As a player, JJ Redick had gotten used to being hated because he played for the Duke Blue Devils in college. For those unaware, the Blue Devils are like the Dallas Cowboys of the NCAA.
Since being hired by ESPN, he has quickly become a fan favorite for his commentary. His accurate and insightful analysis of the game is one thing, but the way he shuts down personalities like Stephen A. Smith without yelling is pure genius.
Also, he never wavers away from calling people out in front of their faces.
Redick came in defense of Draymond Green this week after Chris Russo essentially told him to shut and play. Russo tried to point out there were a large assortment of fans who don’t care about the way Draymond Green carries himself.
“I’ll give you a large segment of older fans who have followed the NBA for 60 years,” he said. “This is not a political situation or a race situation.”
Redick fired back in a great way.
“I disagree with you on that. I’m not saying it’s a race situation. What I’m saying is the fans you’re talking about, they talk about athletes that way like you just talked about an athlete. The people on Fox News talk about athletes that way. That’s my issue. I don’t actually care about the fans that watched Bob Cousy play or watched Wilt play. I appreciate that they’ve been fans for that long, but I don’t appreciate the undertones.”
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NBA stories via Google! Follow Us
“Shut up and play has the same sort of connotations as the shut up and dribble crowd has towards athletes and I have a real problem with that,” Redick said. “Specifically with Draymond, the idea that America is tired of him, you do realize the guy has a very, very popular podcast that he hosts where he talks to himself for a majority of the episode and people listen.”
