According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the Charlotte Hornets are interviewing former NBA player and current TV guy JJ Redick for their vacant head coaching position.
The Charlotte Hornets are interviewing JJ Redick for their head coaching job, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. The 15-year NBA veteran and former Duke star has shown an interest in making a coaching jump in recent years.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 22, 2024
Redick is a departure from the other candidates the Hornets have interviewed so far. While every other interviewee has been an assistant or otherwise ascending coach, Redick has no coaching background has spent the last few seasons on ESPN after a distinguished playing career. Over 11 seasons, he averaged 12.8 points per game and shot 41.5% from the 3-point line.
Even though Redick hasn’t served on an NBA staff, he’s not a bad interview just to see what he has to say. He’s spent the last couple of seasons on ESPN trying to be a voice of nuance and reason in a world otherwise composed of hot takes and nonsensical ramblings designed to generate clicks and hate views instead of actually educate people about the sport. He’s clearly got a very good basketball mind and he seems to be a good communicator based on the way he delivers his point on TV.
All that said, it’d be hard to pick him as the best candidate available given that he’s never done this before. I have no idea what kind of schemes he’d bring to the table or who his staff would comprise of. Still, it’s nice to see the Hornets turning every stone to find their guy (or gal).
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