JJ Redick’s Media Studies

Getty Images/Ringer illustration Redick isn't the first to announce himself into a head-coaching position. But he added a modern twist as he ascended to the Lakers' head job. JJ Redick was hired as the Lakers' head coach after a series of interviews that began in May. But as Brian Windhorst pointed out, the résumé the Lakers were looking over was Redick's Mind the Game podcast. Over nine episodes, Redick talked basketball with LeBron James, sipped wine, and worked himself into a gentle kind of ecstasy over plays like "Horns Chest." Many TV types have announced their way into coaching jobs. Redick did it with a new twist. One of the easiest ways to become an NBA head coach is to announce the Finals on TV. In 2004, Doc Rivers was hired by the Celtics a month and a half before he called his only Finals for ABC. This year, the Bucks poached Rivers before he and his ESPN partners Mike Breen and Doris Burke even made it to the All-Star break. In 2001, Doug Collins was hired by the Wizards weeks before he called his fourth straight Finals for NBC. The Cavaliers hired Mike Fratello after he announced Michael Jordan's first three titles. Just about the only recent TV analysts...