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When you’re a first-time head coach in the NBA, who you surround yourself with matters. Whether it’s coming from an assistant coach or a mentor behind the scenes, the knowledge and guidance pay huge dividends. For new Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick, he might be getting advice from one of the greatest coaches of all time.
According to former Duke standout Chris Duhon on TMZ, “I’m pretty sure he may be getting some type of guidance from Coach K, who’s saying, ‘Hey, make sure your staff is X, Y and Z as far as that fits your personality.'”
Coach K’s Resume
After a rocky 5-year tenure as the head coach at Army, Mike Krzyzewski (Coach K) became a mainstay in college basketball, coaching the Duke Men’s Basketball team from 1981-2022. In those 42 years, his teams posted a 1129-309 record, winning 13 regular season conference titles, 15 conference tournaments and five national championships. Duke almost never had a down season, making 36 trips to the NCAA Tournament and 13 Final Fours under Coach K. And not to be overshadowed, he coached three USA Basketball gold medal teams.
Duke and Coach K continued to push out NBA-ready players during his tenure, producing a whopping 80 of the 100 players from Duke to play in the NBA. The 2024 NBA Finals starred two of those players (Kyrie Irving and Jayson Tatum).
Legendary basketball analyst Dick Vitale calls Coach K “the greatest of all-time,” comparing him to the most intense players in sports history:
“Coach K has an intense competitive drive. I used to tease him that he was in the Hall of Fame, yet he only cared about the next game. I remember he was a big favorite against Notre Dame in a contest I was calling, yet he was only concerned about that game. That fierce competitive drive was the difference. Stars like Michael Jordan, LeBron James, Serena Williams and Roger Federer have the same drive and desire to compete that differentiates them from the competition. That is why I feel he is the best. Krzyzewski wanted to be better today than he was yesterday.”
Redick’s Ties to Coach K
The 6-foot-4 sharpshooter joined the Blue Devils back in 2002 out of Cave Spring High School in Roanoke Virginia, teaming up with future NBA players Dahntay Jones, Daniel Ewing, Duhon, Shelden Williams and Shavlik Randolph.
Redick would make an impression immediately, as the second-leading scorer for a Blue Devils team that went 26-7, culminating in a Sweet 16 loss to the Kansas Jayhawks. Redick’s next three seasons saw continued growth as a scorer, with the team making two more Sweet 16 exits and one loss in the National Championship game.
Although his career didn’t result in a championship, Redick left Duke as the school’s all-time leading scorer (2,769), along with most 3-pointers made (457) and attempted (1126).
Coach K leaves an impression on his players and the way he prepares them to focus only on the task in front of them is what the Lakers front office hopes to see out of Redick. Not every Duke player succeeded in the NBA, but they were all prepared for it.
In an interview with FOX Sports, Coach K backed up that statement and showed his support for Redick, saying “Make no mistake about it, he can coach. He wants to win so badly, but he backs it up. JJ prepared as well as anybody that I ever coached.”
While playing success doesn’t always translate into coaching success, Duhon believes Redick is in a position to thrive, telling TMZ that Redick has the basketball IQ to succeed and that his status as Duke’s all-time leading scorer wasn’t an accident.
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