Former Miami Heat star center Shaquille O’Neal was quick to dismiss the comparisons that folks have made between Los Angeles Lakers head coach J.J. Redick and Heat team president Pat Riley. Riley was the head coach of the Heat when O’Neal along with Dwyane Wade helped Miami win its first title in franchise history in 2006.
“No, stop it,” O’Neal said when told that there are people who are calling Redick the next Riley. “Don’t even — no, stop it. Stop — stop it. First of all, J.J. is a nice guy. Pat Riley is the man. So, imagine you come in and f—–‘ J.J. Redick starts yellin’ at you. It’s gon’ be a f—–‘ fight in there. Players ain’t goin’ for all that yellin’ and all that screamin’ and all that extra runnin’ — next Pat Riley my a–.”
The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Jovan Buha reported in May — before the Lakers hired Redick to be their newest head coach — that the Lakers organization was “infatuated” with Redick’s potential and viewed him as a promising coaching prospect.
“Leaguewide, Redick — a former player and media analyst — has garnered buzz for the position,” Charania and Buha wrote. “The Lakers are infatuated with Redick’s potential, according to league sources, viewing him as a Pat Riley-like coaching prospect who could both help the franchise in the short term and lead it for years.”
The Lakers inked Redick to a four-year contract for him to become the 29th head coach in the history of the storied franchise in June, one month after that report from The Athletic surfaced.
Riley is one of the most accomplished head coaches in the history of the NBA. His tenure in the league’s head coaching ranks spanned several decades, and he led several teams — the Lakers and Heat — to titles during that time.
He saw the lion’s share of his success as a head coach come when he led the Lakers franchise from the sidelines decades ago, when the team was spearheaded by the likes of Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Riley coached the Lakers to four titles in one decade alone, as Los Angeles won championships in the years 1982, 1985, 1987 and 1988.
Riley won his fifth and final title as a head coach many years later with the Heat, and O’Neal was one of the top players on that 2006 title team. He played in 59 games during the 2005-06 regular season and averaged 20.0 points on 60.0 percent shooting from the field coupled with 9.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.8 blocks per game.
Redick carved out a better playing career in the NBA than Riley did, though, at least from a scoring standpoint. The former spent 15 seasons in the NBA and averaged 12.8 points per game for his career. The latter, meanwhile, averaged double digits in scoring in only one of his nine seasons in the league.