Stephen A. Smith is totally on board now with new Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick.
SAS defended Redick against critics on Monday’s The Stephen A. Smith Show podcast, calling on Shaquille O’Neal to “stop lying.” Shaq recently said on his The Big Podcast with Shaq that it might be tough for players to have a coach they played against a few years ago.
“Stop lying,” Smith said. “Cuz they would be paying you, and you know that check was in the mail, you’d play. Stop that big boy, you know I know better than that.”
Smith defended Redick’s basketball knowledge and said he thinks he’ll be successful.
“JJ Redick is one of the great, great players who ever played in college basketball,” Smith said. “He’s also a 15-year NBA veteran. And although I lament how he got the Lakers job because that’s clearly something LeBron James manipulated to his liking, if you know anything about JJ Redick, this brother knows basketball. He knows basketball.
“And so it’s going to be real interesting to see how he affects the players in terms of his coaching prowess, but I know one thing — players ain’t going to question his knowledge. Me personally, I’m rooting for him, I believe in him, and I believe he’ll be successful.”
Smith’s full defense of Redick is a change from a couple of months ago when he asked if Redick was a good fit for the Lakers and called him “an acquired taste.” Smith himself got criticized for his negative thoughts on Redick at the time, with even ESPN colleague Pat McAfee calling him out.
[The Stephen A. Smith Show]
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.