” Del Negro says. “It’s 24/7. Let your players know how you expect them to perform and work on that every day until you are successful.”