In May, JJ Redick reportedly interviewed for head coaching vacancy of the Toronto Raptors.
Redick had no experience as a head coach at the professional level, however, he was being considered for a team that won the championship in 2019 with a president in Masai Ujiri, one of the most respected in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
he finally I wouldn't get the role, but it was a sign that the ESPN analyst and color commentator was being considered as a coach. And his decision to even do the interview showed there was mutual interest.
Redick revealed on an episode of “Pablo Torre Finds Out” on January 11 that there were many more NBA teams that showed interest in him joining their staff, although not necessarily as a head coach.
“I've had conversations and offers in terms of being an assistant coach and being on staff with several teams,” Redick said.
The Boston Celtics were one of them, which Redick I had already revealed it in the past during an episode of his podcast, “The Old Man and the Three.”
In the fall of 2022, Redick was asked to join the staff of then-newly hired Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla. He talked more about that process on Pablo Torre's show, which included a golf trip that turned into a recruiting session.
Related: Pablo Torre is changing the rules of sports media (and his parents) with his new show.
“I was in Boston and I got a call from Brad Stevens,” Redick said.
Stevens, the Celtics' president of basketball operations, asked Redick if Mazzulla could accompany him on the trip. They spent the next few hours playing games and discussing what Redick's role on the staff would be.
But there was a catch. Mazzulla was a last-minute new hire for the Celtics due to a controversy with their last head coach, Ime Udoka. Therefore, Redick would need to start with the team in a few days.
The rapid loss of the ball made his choice difficult.
“How do I make this decision?” Redick said. “My kids are in school, I've planned my life. It's hard.”
Redick clearly did not accept the Celtics' offer. He stayed at ESPN and was promoted to the company's second-highest NBA broadcast team along with play-by-play man Ryan Ruocco and former NBA veteran Richard Jefferson.
That trio falls just behind the trio of Mike Breen, Doris Burke and former Redick coach Doc Rivers in the totem pole poll of NBA broadcast groups.
But as Redick revealed to Torre, there were more than two teams that expressed interest.
“Six to eight, it would have to happen,” Redick said.
Related: ESPN's JJ Redick delivers powerful critique of sports media landscape
Torre joked that the number of teams that have reached out to him could be a sign that Redick will eventually pull the trigger and get into coaching.
“That tells me that people are saying, 'JJ is going to fall apart,'” Torre said. “Inside they see it in your eyes. They see that psychopathic flicker.”
In fact, Redick is still training, but at a very different level. Redick and Torre discussed during the 50-minute show how the NBA player decided to become the head coach of his nine-year-old son's basketball team in Brooklyn.
“I could be helping (Jayson) Tatum win a championship,” Redick joked. “Instead, I'm trying to figure out how nine-year-olds can get through a zone of two or three.”
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