76ers News: Joel Embiid drops controversial take on ex-teammate’s fate

No team has had a more eventful offseason than the Philadelphia 76ers. The franchise definitely outdid itself and its competitors, snagging the biggest fish in free agency and forming a much more well-rounded roster this time around. The job’s not done just yet, but anyone pegging them as a loser of some sort this summer is a flat-out hater incapable of objective judgment.

While the 76ers feasted on their incredible optionality, some teams were so restricted financially that they barely moved the needle, if at all. A good example would be the Los Angeles Lakers which basically stood pat. While they didn’t make any notable moves on the transaction table, the franchise, however, took a brave step this summer with its head coaching hire.

76ers star Joel Embiid goes blunt on JJ Redick coaching the Lakers

Joel Embiid, who’s currently suiting up for Team USA in the lead-up to the Paris Games, is definitely familiar with JJ Redick, the man running the sidelines for the Lakers next season. He played with the player-turned-coach for a couple of seasons in 2017 to 2019.

When asked in an interview with the New York Times about his thoughts on Redick heading to Hollywood as a rookie head coach, Embiid didn’t shy away.

"If I was him, I don't know if that's a perfect situation. Maybe he thinks that's a perfect situation. But if you're coming in, especially with a job like the Lakers, it's kind of a make-or-break situation, because if you succeed, great, you're going to be coaching for years. But if you don't succeed, those coaches are usually bound to be fired within a year or two. I love him, I'm happy for him, but that's a tough job."

Embiid may be running the same drills and sharing the same court with the Lakers’ alphas right now in LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but he’s certainly not mincing his words about the musical chairs that is the head coaching job in LA.

Los Angeles is an incredibly pressure-packed environment, and a rookie coach like Redick heading into his first foray as a lead tactician is quite the brave feat. Unfortunately, precedence doesn’t bode well for him given that Darvin Ham, who was also a neophyte when he joined the Lakers, was axed after just two seasons.

Coaching LeBron, a star to the highest degree, also adds to the difficulty of the job that Redick is slated to man. One of, if not the greatest player of all time, he has so much gravitas and pull to be amenable to a patient approach — something that Redick will have to partake as a rookie.

Call it controversial, but Joel Embiid is just interjecting on what everyone’s been saying — that the Lakers head coaching job is among the most stringent out there, even over the 76ers’.