Sam Cassell, the Lakers’ head coach, has officially been suspended for two weeks.
Shaquille O’Neal, never one to hold back his emotions, commented on the Los Angeles Lakers’ hiring of JJ Redick as the 29th head coach in franchise history. On Monday, June 25, the Lakers unveiled the long-time NBA player and now-former podcast presenter as Darvin Ham’s successor. Shaq told his co-host Adam Lefkoe that even when Redick was a guest on their Big Podcast with Shaq show, he knew that Redick would be the next head coach of the Lakers, rather than the Charlotte Hornets, as Lefkoe remarked.It is absurd that a man with little experience can outperform a guy like Sam Cassell, who has been in the league for 15 years, and so on,” stated O’Neal. “Let me say that. No disrespect to JJ, but I believe Sam should be able to get the same looks. But I’m glad for JJ; there’s a lot of pressure. Winning games will not be sufficient. The expectation when you accept that position, the Miami Heat job, or any job with a lot of talent is to win championships.”
While Shaq is aware of Redick’s aspirations, he is unaware of the type of coach he will be.
“I saw something funny on Instagram that said he was an assistant coach for a Brooklyn fourth-grade girls team, and that was his only coaching experience,” Shaq remarked. “As a player, if I didn’t respect the coach, I could easily turn my 100 percent down. Let me explain; I’ll give you 100 anyway. But if I know we aren’t going to go, 100 is difficult to sustain. “When I played for Phil Jackson, I was already familiar with his resume.I’ve sat there and watched him and Michael (Jordan) make it to the finals six times and win.
So, if he says, ‘Stop doing this and do something different,’ I will do it.every time because he understands what he’s talking about. That’s why when I moved to Miami, you play for a man like Pat Riley, and when he says, ‘Do anything,’ you do. It wins because I understand resumes.For a person like myself who took all the responsibility when things went wrong. If you didn’t have championship experience, I found it difficult to believe in you.” It’s also difficult for Shaq to believe that Redick did not speak with LeBron James before taking the position. “Yeah, I’m starting a website called yeahright/(expletive).com,” claimed the man. “Everything goes via LeBron with the Lakers. Everything goes through LeBron, and I know this for a fact because being in that position as a leader allows you to know everything. I sat in that seat for a long time. Nothing happened without my permission. The only time something happened without my permission was when they cut my head.