When the Los Angeles Lakers hired JJ Redick to be their head coach last June, many people doubted he could do the job in a satisfactory manner. After all, he had never held any type of coaching job at either the pro or college level, and the fact that he had co-hosted the “Mind the Game” podcast with LeBron James created even more doubts.

But Redick, for the most part, did a fine job this season, especially considering the twists and turns the Lakers went through. There is now hope that he will have the ability to stick around long-term and lead the team into the post-James era.

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When the Lakers were courting Redick for the job, they reportedly saw him as someone who could turn out to be like Pat Riley, the legendary coach of their Showtime teams from the 1980s. At the time, that seemed like a ludicrous comparison, but Mychal Thompson, who played for Riley on those Lakers teams, said on the podcast of former teammate Michael Cooper that he feels it could be an apt comparison now.

“They do remind me of each other,” Thompson told former teammate Michael Cooper on CLNS.

“They are very arrogant in their knowledge of the game, they are demanding, they treat you like men, as long as you are accountable, they are very intense, the way they approach the game. [Redick] does remind me of a young Pat Riley.

“Can he achieve Pat Riley’s success? I hope he does. I’ve said on the air before his style reminds me of Riles a little bit.”

Much like Riley, Redick emphasizes attention to detail, right down to the tracking of very detailed statistics. He has brought an emphasis on organization and purpose, which is certainly Riley-like, and his intensity, emotion and chutzpah are also Riley-like.

Like Riley, Redick also has two legitimate superstars in LeBron James and Luka Doncic, as well as a third stellar player in Austin Reaves. The Lakers do need a legitimate starting-level center, as well as better guard and wing depth, but if they fix those issues this offseason, Redick could have the opportunity to truly remind people of Riley as soon as next season.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Former Laker says JJ Redick reminds him of a legendary coach