JJ Redick could hardly have had a more impressive rookie regular season as head coach.
After being hired with so much uncertainty considering he had never actually coached any meaningful games, he led the
Lakers through a gargantuan midseason trade and to the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, notching 50 wins along the way.
Then the playoffs came and Chris Finch coached circles around Redick. It was quite the reality check for Redick, who never looked more like a first-time head coach than when the postseason came around. What was expected to be a competitive series turned into a beatdown as the Wolves eliminated the purple gold.
Which brings us to present day. When you win, you get to talk. On Wednesday, Finch appeared on Zach Lowe’s live podcast in Minnesota and took a jab at the Lakers and JJ Redick.
Listen, it’s a good joke.
It’s a little surprising there haven’t been more jokes about him being a podcaster. It’s a fair joke! It just doesn’t hold as much weight since Redick is actually good at his job.
Now, before you get the pitchforks out, this was almost certainly a playful jab. For one, coaches tend to protect one another above all else, so I doubt Finch is going to go out there and bury Redick out of absolutely nowhere.
But even more than that, these two have a relationship that dates back many years. Finch served as an assistant coach in New Orleans when Redick played for the Pelicans. Earlier this season, Redick spoke about his relationship with Finch and referenced those years together.
During the playoffs, Finch called it an “absolute pleasure” to coach Redick in New Orleans and said he learned a lot from Redick during that time (via Khobi Price/OC Register)
“But it was interesting to coach JJ because I learned a lot from him. I never coached the shooter at that level and then just [seeing how teams] guarded him so differently than even a lot of really good shooters. So he imparted a lot of tricks of the trade, things that he needed that he had seen through his career. So it’s like anything else, you always learned from really good players. So, not surprised that he’s had success. He’s got a very sharp basketball mind, relates to people extremely well. He’s super competitive. He has all the DNA.”
All this is to say there’s no bad blood between the two and it’s nothing more than a playful jab at one another. Maybe Redick can remind him of the last time the Lakers and Wolves played as some payback.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on BlueSky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
