JJ Redick has addressed questions around whether the Lakers have a current traditional center on the roster and if the team needs one.
“Uhhh, when you say traditional center what does that mean?” Redick said in a press conference on Wednesday. “Is Brook Lopez a traditional center though? … More of the size, I think we have not only one of the best players in the world but one of the most unique players in the world in Anthony Davis because there’s very few people that can do the things that he can do at his size, just in terms of his ball-handling, his skill level offensively and certainly the fact that he’s one of the best defensive players in the world.
“I would also say, I don’t know – I don’t view Nikola Jokic as a traditional center. I don’t know how many traditional — I think back-to-the-basket, that’s just not the modern NBA. I think we have a gift that we have Anthony Davis. It’s not a deterrent that we don’t have a 7-foot-2, 300-pound player. I’m not sure that it’s how we wanna play, anyways.”
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As well as his press conference, Redick also went on ESPN insider Zach Lowe’s podcast this week and tried to dispel the notion that he took a shortcut to his first NBA head coaching role.
“I brought this up earlier, there are only 30 of us,” Redick said on The Lowe Post. “It’s a very hard thing to do. There hasn’t been a moment that I haven’t felt an extreme level of gratitude. Yes, I feel lucky that I got this opportunity but I know I deserved this opportunity as well.
“It’s not because I spent seven years as an assistant coach. It’s because I’ve worked my ass off on this craft of basketball for the last 32 years. I’m in this position because of that, not because I skipped the line.”