JJ Redick on The Lowe Post
https://player.fm/series/the-lowe-post-1203962
Appearing on the most recent episode of Zach Lowe's podcast, we have JJ Redick! I will, as always, transcribe the key moments of the interview for anyone who misses it/can't listen/doesn't like podcasts/would rather read/etc.
Q: Have you been down to New Orleans yet?
Redick: Yeah, I've been twice. I'm going down again tomorrow, there's sort of a team-building day/event that we're doing that I think Trajan has sort of organised, -
Lowe: Trajan Langdon, of Duke?
Redick: Trajan Langdon, of Duke, correct - but it'll include the whole team, it's not just gonna be me and the other four Duke guys, it's gonna include all the guys on the team but yeah, we're doing a little thing. Edwin Moses and Tommy Smith, two very famous U.S track and field superstars are gonna come and talk to the team. Tommy Smith, actually, was in the 1968 Olympic games, him and John Carlos, were famous for getting up on the podium after winning the Gold and the Bronze medal, and giving the black power salute. I actually wrote two papers on them at Duke, and these weren't thesis papers, but they were 30 page papers, so I'm particularly excited about tomorrow and getting the chance to meet them.
Q: In the media, Jrue Holiday was mentioned a lot around you and your decision to go to New Orleans; he's not Lebron or someone, and you've never played together before, so what's the connection?
Redick: Never really crossed paths with Jrue, other than on an NBA court. I've had a few friends that have played with Jrue, in Philly and in New Orleans. I think you [Lowe] wrote a very flattering piece on Jrue -
Lowe: He's universally beloved.
Redick: Yeah, but there's something, I just enjoy the way he plays and competes and goes about his business. His priority is his family, and then basketball, and that's something that I can relate to and I think skill-set wise, he's just somebody that I've always wanted to play with. Defensively, he's unbelievable, he's a guy who can play with and without the ball, he's just a stud to me.
[Lowe mentions that Jrue has this monster reputation at his high-school, and then he came into the NBA, got injured, and has been mostly clean for a few years now, says Jrue's always been a monster athlete.]
Redick: Yeah, but not just as an athlete, he's a really great player. I do think he's bounced back from those, I guess it was stress fractures and then he had surgery on his legs, but he and I talked during the free agency process on the phone and just expressed to each other how much we wanted to play together. I think if you go back to like, the May 22nd or whatever it was that New Orleans gets the first pick, and from the outside you're like 'oh, that's great for them, that's exciting', but they've gotta move AD and then you wonder what they'll do with Jrue. Then you start seeing things that David's saying publicly about keeping Jrue, and getting people who wanna buy into a certain culture and a certain way of playing, and then you get 'hey, New Orleans is going to be interested...' and this all kind of happened over a 6 week span. There's just these rumblings and then all of a sudden you're a week out and you're thinking that oh wow, this could actually be a place that I could go.
Conversation shifts to the team overall, team structure, lineups, etc:
Lowe: Do you think you have a handle on the team? Cause it's a deep team, but it's also a strange team, in that Zion is a rookie but he's going to get a lot of- he's going to start at the 4, might play some 5, okay no, he WILL play some 5. Lonzo's a point guard with a, let's say 'unreliable' jumpshot, Ingram has had these wild ups and downs in his career and is coming off a blood-clot, there's a lot of strange pieces that are going to be fit together. So how are they going to fit together, who's going to come off the bench, who's going to start, who's playing in crunch time? Do you feel like you have a handle on things, is there anyone you haven't met?
Redick: No no, I- no I think actually maybe Derrick, 'cause the two times I've been down there Derrick wasn't in town, but everybody else I've met. When I was there last week, you know, guys were playing full-court, playing pickup, and I don't think I have a great feel for the team because it's a lot of new pieces with Jrue being really the one sort of mainstay there, and obviously E'twaun, and some of the other guys that were there. But personally, I just go back to when I signed with LA, or when I signed with Philly, I didn't really have any sense going in what it was going to look like. I remember the media day the first day before training camp my first year in LA, going over to Ty Lue and saying like, 'who... who's starting? Who's our starting 5? I know Chris, Blake, and DJ, but...' and he was like 'uh? You, mother******', so that was uh... I didn't sign up because I envisioned a certain thing, or I was told a certain thing, it was more that there was something exciting happening, there's a lot of interesting pieces here,
Lowe: And deep, it's a deep team.
Redick: Yeah, and there's just a general excitement about the direction of the franchise and people down there are really excited.
Zion Talk
Lowe: What's your first conversation with Zion? What are your first impressions?
Redick: Oh, he's just a super nice kid. I think he's in a very interesting position because the amount of responsibility that he has off the court, you know? He has this huge contract with Jordan, there's gonna be a lot of people pulling at him, but he's got such a great head on his shoulders that for me, I think it's taking it slowly and figuring out where I can help and where I can be an added value for him.
Lowe: Make shots.
Redick: Oh of course, on the court.
Lowe: I was talking to someone in the league about this today and Zion on the Pelicans, Zion's not just a number one pick. He's one of those ''once every eight years'', AD-Lebron-Zion, hes in that - you heard - maybe he is the most anticipated number one pick since Lebron, or since AD, how often do those guys go to teams where you think ''hm, sometimes is he gonna be the third option, the fifth option?'' He doesn't get to go right in and be The Guy and do whatever, or whatever he wants to do, have you thought about that? It's interesting.
Redick: It is interesting. I think part of it is just the circumstance, and part of it is an intentional thing that Griff and the front office and the coaching staff has done, and it's taking pressure off him. I mean, to me, it's no question that he's the most hyped prospect since Lebron and then you have David Griffin coming out and saying 'it's Jrue's team, he could win the MVP, he has that level of talent,'
Lowe: He said that? That Jrue could win an MVP?
Redick: He did say that, or play at an MVP level. So it's obviously intentional that he would come out and say that, and then like you said, it's just an interesting mix of guys where it's promising young players like Lonzo and Brandon, and then older vets like Derrick and I, and then obviously Jrue is sorta the guy. It's an exciting team. The thing that I'm excited about, and I don't think it's just Duke homerism, is Frank Jackson. He had some great moments at the end of last season.
Lowe: Yeah, there are gonna be guys that are going to get squeezed. It's just going to happen. I don't know if it's going to be E'twaun Moore, or Frank Jackson, or like, Kenrich Williams had a stretch but is he gonna play? Or is he gonna play a little bit of 4, you guys don't have a whole lot of traditional 4s, other than Zion, so it's very interesting how the minutes are going to be allotted. Starting right off the bat: do you care if you start or come off the bench?
Redick: No, no,
Lowe: 'Cause I think the two possible starting fives are: Lonzo/Jrue/You/Zion/Favors, and Lonzo/Jrue/Ingram/Zion/Favors, which is a lineup that really is light on shooting but high on just running the ball down their throats. So you don't care, it doesn't matter? You're gonna play a lot in crunch time either way.
Redick: I hope I'll play, I hope I'll play a lot, I haven't been given any indication that I won't play. I go into every season, every situation just with an open mind: going back to last year, Brett pulls me aside 10 minutes before our first training camp practise and says 'I wanna bring you off the bench, let me know your thoughts', and he didn't know it at the time but I already knew this was coming from 3 months ago in July. And I wasn't hurt or anything, it was just like okay, if that's what's good for the team then I'll do it. I didn't think it was what was right for the team, but if he thought that then I was fine with it.
[THAT'S THE FIRST AD BREAK, WILL UPDATE WITH THE REST SHORTLY]