Sports
Steve Kerr and Doc Rivers talk about what JJ Redick might face if he coaches Lakers
On Sept. 30, 2014, Steve Kerr presided over his first practice as the head coach of an NBA team. Kerr was now the man in charge of the Golden State Warriors, a job he took without the benefit of any previous coaching experience.
Kerr looked out before him and saw the faces of stars Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green staring back at him, waiting for the newbie to put his coaching plan in place on that initial day.
“It was a little bit of a s— show, to be honest. I had these plans with the coaching staff beforehand, but it was like the first day of school, only I was a brand new teacher,” Kerr, laughing, recalled about his first day coaching the Warriors. “You have to get through the bumps in the road and iron things out. But I remember the first two days were a little chaotic. I was trying to do a lot of things. I quickly realized that you don’t have nearly as enough time as you thought you would to address every issue. And that’s a big part of it.”
If JJ Redick gets the Lakers’ head coaching job that seems destined to become his, according to people not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, having the right staff will be beneficial since he has no coaching experience.
Kerr won five NBA championships as a player. He became a minority owner of the Suns upon retiring, then the president of basketball operations and general manager of the team. He left that post and to join TNT as an analyst until leaving that job in 2014 to become coach of the Warriors.
What he quickly learned during the early practice sessions and in games throughout his maiden voyage as a coach was to lean on his highly capable and experienced staff.
Kerr turned to former coach Alvin Gentry and Ron Adams, considered the savant of assistant coaches at the time in the NBA, for advice.
“I was lucky I had Ron Adams and Alvin Gentry with me. Although I shouldn’t call it luck. I purposely hired them because I knew I would need their expertise,” said Kerr, who won the first of his four NBA championships in that rookie season. “And they were great, they were fantastic and helped me through that transition process.”
The Times spoke to five former players who became head coaches without having been on the bench in that role and each was adamant the sage assistants are important to have for guidance.
Redick, who played 15 seasons in the NBA, is an analyst for ABC/ESPN and has his “Mind the Game” podcast with Lakers superstar LeBron James.
“If JJ does get the job, JJ has been out of the game for a few years and had an opportunity to be around guys in other settings,” said Derek Fisher, the Crespi High coach who won five NBA titles with the Lakers before he became a first-time coach with the New York Knicks in 2014.
“Like, he has a podcast with LeBron. That didn’t necessarily exist when I was making that transition. But it’s a good example of how different that is for even a guy that may not have previous experience coaching. It’s really the relationships with players that drive your success to a large degree anyway. So, if you’re in a position where you have that to lean on, it does help cushion the experience part. That’s something that the collection of individuals on the staff can help offset the lack of coaching experience.”
The pull to become a coach for Doc Rivers came after 13 years in the NBA as a player and three years working for TNT after his retirement, calls from legendary coaches Pat Riley and Chuck Daly sparking his interest.
Doc Rivers said he made sure when he took his first head coaching job that he hired two former NBA coaches as his assistants.
(Darron Cummings / Associated Press)
So Rivers, currently the coach of Milwaukee, took the job with the Orlando Magic in 1999 without any experience. But he had former head coaches Dave Wohl and Johnny Davis by his side.
Rivers recalled how a few games into his first season he wanted to change his offense.
Wohl and Davis told Rivers that “you can’t do that,” because they had installed a new offense in training camp.
Still, Rivers was insistent.
“I said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to do it.’ And they were all against it, and I did it,” said Rivers, who was selected coach of the year in his first season. “It changed our team because it fit what we were. It took guts. So, that taught me a lot. You are going to be wrong sometimes, but you got to be willingly wrong and you got to be willing to take chances. I thought that was the biggest lesson that year.”
Mark Jackson was a point guard in the NBA for 17 seasons before he joined ESPN as an analyst. Yet, Jackson yearned to be an NBA coach, figuring his time as a point guard made him a coach on the court that would translate even if he lacked any experience on the bench.
“I wouldn’t say learn as you go along,” said Jackson, who took over the Warriors in 2011. “There are certain things that you have to learn that you didn’t do as a player. Now you’re making the decisions, decisions that you never thought about making like, ‘Do we stay overnight? Do we leave after the game? What time is practice? How long do we practice?’ I was fortunate to have good people around me, as far as my staff, particularly Mike Malone and Pete Myers, guys that had been assistants for a long time. They made life easier for me.”
Warriors head coach Mark Jackson, hugging guard Stephen Curry after he was taken out of playoff game against the Clippers, said becoming an NBA coach with no experience brings many decisions you never thought about aside from games.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
When Vinny Del Negro became a first-time coach with the Chicago Bulls in 2008, he hired former head coaches Del Harris and Bernie Bickerstaff to show him the ins and outs of being the man in charge.
Del Negro also took another approach to help in his learning curve.
“When I got the Chicago job, I went and coached the team in the summer league,” he said. “I just jumped right in. I needed that. Everyday you do it, every game, you get a little bit more comfortable and you understand things a little bit better and you’re learning your players, and you know things you can do better every game. That’s what you are doing on a daily basis.”
As he began to think about coaching, Kerr said he spent years preparing how to interview for jobs and what kind of coaching philosophy he wanted to develop.
Kerr said some of the best advice he got about becoming a coach was from Jeff Van Gundy, a former Knicks and Rockets coach.
“I asked his advice and I said, ‘If you were me and just getting started and wanted to prepare for an interview and prepare to become a coach, what would you do?’” Kerr said. “And he said, ‘Everytime you stop and think about what kind of coach you want to be, write it down. Whatever you are thinking, write it down.
“Before long, you are going to collect your thoughts, you’re going to have them on paper, you’re going to be able to look at them and think about them and adapt them and put together a philosophy that you can present to somebody.’ And it was the best advice anybody gave me.”
The Cleveland Browns, rumored to be willing to trade down from their No. 6 overall selection in the 2026 NFL draft, did just that Thursday evening when the traded the pick to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Cleveland traded the sixth overall pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft to the Chiefs, in exchange for the ninth overall pick, as well as pick No. 74 in the third round and No. 148 in the fifth round.
The Browns now hold the No. 9 and No. 24 picks in the first round of the draft. They have a total of 11 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft.
Quarterbacks Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson of the Cleveland Browns watch from the sidelines during a game against the Cincinnati Bengals at Huntington Bank Field in Cleveland, Ohio, on Sept. 7, 2025. (Jason Miller/Getty Images)
So the Chiefs gave up three picks in making the first trade of the first round.
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And we know what the fan bases of both clubs were thinking prior to the selection:
Chiefs fans were thinking we know something they don’t. And then the Chiefs selected cornerback Mansoor Delane from LSU — a move no doubt forced by the club’s trade of Pro Bowl cornerback Trent McDuffie to the Los Angeles Rams earlier in the offseason.
So, the Chiefs fill a major need, assuming Delane is indeed the quality corner they believe.
LSU Tigers CB Mansoor Delane celebrates a defensive stop against the Clemson Tigers at Memorial Stadium in South Carolina. (Ken Ruinard/USA TODAY Network)
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ESPN’s Mel Kiper didn’t like the pick, by the way. He had Delane as the 14th best player in the draft.
“It was a necessity,” ESPN analyst Louis Riddick, a former NFL defensive back, responded.
Browns fans weren’t thinking that way.
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They were probably thinking something akin to “We screwed up.”
This is understandable because they’re Browns fans and this could have been the Browns Browning.
Well, the Browns, moving down three slots, gave up a shot to draft linebacker Sonny Styles of Ohio State to the Washington Commanders, receiver Jordyn Tyson to the New Orleans Saints and then the Browns got their chance with the newly acquired No. 9 pick:
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Offensive tackle Spencer Fano of Utah.
Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry speaks at the NFL Scouting Combine at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Ind., on Feb. 24, 2026. (Kirby Lee/Imagn Images)
Fano is good. And he makes the Browns offensive line instantly better because he’s going to likely start at left tackle for them.
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So what will Browns fans think of this pick?
They’ll probably wonder why the Browns didn’t pick Miami’s Francis Mauigoa, who went with the No. 10 pick to the New York Giants and promised “to die for” Jaxson Dart if necessary. They’ll wonder this because Browns fans expect the worst.
UCLA women’s basketball team has added some star power as its revamped roster begins to take shape.
Former Iowa State forward Addy Brown announced Thursday she is committing to UCLA, giving the Bruins one of the top players in the portal.
Brown averaged 11.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game while shooting 43.1% from the floor and 33.8% from three-point distance with the Cyclones last season. She played just 21 games due to injury, but she is one of the better two-way players in the nation on the transfer market.
The 6-foot-2 forward co-starred with Audi Crooks for Iowa State the past few seasons and was a part of the mass exodus from the Cyclones’ program.
The Bruins reeled in former North Carolina junior guard Elina Aarnisalo and former Texas Christian senior guard Donovyn Hunter a few weeks ago, adding two more experienced players to the depleted starting lineup after a record six UCLA players were selected in the WNBA draft.
UCLA also signed Arkansas sophomore guard Bonnie Deas earlier this month. She is likely to start at point guard for the Bruins and is one of the best rebounding guards in the nation.
Along with returner Timea Gardiner, the Bruins are starting to form somewhat of a core to defend their national championship. Gardiner was a starter during UCLA’s 2024-25 Final Four run, but missed all of this past season with injury and has one season of eligibility left.
A lineup with Deas and Aarnisalo in the backcourt, Hunter at the three and Gardiner or Brown at the four and adding another big or Sienna Betts at the five would be a competitive lineup in the Big Ten.
Before going to TCU, Hunter played two seasons at Oregon State where she earned All-Pac-12 Defensive Team honorable mention and All-Pac-12 Freshman team honors. This past season with a Horned Frogs team that went to the Sweet 16, she was third in scoring with 10.2 points per game and averaged 3.2 rebounds per contest. She also shot 45.7% from the field and was 33.7% from beyond the arc.
Aarnisalo played her freshman year in Westwood after she originally committed to UCLA in 2025. Due to injuries from point guard Kiki Rice at the start of the 2024-25 season, she was forced into action early her freshman season and finished the year averaging 5.1 points per game.
The Helsinki, Finland, native averaged 10.2 points per game for the Tar Heels as a sophomore last season while shooting 47.3% from the field and 40.3% from the arc. The Bruins will desperately need to replace the three-point production lost with the departure of Rice, Gianna Kneepkens and Charlisse Leger-Walker.
UCLA coach Cori Close said she wanted to sign five players from the portal. She probably needs one more guard and a little more forward depth coming off the bench following the departures of Gabriela Jaquez and Angela Dugalic.
Lena Bilic and Amanda Muse are returners coming off the bench who got a little bit of playing time in the tournament and should have much larger roles, but they are still relatively unproven in late-game situations. They will get a chance to develop as backups with some more Power Four experienced starters now in the fold.
Trump says there’s ‘no time frame’ to secure Iran deal
Republican Minnesota Senate candidate Tom Weiler joins ‘Fox & Friends’ to discuss President Donald Trump’s blockade in the Strait of Hormuz as the U.S.-Iranian conflict continues and react to Gov. Tim Walz’s, D-Minn., criticism of the president.
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Saudi Arabia was among the countries seeing missiles fly into their airspace as a conflict broke out in the Middle East between the U.S. and Iran.
The prospect of Iran targeting its Middle Eastern neighbors like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates put some sporting events on hold and questioned others. Formula 1 races in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain were canceled and rumors swirled around whether future WWE events could be held in the kingdom.
Roman Reigns celebrates his win during WWE’s Royal Rumble at Riyadh Season Stadium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 31, 2026. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
As the Trump administration brokered a ceasefire with Iran, WWE announced on Thursday that its Night of Champions premium live event will be held in Riyadh on June 27.
“We are proud to welcome Night of Champions back to Riyadh and look forward to delivering another unforgettable night of WWE action for fans in the Kingdom and around the world,” General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Al-Sheikh said in a news release.
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Sami Zayn makes his entrance during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
The release touted that WrestleMania 43 will still be held in Riyadh in 2027. It will be the first time that WrestleMania is held outside the U.S.
WWE president Nick Khan was adamant before WrestleMania 42 that the event will still take place in Saudi Arabia despite the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
“We’re doing WrestleMania next year in Saudi,” he said at a Sports Business Journal event, via The Sporting Tribune. “First time ever, WrestleMania will be outside the United States or Canada. And we’ve had a big, fruitful partnership with them.”
John Cena wrestles CM Punk during Night of Champions at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on June 28, 2025. (Georgiana Dallas/WWE)
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He added that those complaining about WrestleMania being held in Saudi Arabia were a “vocal minority.”
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